prelims

A Rendezvous with Drama

a scififantasy quiz

finals

written 1each question has two parts, each of which differs from the other part in only one letter

3x +10/0

1.First winner of the sci-fi triple crown. 1984 novel, first of the author’s Sprawl trilogy. It involves ‘jacking in’ to the matrix, and is considered to be the seminal work in its subgenre.

A disguise used by a certain entity after he was vanquished partially. He spent over a thousand years in an Elven castle.

2.The main antagonist in a landmark sci-fi novel. Represented in the film adaptation as a Nikon Nikkor 8mm F8.

(first part required) This person’s original name, which represents Hebrew for “voice of God”. This leads Larry Tyre to believe that this name alludes to Moses’ role as prophet.

3.Disambiguation -

● ______ the Old, son of Nain I● ______ II, son of Thror● ______, soundtrack from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

An Imperial military commander who has his own trilogy written by Timothy Zahn.

exchange sheets

1.First winner of the sci-fi triple crown. 1984 novel, first of the author’s Sprawl trilogy. It involves ‘jacking in’ to the matrix, and is considered to be the seminal work in its subgenre.

A disguise used by a certain entity after he was vanquished partially. He spent over a thousand years in an Elven castle.

Neuromancer

Necromancer

2.The main antagonist in a landmark sci-fi novel. Represented in the film adaptation as a Nikon Nikkor 8mm F8.

(first part required) This person’s original name, which represents Hebrew for “voice of God”. This leads Larry Tyre to believe that this name alludes to Moses’ role as prophet.

HAL

Kal (-El)

3.Disambiguation -

● _____ the Old, son of Nain I● _____ II, son of Thror● _____, soundtrack from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

An Imperial military commander who has his own trilogy written by Timothy Zahn.

Thrain

Thrawn

1.Here is an excerpt from a conversation from a book.

"Precisely, sir," said Daneel. "In theory, the X was the answer to our problems. In practice, we could never decide. A human being is a concrete object. Injury to a person can be estimated and judged. Humanity is an abstraction.”

This is an allusion to a certain modification that was made. What modification, that could remind one of a retroactive correction in the realm of physics too?

The Zeroth Law of Robotics, which reads - “A robot may not harm humanity, or through inaction allow humanity to come to harm”.

2.N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series follows three different time periods of the protagonist - her childhood (during which her name is Damaya), her early twenties (she’s called Syenite) and her late forties (she’s called Essun).

This depiction is an example of a Neopaganistic trio of deities that are often represented in literature - one that we’d be most familiar with from another popular epic fantasy series with medieval themes.

Which trio?

The Maiden, Mother and the Crone

3.Robert Simmons wrote a sci-fi novel in 2004 called Ilium/Olympos which featured many characters adapted from Greek mythology. In addition, it featured X, who features as a subhuman character in another (few-centuries-old) work of literature Y. X has been accepted to be an absolute monster, both literally and symbolically, and reviewers of Ilium/Olympos say that X is “a cross between Gollum and the alien of Alien”.

Vladimir Nabokov has always had an issue with the categorising of books as ‘sci-fi’ and once said “after all, if we start sticking group labels, we’ll have to put Y in the SF category, and of course thousands of other valuable works.” About this, The Guardian writes, “Of course there was an element of mischief in his words, but it does lead you to think about the relationship between theatre and the space age.”

The Tempest

Caliban

4. ID the two subgenres of SF.● Space ___ is adventure science fiction set mainly or entirely in outer space or

on sometimes distant planets. The conflict is heroic, and typically on a large scale. It is also used nostalgically, and modern space ___ may be an attempt to recapture the sense of wonder of the golden age of science fiction.

● The space ___ transposes themes of American ___ books and films to a backdrop of futuristic space frontiers. These stories typically involve colony worlds that have only recently been terraformed and/or settled serving as stand-ins for the backdrop of lawlessness and economic expansion that were predominant in the American ___.

Opera, Western

5.The society in the novel X is built on questionable dogmas. Women are believed incapable of advanced thinking, and are thus prevented from gaining an education, or even learning how to read and write. <word> that deviate from the ideal are (rather aptly) treated as untouchables, because their sharpness is potentially dangerous. Also, parents sometimes resort to dangerous medical procedures with the hopes of ‘straightening out’ the faults of their offspring.

The novel is a critique of Victorian society and a certain literature blog says that the author may have found the perfect platform for representing a narrow viewpoint. What novel?

6. only masquerading as SFFNeal Stephenson worked for a few years, from 1999 to 2006 at the company X. He says about his time as a visiting scientist there, “the bulk of my efforts were devoted to investigating possible alternatives to conventional rockets as ways of getting into space. Basically this involved producing a lot of Mathematica notebooks.”

Stephenson credits employees at X for thoughtful decisions which led him to write his nice 2015 novel Seveneves. The plot involves the unexpected disintegration of the moon and the subsequent catastrophe on Earth. A large number of moon fragments fly around and create what is called a “white sky”. What happens next can be described by the title of a Bob Dylan song, and two words from that title are used in the book to describe subsequent events.

What is the two-word company X, and what are these two words?

Blue Origin

Hard Rain

7.This ‘scourge’ in fantasy novels apparently was popularised by Anne McCaffrey in 1968 and ever since, it has become a staple in SFF literature. Its popularity can also (perhaps apocryphally) be attributed to the inauguration of Hawaii as a state of the USA. (hint?)

This facet may have a meaning in other languages, but in English there is no place for glottal stops and therefore they are by and large ignored by readers, rather ironically. They serve merely as visual seasoning. What scourge is this?

The insertion of rand’om apostrophes for no reason at all. Hoo dat Muad’dib?

8.This was first launched by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. It was the first trading card game produced, preceding other major movements like Duelmasters, Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon and Pokemon.

The game was first just called X, but lawyers said that the name was too generic to be trademarked. Therefore, two words were appended to the name making it X: ___ _________.

If it helps, in 2014, Hasbro announced a franchise film deal with 20th Century Fox to “launch a massive franchise on the scale of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings."

What game?

special round 4*+5/0

1.The power of magic in this world originates from the two god-like entities Preservation and Ruin. Most people capable of channeling this magic can channel only one type. One who can channel all is powerful beyond measure and the name given to such a person lends itself to the name of the series.

What series?

2.The magic in the Wheel of Time series, the One Power, originates from something called the True Source. The Source has a masculine and a feminine part, and both of these are complementary.

A subset of channelers in the series are able to wield a power called the True Power. This power is not differentiated into male and female parts, and can be used only if permission to use it is given.

What is the origin of the True Power?

3.X is a word found in Austronesian and Polynesian languages which means “power, effectiveness, prestige”. In most cases that it is used, it is understood that the power is supernatural. This word has now entered the world of fantasy and gaming to represent the specific energy required for specific tasks. Wikipedia now says “The number of works using the term since are too exhaustive to list.” What is the good word?

The game Magic: The Gathering was once called X Clash.

4.The four styles are based on four existing Chinese martial arts, namely Tai Chi, Hung Gar, Ba Gua Zhang and Northern Shaolin. There are also subcategories of each of these. Only some people are able to harness this ‘magic’ where they manipulate the classical elements by use of psychokinetic variants of the above martial arts described.

Additionally, whether this series can be considered as anime or as an American cartoon is often discussed. Which series is this?

exchange sheets

1.The power of magic in this world originates from the two god-like entities Preservation and Ruin. Most people capable of channeling this magic can channel only one type. One who can channel all is powerful beyond measure and the name given to such a person lends itself to the name of the series.

What series?

2.The magic in the Wheel of Time series, the One Power, originates from something called the True Source. The Source has a masculine and a feminine part, and both of these are complementary.

A subset of channelers in the series are able to wield a power called the True Power. This power is not differentiated into male and female parts, and can be used only if permission to use it is given.

What is the origin of the True Power?

The Dark One/Shai’tan

3.X is a word found in Austronesian and Polynesian languages which means “power, effectiveness, prestige”. In most cases that it is used, it is understood that the power is supernatural. This word has now entered the world of fantasy and gaming to represent the specific energy required for specific tasks. Wikipedia now says “The number of works using the term since are too exhaustive to list.” What is the good word?

The game Magic: The Gathering was once called X Clash.

Mana

4.The four styles are based on four existing Chinese martial arts, namely Tai Chi, Hung Gar, Ba Gua Zhang and Northern Shaolin. There are also subcategories of each of these. Only some people are able to harness this ‘magic’ where they manipulate the classical elements by use of psychokinetic variants of the above martial arts described.

Additionally, whether this series can be considered as anime or as an American cartoon is often discussed. Which series is this?

#triggered#research#phd#science

titleauthorabstracttheoryequipment

9. titleLarry Niven wrote a few books with a certain Jerry Pournelle, some being Inferno (1976) and Escape From Hell (2009). In 1978, they wrote the book X - _______’_ Hammer which deals with the imminent danger of an asteroid impacting Earth.

Arthur C Clarke also wrote a novel on similar lines in 1993, where the asteroid impacting Earth is called Kali. This novel has a four word title which could be interpreted in some manner as an opposite to X.

Identify the titles of both novels.

Lucifer’s Hammer

The Hammer of God

10. authorFrom an eulogy written in 2007, identify who is being spoken of.

I’m sure many see this as an opportunity, not a tragedy. Who is the heir apparent? I wonder how many authors emailed their editors Monday, asking if someone was needed to [...]. Even if none of them are chosen for that task, there will be a feeling that Tor needs to push somebody to fill the hole in their line-up.

And yet, I sit here thinking that something has CHANGED. Something is missing. Some hated you, Mr. X, claiming you represented all that is terrible about popular fantasy. Others revered you as the only one who got it RIGHT.

Personally, I simply feel indebted to you. You showed me what it was to have vision and scope in a fantasy series—you showed me what could be done. I still believe that without your success, many younger authors like myself would never have had a chance at publishing their dreams.

You go quietly, but leave us trembling.

Also, who wrote the eulogy, which is rather apt?

Robert Jordan

Brandon Sanderson

11. abstractA mysterious cosmic particle that is integral to the plot, this is also said to be the physical manifestation of Original Sin, which makes it an object deeply studied by the Church. The name of this ‘particle’ is said to come from an alternate version of the Bible in this world.

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for X thou art, and unto X shalt thou return"

What particle, and which series is this?

Dust, His Dark Materials

12. equipmentThe three of these are, aptly, in the three realms of the world - in the sky, beneath the earth and in the sea. The presence of these in the earth and the sea arose because the last owners of these had come into these unrightfully (by theft) and their hands were burned by these objects’ light. One thief committed suicide by jumping into a fiery pit and the other threw his into the sea. The first one that is currently in the sky was recovered from its original thief, and was used then as a token of repentance was then permanently set as a star.

The Silmarils

13. theory (science)An ansible is a device used in more than one significant science fiction book. Ursula K. Le Guin invented the concept in her 1966 novel Rocannon’s World saying that she derived the name from the word ‘answerable’ because it would reduce delays to a reasonable amount. The device was also used later in Orson Scott Card’s seminal Ender’s Game trilogy. Some scientific work later says that these devices could have used the principle of quantum entanglement to work.

Simply put, what purpose does this ansible serve?

Instantaneous/faster-than-light communication

14. theoryA plot device that is essentially used to refer to “unknown future technology”, this author’s use of Xs sadly has next to no scientific explanation. Some initial speculation says that the nature of Xs automatically implies the presence of powerful magnetic fields. They are also described to be made of a platinum and iridium alloy.

They are supposedly vulnerable to radiation and feature a volatile memory, which is justified by the fact that _____s in storage require power to keep their Xs “alive”.

This author focused less on the technical aspects, and more on the psychological aspects of his characters and his stories. His reliance on Xs made his 1940s and 50s stories not too dated, because he spoke about Xs instead of transistors and vacuum tubes.

positronic brain

15. X?The following is an excerpt from the Reddit AMA of C. Robert Cargill, a novelist and more recently, the screenwriter of the movie X.

“Scott Derrickson wanted The Ancient One to be an Asian woman, but felt that it would be perceived

as exploiting Asian fetish and "a fanboy's dream girl." He decided to cast a non-Asian actor in the role,

but to still take the opportunity to cast "an amazing actress in a male role." The casting of _____

_______ as The Ancient One was particularly controversial and drew accusations of whitewashing, as

the character is portrayed as a Tibetan man in the source material. However, one proposed reason for

the change is that a movie featuring a Tibetan character will not be acceptable in China, which has

become a very important foreign market. So the deviation from the source material was probably to

not hurt the movie's box office chances.”

Doctor Strange

16.The X and the Y is a 2013 historical fiction/fantasy book that tells the story of two displaced magical creatures in 19th century NYC. It is an immigrant tale that combines elements of Jewish and Arab folk mythology. One of the creatures is an X, created out of clay to be her master’s wife. The master dies in the journey to NYC, however. The other creature is a Y, a being of fire, who is freed after a thousand years by a tinsmith in NYC.

The second book of a trilogy featuring a (rather hilarious) Y as a protagonist has the word X in its title.

Plotholes5q on plotholes+5/0

1.While killing off the older versions trigger a warning that summons law enforcement almost immediately, surely they can be injured or incapacitated to make the younger versions’ jobs easier?

2.Although the movie ended on a happy and triumphant note, the filmmakers seem to have conveniently forgotten that the explosion of a 500-mile long mothership would cause debris to rain down, killing a large number of people. Considering an asteroid a mile long is enough to destroy Earth, and since there were multiple smaller ships 15 miles in length that also exploded, there’s a pretty big plothole here.

3.This one has a bunch of scientific plot holes, but maybe the most obvious question to ask is this: training to be an astronaut takes a minimum of 8-9 years, but training to be a driller takes maybe a year. Why not train astronauts to be drillers instead of the other way ‘round?

4. In the first movie, the lack of weapons on a time traveller is explained by the fact that only organic materials can make it through time travel. Since X has living tissue over a metal endoskeleton, he was able to travel back.

The plot hole appears in the second movie, where Y is made of a “mimetic polyalloy” - no organic materials.

5.A (shitty) explanation for this plot hole is that the ___ is quite literally a giant bullseye - all the bad guys aim for the star.

exchange sheets

1.While killing off the older versions trigger a warning that summons law enforcement almost immediately, surely they can be injured or incapacitated to make the younger versions’ jobs easier?

Looper.

2.Although the movie ended on a happy and triumphant note, the filmmakers seem to have conveniently forgotten that the explosion of a 500-mile long mothership would cause debris to rain down, killing a large number of people. Considering an asteroid a mile long is enough to destroy Earth, and since there were multiple smaller ships 15 miles in length that also exploded, there’s a pretty big plothole here.

Independence Day.

3.This one has a bunch of scientific plot holes, but maybe the most obvious question to ask is this: training to be an astronaut takes a minimum of 8-9 years, but training to be a driller takes maybe a year. Why not train astronauts to be drillers instead of the other way ‘round?

Armageddon.

4. In the first movie, the lack of weapons on a time traveller is explained by the fact that only organic materials can make it through time travel. Since X has living tissue over a metal endoskeleton, he was able to travel back.

The plot hole appears in the second movie, where Y is made of a “mimetic polyalloy” - no organic materials.

Terminator.

5.A (shitty) explanation for this plot hole is that the ___ is quite literally a giant bullseye - all the bad guys aim for the star.

Why doesn’t anyone shoot Captain America in the legs?

17.This is the X Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation is awarded every year to recognize excellence in screenwriting. A bigger image follows on the next slide. The design of the logo is inspired by one of X’s most famous novels, which is, in the words of X himself, a “half-cousin to a novel” and “a book of stories pretending to be a novel”. X, and the novel.

Ray Bradbury

Martian Chronicles

18.This book was first published in 1987, and was followed by The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. It features as its protagonist Svlad Cjelli who operates based on the "fundamental interconnectedness of all things”. His MO is to do things wholly, and this results in him running up large expense accounts and then claiming that every item (such as needing to go to a tropical beach in the Bahamas for three weeks) was, as a consequence of this "fundamental interconnectedness", actually a vital part of the investigation.

The protagonist, however, uses a pseudonym that he says “has a Scottish dagger feel to it”. What is the name of the 1987 book, that had a TV series released on Netflix in December 2016?

19.In the novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, the villain is a certain L Bob Rife, whose name is a shoutout to a real-life person who, among other things, was also a sci-fi writer.

L Bob Rife and this person share an investment in science and technological advancement as a means to understanding the mind and influencing the spirit. The real life person also developed what he called "the modern science of mental health".

Who is L Bob Rife’s real-life analogue, somebody most famous for something sci-fi-y?

L Ron Hubbard

20. tiny written round. (3*+4/0)We wanted to make an entire special round on this beautiful thing called Cage Match by a blog called Unbound Worlds, but we aren’t that unprofessional so we’re restricting to one question (or maybe two).

edit : we are very unprofessional.

very. a. Identify this species.

b. c.

a. Sandwormb. Marvinc. Mark Watney

21. Connect (exhaustive list)● Zeus (Percy Jackson and the Olympians)● Odysseus (Troy)● Chris Da Silva (Silent Hill)● Stinger Apini (Jupiter Ascending)● Mitch Henderson (The Martian)● Snow White’s Father (Mirror Mirror)● Corporal Hill (Pixels)

Sean Bean characters in Sci-Fi/Fantasy works that do not die.

Note: Sean Bean alone gives no points

22.This photo is one from a series that depicts mashups of Disney princesses with video game character classes.

The character class depicted here is broadly that of a Holy Warrior, combining the abilities of warrior and priest. The concept is believed to have originated from the Knights Templar, as well as the right-hand men of the Emperor Charlemagne - who shared the same name as the class.

In game terms, an X is thus a Warrior character first, proficient with heavy arms and armor. Yet at the same time an X is gifted with blessings or magical capabilities such as healing, protection, and countering evil magic.

WTGW?.

Paladin

23. FITB.

Balrogs.

24.___ is a departure from its predecessors, in that it depicts darker and grittier themes than one would normally see. Creator Mark Millar was inspired by Western-themed movies during his creation of ___.

When a consortium of bad guys decide to attack, X is fooled by a psychic attack into killing most of his friends, prompting him to first attempt suicide, and later move out to California to lead a peaceful life until a blind Hawkeye enlists his services as a driver. Then, of course, in true X style, all hell breaks loose.

Editor Axel Alonso remembers thinking, “A Spaghetti Western set in a brutal, dystopian future? What’s not to like?”

FITB, or give me X.

Old Man Logan

X - Wolverine

Portals5 q on portals+5/0

1.Give universe or name.

2.Where does this portal lead?

3.Name the portal.

4.Name universe.

5.From which franchise?

exchange sheets

1.Give universe or name.

Monsters Inc. (or) Boo’s door.

2.Where does this portal lead?

Narnia.

3.Name the portal.

Bifrost.

4.Name universe.

Harry Potter ftw.

5.From which franchise?

Mass Effect.

25.“The raid is set off balance at the outset by the ___’s determination not to support operations against Scarif because they cannot verify intelligence reports that the plans are located on Scarif and that they might hold a secret to the station’s weakness. This leaves the raiding party without conventional support, such as tactical lift and close air support. However, the commander of a special operations detachment, Captain Cassian Andor, volunteers his detachment to X for the mission. This force is composed of light infantry and numbers approximately 20-30 troopers. Armed with mainly light weaponry, they are capable of swift movement, infiltration, and demolitions. However, with no crew-served weapons and very few anti-armor guided munitions, they are not equipped for sustained conventional battle. Cassian directs his men to take anything “that isn’t tied down” to augment their meager supplies. Critical to their operation are demolitions charges, which they are able to acquire.”

An excerpt from a military blog describing a skirmish from where?

Rogue One.

26.

26.World War Z

27.A post seen on r/asksciencefiction:

I've been offered an internship at both Aperture Science and Black Mesa, but I'm not sure which to pick. I'm looking for some input before I decide.

And a reply:

I work in the applied chaos theory laboratory at Black Mesa, and let's just say it is a hoot and a

half. Getting to play with the [REDACTED] is nothing but a joy, and [REDACTED] serves as an

excellent way to order pizzas so they arrive right when you want them.

My buddy works at Aperture and he's been trying to come over here for years. Something

about, and I'm writing him here, "The crazy cancer man bounced a lemon off the blue wall and

into my nuts."

2 parts: where would you have seen Aperture Science, and what is Black Mesa a remake of?

Portal.

Half-Life.

28.This guy who goes online as NalakaG has written a 120 page biography about someone. Who?

29.The person Chris Hadfield is tweeting at essayed a role (his most well-known) in which his character was required to carry out duties similar to what Hadfield is describing.

Who?

William Shatner

30.The author of this series cites the following as her sources of inspiration for the setting of her novels -

● The Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur ● The Roman gladiator games● Reality television programs.

Which series?

The Hunger Games

31. Y?While this concept was made famous by much more recent series, modern writers have credited X for introducing the idea of a Y. The author of X has said that Y was in part a response to the image of wizards as ancient and wise, and to her wondering where they come from and how they became so.

Born in 1929, the author of X has often been called “the greatest living American science fiction author”.

Other, slightly more obscure examples of Y include Brakebills (The Magicians by Lev Grossman), Balamb Garden (Final Fantasy) and Wizard’s Hall (Wizard’s Hall, by Jane Yolen)

X: A Wizard of Earthsea

Y: Wizarding school

it’s done