Literary Challenge Answers
Feb. 2nd, 2005 12:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
djonnAnd here, rather belatedly, the answers to the "Twenty Lines" meme. I honestly expected more of these to be guessed, though I grant that some of them are very, very obscure.
The pattern mentioned in the original post was simple enough -- I gave the quotes in alphabetical order by author.
1. My mind very carefully boggled. (The Butterfly Kid, Chester Anderson)
2. Of course you know all that, if you’re reading this, so they’ll probably cut this first paragraph. I hate that-it makes me think about just giving up and not writing when people cut my work without asking. (Orbital Resonance, John Barnes)
3. “But this isn’t a fairy tale, Ruffles. It’s real life in the kingdom of Noland.” (Queen Zixi of Ix, L. Frank Baum) --![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mrlogic
4. I can’t tell you how often I shouted to an assistant director, “Okay, okay-- I’ll be right there,” as I typed the last few thoughts before dashing out to torment Hercules or Xena. (If Chins Could Kill, Bruce Campbell)
5. “You may not lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now, because the world is yours and it is up to you.” (Silver on the Tree, Susan Cooper) --janni
6. …the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known. ("The Final Problem", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) --malkingrey
7. “Well, Commander--if you’re convinced my daughter is worth more than a promising career in the Medical Service, I’m certainly not going to hold it against you.” (The Price of the Stars, Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald)
It didn't occur to me until after posting the list that I'd included a work written by a friends-list member....
8. What’s loved, survives. (Deep Wizardry, Diane Duane)
9. I should have known that something was very wrong when the Mules started flying erratically. (Twelve Fair Kingdoms, Suzette Haden Elgin)
10. (a)“You can do anything in fiction as long as you’re consistent. And once something, a place, a character, is conceived, it acquires an existence of its own--a past, a present, and a future.”
(b)“My dear sir, we are all figments of Somebody’s imagination.” ("The Marley Case", Linda Haldeman)
The short story from which the above two lines are taken is one of maybe two dead-flat-brilliant followups to Dickens' A Christmas Carol that I've ever seen. The premise is simple: our contemporary narrator finds himself escorted into the past ("My past?" "No. Long past.") to solve Jacob Marley's murder -- the full explanation for which I won't spoil; suffice it to note that it involves J. W. Wells & Co., Sorcerers ("It's an old established family firm. The present proprietor is Gilbert's sorcerer's grandfather."). It's a very funny piece, but also a first-rate extrapolation with a subtle streak. Haldeman is a bit better known as the author of a handful of equally good fantasy novels, the most popular of which is probably The Lastborn of Elvinwood.
11. Beware of her divine light, and take cover. (Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart)
12. I am, by all that’s holy, going to do so on my terms. And you’re going to have a hell of a time helping women from the bottom of a well if you don’t go along with this. (By the Sword, Mercedes Lackey)
13. “And now that the Game is finished, and we’ve decided to bury the pieces,” I added, “may we have the strength to resist all temptation to dig them up again!” (The Eight, Katherine Neville)
14. “I know a little bit, but not enough, about everything. I’m a librarian, remember?” (The Murders of Richard III, Elizabeth Peters)
15. “My God,” she said aloud. “It’s The Lustful Turk.” (Die For Love, Elizabeth Peters)
16. The autocrat, Mistress Radegund d’Portiers, looked about ready to shatter into tears. And it’s only Wednesday. Poor lady. (Murder at the War, Mary Monica Pulver)
17. The Arts Quad was also one hell of a place to fly kites, even on a day with no wind. (Fool on the Hill, Matt Ruff)
18. Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting
So much as just finding the gold. ("The Spell of the Yukon", Robert Service)
19. “Oh, I don’t know. Slay a few monsters, outwit a few magicians, drain a few Chaotic Zones, negotiate a few treaties . . .”
”And after lunch?” (Heart of Valor, L. J. Smith)
20. For the world’s more full of weeping
Than you can understand. ("The Stolen Child", W. B. Yeats) --malkingrey
The pattern mentioned in the original post was simple enough -- I gave the quotes in alphabetical order by author.
1. My mind very carefully boggled. (The Butterfly Kid, Chester Anderson)
2. Of course you know all that, if you’re reading this, so they’ll probably cut this first paragraph. I hate that-it makes me think about just giving up and not writing when people cut my work without asking. (Orbital Resonance, John Barnes)
3. “But this isn’t a fairy tale, Ruffles. It’s real life in the kingdom of Noland.” (Queen Zixi of Ix, L. Frank Baum) --
mrlogic4. I can’t tell you how often I shouted to an assistant director, “Okay, okay-- I’ll be right there,” as I typed the last few thoughts before dashing out to torment Hercules or Xena. (If Chins Could Kill, Bruce Campbell)
5. “You may not lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now, because the world is yours and it is up to you.” (Silver on the Tree, Susan Cooper) --
janni6. …the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known. ("The Final Problem", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) --
malkingrey7. “Well, Commander--if you’re convinced my daughter is worth more than a promising career in the Medical Service, I’m certainly not going to hold it against you.” (The Price of the Stars, Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald)
It didn't occur to me until after posting the list that I'd included a work written by a friends-list member....
8. What’s loved, survives. (Deep Wizardry, Diane Duane)
9. I should have known that something was very wrong when the Mules started flying erratically. (Twelve Fair Kingdoms, Suzette Haden Elgin)
10. (a)“You can do anything in fiction as long as you’re consistent. And once something, a place, a character, is conceived, it acquires an existence of its own--a past, a present, and a future.”
(b)“My dear sir, we are all figments of Somebody’s imagination.” ("The Marley Case", Linda Haldeman)
The short story from which the above two lines are taken is one of maybe two dead-flat-brilliant followups to Dickens' A Christmas Carol that I've ever seen. The premise is simple: our contemporary narrator finds himself escorted into the past ("My past?" "No. Long past.") to solve Jacob Marley's murder -- the full explanation for which I won't spoil; suffice it to note that it involves J. W. Wells & Co., Sorcerers ("It's an old established family firm. The present proprietor is Gilbert's sorcerer's grandfather."). It's a very funny piece, but also a first-rate extrapolation with a subtle streak. Haldeman is a bit better known as the author of a handful of equally good fantasy novels, the most popular of which is probably The Lastborn of Elvinwood.
11. Beware of her divine light, and take cover. (Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart)
12. I am, by all that’s holy, going to do so on my terms. And you’re going to have a hell of a time helping women from the bottom of a well if you don’t go along with this. (By the Sword, Mercedes Lackey)
13. “And now that the Game is finished, and we’ve decided to bury the pieces,” I added, “may we have the strength to resist all temptation to dig them up again!” (The Eight, Katherine Neville)
14. “I know a little bit, but not enough, about everything. I’m a librarian, remember?” (The Murders of Richard III, Elizabeth Peters)
15. “My God,” she said aloud. “It’s The Lustful Turk.” (Die For Love, Elizabeth Peters)
16. The autocrat, Mistress Radegund d’Portiers, looked about ready to shatter into tears. And it’s only Wednesday. Poor lady. (Murder at the War, Mary Monica Pulver)
17. The Arts Quad was also one hell of a place to fly kites, even on a day with no wind. (Fool on the Hill, Matt Ruff)
18. Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting
So much as just finding the gold. ("The Spell of the Yukon", Robert Service)
19. “Oh, I don’t know. Slay a few monsters, outwit a few magicians, drain a few Chaotic Zones, negotiate a few treaties . . .”
”And after lunch?” (Heart of Valor, L. J. Smith)
20. For the world’s more full of weeping
Than you can understand. ("The Stolen Child", W. B. Yeats) --
malkingrey
