Oolite Bulletins

Okay. Which fictional book series* is dismissed by one fierce critic as "rhodomontade and piffle"? Name and title of both the book series and the other book series in which it appears.

(*as in, the book series itself does not exist but is referenced repeatedly as part of the backdrop)

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"Sidewinder Precision Pro" and other fiction is now available for Amazon Kindle at a bargain price.

Sidewinder Precision Pro ||Claymore Mine ||The Russian Creed ||One Jump Ahead

All titles also available in paperback.

There's really only one SF author who could use a word like "rhodomontade" and get away with it … alas I'm currently away from my books and I don't want to have to resort to Google to check the details!

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Oofiction: Calliope: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Stranglehold: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Local Midnight in the Vacuum Bar | A Farewell to Arms, Legs, etc.: the Blaze O'Glory Story

Damn it, now I'm getting them!

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Those who seek gold dig a lot of earth, but find little

The actual book series is five books long, and the imaginary book series has a one-word title (and is written by a nobleman).

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"Sidewinder Precision Pro" and other fiction is now available for Amazon Kindle at a bargain price.

Sidewinder Precision Pro ||Claymore Mine ||The Russian Creed ||One Jump Ahead

All titles also available in paperback.

Okay, back with the books: the fictional book series is Life, by Unspiek, Baron Bodissey. His great work is quoted several times in Jack Vance's five-volume series The Demon Princes; extracts also crop up in The Cadwal Chronicles and some other novels set in the Gaean Reach.

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Oofiction: Calliope: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Stranglehold: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Local Midnight in the Vacuum Bar | A Farewell to Arms, Legs, etc.: the Blaze O'Glory Story

That's the one. "Reviewer's comments" include not only excoriating it as "rhodomontade and piffle", as quoted, but threats to horsewhip the Baron on the steps of his club. You're next! (To pose a question, that is. Not for a horsewhipping.)

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"Sidewinder Precision Pro" and other fiction is now available for Amazon Kindle at a bargain price.

Sidewinder Precision Pro ||Claymore Mine ||The Russian Creed ||One Jump Ahead

All titles also available in paperback.

OK, next question: identify five intelligent aquatic races, from five different SF universes. These can be anything from fully gill-breathing to amphibious to happy on either land or in the water, but they should spend much of their time in an aquatic environment and have at least some significant physiological adaptation to a water-dwelling lifestyle.

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Oofiction: Calliope: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Stranglehold: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Local Midnight in the Vacuum Bar | A Farewell to Arms, Legs, etc.: the Blaze O'Glory Story

I'll go with the obvious ones - Dolphins, from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Clarke's Dolphin Island, David Brin's Uplift series, and many other works. Shame it probably isn't so, at least not without a lot of upgrades.

So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

If virtual species count, the intelligent lobsters of Charles Stross's Accelerando are computer simulations that crew an early interstellar probe.

I'll accept the virtual lobsters from Accelerando and roll all the various dolphins up as one answer. So that's two down, three to go.

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Oofiction: Calliope: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Stranglehold: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Local Midnight in the Vacuum Bar | A Farewell to Arms, Legs, etc.: the Blaze O'Glory Story

Solaris?

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Those who seek gold dig a lot of earth, but find little

once again back to Perry Rhodan, the Aquas: https://www.perrypedia.proc.org/wiki/Aquas

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Trying to survive behind the controls of a Caduceus Psi XT in Alpha test

The intelligent world-ocean from Solaris … can a thinking ocean be described as an aquatic species? What the hell, I admire the chutzpah! And Perry Rhodan's Aquas definitely fit the bill.

That's four: next one takes the prize …

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Oofiction: Calliope: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Stranglehold: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Local Midnight in the Vacuum Bar | A Farewell to Arms, Legs, etc.: the Blaze O'Glory Story

Yes, an interesting question!


The alien invaders from The Kraken Wakes (I don't think they're ever named)?

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Those who seek gold dig a lot of earth, but find little

The invaders from The Kraken Wakes are indeed never named - but they're definitely an underwater intelligence and fill the remaining blank slot. Cody's up!

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Oofiction: Calliope: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Stranglehold: a Captain Hesperus adventure | Local Midnight in the Vacuum Bar | A Farewell to Arms, Legs, etc.: the Blaze O'Glory Story

Such a fine tale, The Kraken Wakes.


Name the tune, name the sci-fi animation short, which is based on a short story from the fifties, which in turn shares its title with a song lyric from the forties.

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Those who seek gold dig a lot of earth, but find little