Oolite Bulletins

Sam Slade and Cutie?

Tik-Tok, by John Sladek.

Moya, from Farscape.

The Spline, from Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence.

The Subways of Tazoo by Colin Kapp, one of the Unorthodox Engineers series. That's number three … I would also have accepted the UE story "The Railways Up on Cannis". Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga series has interstellar travel by gate, with railways the most common form of travel since you...

Cody wrote: ↑
Wed Jan 15, 2020 2:37 pm
At last, I have the bloody title! Cowboy Angels by Paul J McAuley. Muchas gracias, amigo!

Ding! That makes two …

Likewise! The second one that came to mind has had me scratching my head for years, as I can't recall the title, the author, the plot, or the characters - nothing, except the huge trains which were the only way to traverse the portals between worlds. Any ideas, anyone? Ha! Yes, I know the one you m...

Cody wrote: ↑
Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:47 am
The train on Schar's World?

Very much a yes on that! It was the first one I thought of.

Here's an animation someone made at their art school of a scene in the train tunnels from Consider Phlebas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC6sJ-Ysb2Y

OK, another five: let's have five trains - by which I mean a linked sequence of vehicles running on a track - in science fiction. I'm not looking for Thomas the Tank Engine in Space or anything here: just five examples of trains in SF stories (books, short stories, TV, film, games, etc.), where the ...

I can't think of any more FTL solar sails, but a laser-pumped one is used in Robert Forward's Rocheworld, AKA The Flight of the Dragonfly.

If anyone has a right to be mad at Harry and Meghan it's the people of Sussex, who have been left leaderless without their Duke and who are now defenceless against incursions from Hampshire and Kent.

Charles Stross's Neptune's Brood has laser-boosted interstellar solar sail ships.

Larry Niven's The Fourth Profession has Earth visited by aliens (travelling via solar sail starships) who want us to build a laser cannon on Mercury to propel them to their next destination. What they don't mention is that if we don't they'll leave anyway but blow up our sun once they're on their w...

Cody wrote: ↑
Thu Jan 09, 2020 5:25 pm
Wiki says:
The elemental war between hydrogues and faeros continues to sweep across the Spiral Arm, extinguishing suns and destroying planets.

Good enough!

I hesitate to mention this, as I gave up after the first two novels, but I think The Saga of the Seven Suns has some staricide going on. Hmm … not something I've read. From googling they do seem to be able to turn gas giants into mini-stars, though, so it's not impossible. That makes four: one more...

ffutures wrote: ↑
Wed Jan 08, 2020 9:49 pm
Stargate SG1

That's two.

ffutures wrote: ↑
Wed Jan 08, 2020 9:49 pm
E.E. "Doc" Smith did this several times, most notably in the final book of the Skylark of Space series

Yes - multiple times, right enough! That's three …

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