LMB Quote Game

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 7:30 am

God, he looks tired,YYY realized; for a split second, almost ghastly. XXX, you have much to answer for. But XXX knew that.

Italics are thoughts.
I am not clear as to why some parts are in italics and some are not. A bonus if you explain it to my satisfaction.

Anyway:
Book? The Vor Game
Who is YYY, who thinks the italics part? Miles
Who is XXX? Gregor
Who is "he" (not a trick question, "he" is neither XXX nor YYY) Aral

What XXX has to answer for... Gregor ran away on Komarr, causing all sorts of problems back home (not to mention the problems keeping track of him in Hegen Hub).

As far as the italics go, the best I can come up with is that Miles wasn't thinking that specifically. It turned from thoughts to narrative. Alternately, they didn't catch that it should be a thought the first time around (according to Lois, italics were a bit harder to indicate when she first started writing), and it just stayed through the reprints (it's like that in my copy of Young Miles, too).

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 8:06 am

Yes, your turn.

As far as the italics, well, the part about "almost ghastly" could be a narrative, but the one about "Gregor knew that"? How can it not be Miles thought? I like your idea about their missing it was italics and not changing it later. (I also have it in "Young Miles", not as a separate "Vor Game" edition.)
Well, I am still not sure it is worth a bonus, I should not have offered it. One sherlock anyway, of course.

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 11:50 am

Not sure I would have qualified my answer as a bonus either. I'll take the Sherlock though, and here's the next quote:

You cannot push back the darkness with reason. You have to use fire.

What book?
Who was trying to push back darkness with reason?

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:23 am

Well, Suzette, if you hope that I'll answer 10 hours from now when my 5 days are up, I'm sorry I'll disappoint you since I am totally clueless

Maybe you could give a hint?

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:45 am

Best hint I'm coming up with is :It's not the Vorkosigan series.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:45 am

That much, I had pretty much concluded. It did not sound like the Vorkosiverse.
Unfortunately, this is what I know best, together with the two first Chalion books, but I doubt it is in either.

OK, so a totally wild guess:

"Hallowed Hunt"

The "darkness-pusher" could be Ingrey.
Don't ask me to whom he is talking, though, too many possibilities! (Fortunately, this is not in your question)

BTW, should I write
"Don't ask me to whom he is talking"
or
"Don't ask me whom he is talking to"
?

French syntax led me to the first one, but I suspect correct english syntax is the second one.

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:08 pm

Nope! Right series, wrong book. I wasn't going to extend the quote, but a little bit might help without giving it away. Adding any more on either end makes the book, at least, a dead giveaway.

It's kind of funny that the expansion of the quote gets into the italics issue from the last quote. I think all of it is thought, but from two different people, so it had to be separated somehow.

You cannot push back the darkness with reason. You have to use fire. Where had that thought come from?

What book?
Who was trying to push back darkness with reason?
Where did the italicized thought come from?

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:45 pm

GOT IT!

You cannot push back the darkness with reason. You have to use fire. Where had that thought come from?

What book? Paladin of Souls
Who was trying to push back darkness with reason? Royina Ista
Where did the italicized thought come from? Ista and Dy Cabon are discussing the dreams he has been having where he is captured by Roknari soldiers and tortured and killed.

I think the entire passage takes place in Ista's mind, the first two sentences are "verbalized" via her internal monolouge, then the last is given by what I call "the narrerator" we all keep in our heads, the one who observes and comments on things, but isn't speaking to us. Two distinct entities, combined in one person. If that makes any sense.

James

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:04 pm

Correct, though I'd actually attributed the italicized words to the Bastard speaking in her head (and would have said that dy Cabon was trying to push back darkness with reason).

Still, right book, right passage. You're up!

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:49 pm

Having had a half hour on the exercise bike at the gym to mull it over, I think you are correct!

Ok, here we go:

...Who are you who asks?

Book?
Who is being spoken to?
What are they discussing?

James

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:18 pm

voralfred wrote:BTW, should I write
"Don't ask me to whom he is talking"
or
"Don't ask me whom he is talking to"
?

French syntax led me to the first one, but I suspect correct english syntax is the second one.

Actually, most English syntax books prefer that you don't end a sentence in a preposition, so the first one would be the correct one. Colloquial English would probably have said, "Don't ask me who he is talking to." (because English speakers frequently misuse who/whom, in part because we don't have to deal with noun cases on a regular basis. I didn't actually *understand* the usage of whom vs. who until I took Russian in college. Since it's been over 10 years since I graduated, and closer to 16 since I took Russian, I've since forgotten the whys of the whole thing. And I was an English major in college.

Probably more than you wanted to know on the subject, but there it is.

Suzette

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:18 am

SPetty wrote: Probably more than you wanted to know on the subject, but there it is.

Suzette

No, no. Thanks a lot, I am always anxious to improve my english.

JKCade wrote:
...Who are you who asks?
Book?
Who is being spoken to?
What are they discussing?

James

Almost four days...
Could we have a hint before SPetty (who won the two last quotes that she did not ask herself

Suzette

) is allowed to answer?

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:10 am

[/quote]What other game was there?

Who are you, boy?

...Who are you that asks?

Book?
Who is speaking?
What are they discussing?

James

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:29 am

The quote tags seem a bit off.
Is the first sentence "What other game was there?" part of the quote?

It looks increasingly like what Miles could ask himself in Memory after he was kicked out of ImpSec, but I checked it and it is not there!

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 11:17 am

FOUND IT FOUND IT FOUND IT
I had guessed the correct book: Memory
the correct character(s): Miles discussing with himself (Lord Vorkosigan vs Admiral Naismith? Not really.. just two more persona...)
but not when Illyan kicked him out, but rather when Haroche offered to take him back and he was "wrestling with temptation."

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:11 pm

Correct! Yes, sorry about the formatting, didn't quite get it right. Your up, and congratulations!

James

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:18 pm

Holding two deuces and the joker. He must surely either concede or....

Book?
Who holds "two deuces and the joker"?

Bonus: ... or what?
I'd take any reasonable synonym, I don't require the exact phrase.

Ragua · Post by **Ragua** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:16 am

Book?
Who holds "two deuces and the joker"?

The Mountains of Mourning
Miles
He must either concede or "start bluffing like crazy."

It's a passage using poker (I think) as a metaphor for the accomplishments of Piotr and Aral.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:02 am

Correct on all counts!
One sherlock and a half, and the next quote.

Ragua · Post by **Ragua** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:25 pm

"It's the only deal I know where, when you give more than you get, you aren't bankruptedâ€”but rather, vastly enriched."

Book?
Speaker?
Person being spoken to?
Subject/Topic of the quote?

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:53 am

"It's the only deal I know where, when you give more than you get, you aren't bankruptedâ€”but rather, vastly enriched."

Book? Mirror Dance
Speaker? Cordelia
Person being spoken to? Mark
Subject/Topic of the quote?Mark states that he can't ask Cordelia for help because he already owes her much, to which Cordelia replies that you can't pay back your parents, you pay on to your children (or society if you don't have children).

I didn't look it up, but I'm pretty sure it's correct.

Ragua · Post by **Ragua** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:24 pm

You got all of it right but the book

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:12 am

In that case, it has to be A Civil Campaign (I really ought to watch my assumptions when I do that sort of thing. I know ACC WAY better than Mirror Dance. I was just thinking it was in relation to going to get Miles instead of the whole "butter meets laser beam" area).

Ragua · Post by **Ragua** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 6:32 pm

You got it! You're up!

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:40 pm

"I wish your gun had more of a bang."

Book?
Who's speaking?
Whose gun is it?
What are they shooting at?