needle Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 We played this here years ago, and I remember it had me scurrying all over the house picking up books at random to find the answer, so I thought it might be fun to do it again. ( plus credit where it's due, Paedar was talking about first lines on Lj) Rules ( such as they are) - Make a guess at what novel the first line below is taken from. - Add a first line from a book of your choice for others to guess - feel smug if you get it right :P - don't feel smug if you googled it to get it right. (Unless you're just confirming something but don't have the book to hand.) [b] The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries.[/b] ETA : and a couple more, to get the ball rolling : [b]I was born in the city of Bombay... Once upon a time[/b] [b]The day war was declared, a rain of telephones fell clattering to the cobblestones from the skies above Novy Petrograd.[/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkemikk Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 If I'm not mistaken the first one it's from one of the Vernor Vinge novels, but can't remember the title atm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needle Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 close enough to earn you the right to put one of your own down.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkemikk Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 OK here it is: [b]In my time I have been called many things: sister, lover, priestess, wise-woman, queen.[/b] Or this one: [b]"You screwed up, Mr. Cates."[/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 [quote name='needle' post='1652575' date='Jan 17 2009, 19.27'][b]The day war was declared, a rain of telephones fell clattering to the cobblestones from the skies above Novy Petrograd.[/b][/quote] Is that Singularity Sky by Charlie Stross? If so... [b]Isserley always drove straight past a hitch-hiker when she first saw him, to give herself time to size him up.[/b] P.S., thanks for the credit. I'll do my best not to crunch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 [quote name='Ylvtor' post='1652584' date='Jan 17 2009, 14.45']OK here it is: [b]In my time I have been called many things: sister, lover, priestess, wise-woman, queen.[/b][/quote] The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkemikk Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 [quote name='Bellis' post='1652592' date='Jan 17 2009, 21.03']The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.[/quote] next one please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needle Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 Paeder - Under the skin, Michael Faber. Too easy :P. And yes to Singularity sky. Bellis - that one's been driving me mad. That was one of my guesses for it. Ylvtore - your second is Jeff somers. Electric Church, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkemikk Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 [quote name='needle' post='1652594' date='Jan 17 2009, 21.06']Ylvtore - your second is Jeff somers. Electric Church, I think.[/quote] You think right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needle Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 [b]When Greatgrandmistress Alice Meynell brought her son to Invercombe, she fully beleived she was taking him to die there.[/b] [i]( don't bother waiting to hear if your answer is right before putting down a line for others to guess)[/i] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 [quote name='Ylvtor' post='1652593' date='Jan 17 2009, 15.05']next one please[/quote] Sorry, I had to wait until I was at home to find inspiration. [b]It is possible I already had some presentiment of my future.[/b] I have no idea how well-known that one is. I will reveal further phrases I suppose if no one gets it in the next day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 [quote name='needle' post='1652575' date='Jan 17 2009, 14.27'][b]I was born in the city of Bombay... Once upon a time[/b][/quote] I had an idea what this was, but I was bad and instead of posting I looked it up to confirm. I was right though... SPOILER: BombayMidnight's Children Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint777 Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 [quote name='Bellis' post='1652676' date='Jan 17 2009, 17.56']Sorry, I had to wait until I was at home to find inspiration. [b]It is possible I already had some presentiment of my future.[/b] I have no idea how well-known that one is. I will reveal further phrases I suppose if no one gets it in the next day.[/quote] Wolfe: [b]Books of the New Sun: Shadow of the Torturer[/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint777 Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 [b]It began in the old and golden days of England, in a time when all the hedgerows were green and the roads dusty, when hawthorn and wild roses bloomed, when big-bellied landlords brewed rich October ale at a penny a pint for rakish high-booted cavaliers with jingling spurs and long rapiers, when squires ate roast beef and belched and damned the Dutch over their claret while their faithful hounds slumbered on the rushes by the hearth, when summers were long and warm and drowsy, with honeysuckle and hollyhocks by cottage walls, when winter nights were clear and sharp with frost-rimmed moons shining on the silent snow, and Claud Duval and Swift Nick Nevison lurked in the bosky thickets, teeth gleaming beneath their masks as they heard the rumble of coaches bearing paunchy well-lined nabobs and bright-eyed ladies with powdered hair who would gladly tread a measure by the wayside with the gallant tobyman, and bestow a kiss to save their husbands' guineas; an England where good King Charles lounged amiably on his throne, and scandalised Mr Pepys (or was it Mr Evelyn?) by climbing walls to ogle Pretty Nell; where gallants roistered and diced away their fathers' fortunes; where beaming yokels in spotless smocks made hay in the sunshine and ate bread and cheese and quaffed foaming tankards fit to do G. K. Chesterton's heart good; where threadbare pedlars with sharp eyes and long noses shared their morning bacon with weary travellers in dew-pearled woods and discoursed endlessly of 'Hudibras' and the glories of nature; where burly earringed smugglers brought their stealthy sloops into midnight coves, and stowed their hard-run cargoes of Hollands and Brussels and fragrant Virginia in clammy caverns; where the poachers of Lincolnshire lifted hares and pheasants by the bushel and buffeted gamekeepers and jumped o'er everywhere . . .[/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkemikk Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 [quote name='saint777' post='1652688' date='Jan 18 2009, 00.12'][b]It began in the old and golden days of England, in a time when all the hedgerows were green and the roads dusty, when hawthorn and wild roses bloomed, when big-bellied landlords brewed rich October ale at a penny a pint for rakish high-booted cavaliers with jingling spurs and long rapiers, when squires ate roast beef and belched and damned the Dutch over their claret while their faithful hounds slumbered on the rushes by the hearth, when summers were long and warm and drowsy, with honeysuckle and hollyhocks by cottage walls, when winter nights were clear and sharp with frost-rimmed moons shining on the silent snow, and Claud Duval and Swift Nick Nevison lurked in the bosky thickets, teeth gleaming beneath their masks as they heard the rumble of coaches bearing paunchy well-lined nabobs and bright-eyed ladies with powdered hair who would gladly tread a measure by the wayside with the gallant tobyman, and bestow a kiss to save their husbands' guineas; an England where good King Charles lounged amiably on his throne, and scandalised Mr Pepys (or was it Mr Evelyn?) by climbing walls to ogle Pretty Nell; where gallants roistered and diced away their fathers' fortunes; where beaming yokels in spotless smocks made hay in the sunshine and ate bread and cheese and quaffed foaming tankards fit to do G. K. Chesterton's heart good; where threadbare pedlars with sharp eyes and long noses shared their morning bacon with weary travellers in dew-pearled woods and discoursed endlessly of 'Hudibras' and the glories of nature; where burly earringed smugglers brought their stealthy sloops into midnight coves, and stowed their hard-run cargoes of Hollands and Brussels and fragrant Virginia in clammy caverns; where the poachers of Lincolnshire lifted hares and pheasants by the bushel and buffeted gamekeepers and jumped o'er everywhere . . .[/b][/quote] Easy  [i]The Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser[/i] :cheers: OK and now new one: [b]The palace is as large as a good-sized town, for through the centuries its outbuildings, its lodges, its guest houses, the mansions of its lords and ladies in waiting, have been linked by covered ways, and those covered ways roofed, in turn, so that here and there we find corridors within corridors, like conduits in a tunnel, houses within rooms, those rooms within castles, those castles within artificial caverns, the whole roofed again with tiles of gold and platinum and silver, marble and mother-of-pearl, so that thr place glares with a thousand colours in the sunlight, shimmers constantly in the moonlight, its walls appearing to undulate, its roofs to rise and fall like a glamorous tide, its towers and minarets lifting like the masts and hulks of sinking ships.[/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needle Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 Hmm..at a complete guess.. Baudolino? ETA : not Baudolino. Doh. I'm out of guesses for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delete this account pls Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 I haven't gotten a single one on my own yet, not even the New Sun one (I just read that a month ago) :bang: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambyr Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 [quote name='needle' post='1652603' date='Jan 17 2009, 15.13'][b]When Greatgrandmistress Alice Meynell brought her son to Invercombe, she fully beleived she was taking him to die there.[/b] [i]( don't bother waiting to hear if your answer is right before putting down a line for others to guess)[/i][/quote] The sequel to [i]The Light Ages[/i]? The title of which, alas, I forget. I have few books available to me at the moment, as I'm in the process of moving, but fortunately I've got one or two good ones. "I shall clasp my hands together and bow to the corners of the world." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pita Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I've never even heard of most of these books. How about an easy one, like [b]It was a very odd vine[/b]? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidan Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 [quote name='The Pita Enigma' post='1652839' date='Jan 17 2009, 21.42']I've never even heard of most of these books. How about an easy one, like [b]It was a very odd vine[/b]?[/quote] [b]Wizard's First Rule[/b]. You got it a little wrong, though. It's supposed to be 'It was an odd-looking vine.' How about: [b]Everyone knows how to find the meaning of life within himself.[/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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