Gardening
spiders
Ungoliant, who took the form of a giant spider and, along with Dark Lord Melkor, destroyed the Two Trees of Valinor
And
swords that are broken
Elendil's sword Narsil, called The Sword that was Broken
after
its damage in a battle against Sauron, and later caried by
Aragorn (Strider
).
Words
in the Elvish Tengwar script:
One ring to rule them all, one ring to
find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
in the
Black Speech
The Black Speech of Mordor is a language constructed by Sauron.
That must not be spoken
Unfaithful stewards
Denethor, the 26th ruling Steward of Gondor.
Denethor, the 26th ruling Steward of Gondor.
Who don't want their kings
Denethor, the 26th ruling Steward of Gondor, is unhappy about the
arrival of Aragorn, the rightful king.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
[hook]
When the
orc
An orc is a creature in The Lord of the Rings
, created by Sauron.
bites,
When the
probe
A neuronic probe is a fictional device in The Currents of Space
.
stings
When I'm feeling bad
I simply remember
My favorite
kings
Aragorn, king of Gondor
And I don't feel so bad.
Hobbits fall
captive
Merry and Pippin, captured by Saruman's orcs
to
Former
Saruman the White, head of the White Council,
stripped of his rank by Gandalf
Istari,
Who anger
ents
Treebeard, the oldest of the ents
and
Never say sorry,
Wormtongue
A henchman of Saruman
at
Gandalf
A palantir flings,
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Peddlers
a zone agent of the Confederacy of Vega
in the story Agent of Vega
who drive their
Mysterious wagons
Petite young
ladies
Lessa, in the novel Dragonflight
, is the last surviving
member of the ruling family of Ruatha Hold. She has been
recruited as a dragonrider She is taken to a hatching, at which
she impresses (establishes a telepathic bond with) the newly
hatched dragon Ramot.
Who can speak to
dragons
Large flying telepathic reptiles on the planet Pern.
Travelling the Cosmos
In a
ship who sings
Helva is an intelligent girl born with a severely disabled body.
Her society trains people with such disabilities to operate machinery
via a direct brain link. In Helva's case, she is trained to
operate a spaceship (brain ship
), and became known as
The Ship Who Sings
due to her habit of singing to herself.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Time traveling bar men
‘—All You Zombies—’
from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 1959
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 1959
Who are like no others
The protagonist of ‘—All You Zombies—’
is
a bartender who, with the aid of a time machine and a sex change
operation, is his own father and own mother.
Who are their own fathers
And are their own mothers
Robert Anson Heinlein is known as the dean of science fiction authors
Of all such stories
Know
Heinlein's
Robert Anson Heinlein is known as the dean of science fiction authors;
his stories By His Bootstraps
and
‘—All You Zombies—’
are iconic in the genre.
are kings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
A
ducal detective
Lord Darcy is the Chief Forensic Investigator for the Duke of Normandy in several stories by Gordon Randall Phillip David Garet (Randal Garet).
Whose
aide
Master Sean O'Lochlainn is Lord Darcy's magical aide.
does the magic
Finds that their cases
Are often quite tragic
I hope that more stories
still lurk in the wings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Oversized
lizards
Adzel is a reptilian alien partnered with the human David Falkayn in Trader Team
by Poul Anderson.
With partners named
David
David Falkayn in Trader Team
by Poul Anderson.
Who trade with sophonts
who sometimes are rabid
Finding new planets
With glorious rings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Operation Changeling (Part 1) from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1969
Operation Changeling (Part 2) from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1969
Witches and werewolves
Werewolf Steven Matuchek and his wife Virginia (Ginny
) Graylock
Whose babies are taken
Agents of the Hell World have replaced their daughter Valeria with a changeling
Don't take it lightly
Steve and Ginny invade the Hell World to rescue Val.
The Hell World is shaken
Steve and Ginny summon a whole pantheon of supernatural beings from other universes.
See angry parents
Operation Chaos
Rescue their changelings
These are a few
Of my favorite things.
Calvin
In Henry Beam Piper's novel Lord Kalvan of Othewhen
, Calvin
Morrison is a Keystone cop who is accidentally taken into and
stranded in an alternate universe by a paratime transporter: he
later learns that the region is called the princedom of Hostigos.
The locals later have trouble with his American name and refer to
him as Lord Kalvan.
who knows his
Military history
In Henry Beam Piper's novel Lord Kalvan of Othewhen
, Calvin
Morrison is a Keystone cop who is accidentally taken into and
stranded in an alternate universe by a paratime transporter: he
later learns that the region is called the princedom of Hostigos.
The locals later have trouble with his American name and refer to
him as Lord Kalvan.
Runs afoul of the great
Paratime mystery
The existence of alternate universes and of paratime transporters
has been kept a secret for thousands of years.
The hand of a lovely
Young
princess
Princess Rylla, the daughter of Prince Ptosphes of Hostigos.
it brings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Peasants are
fleeing
Calvin is eating dinner with a Hostigi family with whom he does
not share a common language when they are interrupted by a small
party of raiders from Nostor, a neighboring country. He helps his
hosts fight off the raiders, taking their horses and weapons as
spoils. They see smoke from a nearby village and a group of
villagers fleeing from more raiders.
'Till Kalvan
takes over
Calvin rallies the villagers and leads them in a successful
couterattack.
They win the fight but he's
Shot by his lover
Princess Rylla is leading a counterattack from the rear and shoots
Calvin, mistaking him for a Nostori soldier. Upon discovering her
error, she has him taken in and cared for.
A chance to win glory
And power it brings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Some yell in terror
But he can yell louder
He teaches Prince
Ptosphes
How to make gunpowder
The making of fireseed
(gunpowder) is a temple secret of
Styphon's House. Kalvan laughs.
To the priests of Styphon
A gauntlet he flings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
They
thought they were lost but
Styphon's House has decreed a ban on selling gunpowder to Hostigos and
is supporting Nostor's plan to conquer Hostigos.
Their
hopes
When Kalvan teaches the Hostigi to make a superior grade of gunpowder,
they become optimistic.
he's igniting
Yet he can't keep Rylla his
Love from the fighting
Rylla is assertive, and insists on participating in the defense
of her homeland; Neither her father Ptosphes nor her fiancé Kalvan
can disuade her, even after she breaks her leg in battle.
He is a rival
To all the great kings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Graduate students
English major Matthew Mantrell, in Christopher Stasheff's novel
Her Majesty's Wizard
Who feel they're in Hades
Mathew is transported by magic into an alternate universe.
Rescue from prison
Deposed royal ladies
Princess Alisande, the daughter of the deposed king of Merovence.
Summoning dragons
Mathew attempts to conjure a source of light for his cell;
he inadvertently summons the dragon Stegoman instead.
With tears in their wings
Stegoman's tribe ripped holes in his wings to protect
themselves from his eratic behavior.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Bean-nighes and
bean sidhes
with their cheerful greeting
Portend that your pleasures
Are doomed to be fleeting
Bloody detergent
in Esther Friesner's novel "Gnome Man's Land",
a Bean-nighes washes her bloody clothes at a laundromat.
To your clothing clings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Rogue mercenaries
1632, the first novel in the 1632 series
Camp followers harry.
Some look to
Gretchen
Maria Margaretha "Gretchen" Richter, a camp follower in a
Catholic military force of about 2,000 men, who has taken many
fellow captives under her wing.
Who is rather scary.
She will protect
Those under her wings.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
A bright
teenage boy
Jeff Hiffins, one of the Four Musketeers
in Grantville,
a close-knit group of teenage boys.
Told to
stay out of trouble.
If you can, warn off Hoffman's men. But they probably won't
listen to you, and I don't want you taking any chances. Don't do
anything else until the reinforcements arive.
After one army was
Turned into rubble.
Aid
Hoofman's men have spotted the camp followers. Jeff, ignoting
his orders and saying "Over my dead body". attempts to defend
Gretchen and her "family".
to poor Gretchen
And her folks he brings.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
The dying
Diego
Diego The Spaniard
is a greatly feared mercanary.
He is badly wounded, but Gretchen is afraid that he might survive,
Who demanded water
Sweet gentle Gretchen
Said
you are for slaughter
Diego has been eyeing Gretchen's 14 year old sister Annalise,
Gretchen has decided to kill him to protect Annalese from rape.
Much needed concealment
Gretchen does not want to be seen killing Diego.
Jeff Higgins
then brings.
Jeff blocks the view of Gretchen and Diego from potential onlookers.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Small gentle
treecats
Treecats are a highly social nonverbal species native to the
planet Sphinx in the Manticore binary star system. While telepathic
among themselves, they are only able to read human emotions.
Due to the native predators on Sphinx, treecats have evolved an
impressive ability to defend themselves, and it would be a fatal error
to assume due to their gentle nature that they are helpless.
With friends that are royal
The House of Winton is a protector of treecats.
The reigning Elizabeth Adrienne Samantha Annette Winton (Queen Elizabeth III)
has bonded with a treecat.
Humans with treecats
To whom they are loyal
Mess with their two legs
This refers to an assassination attempt against Grayson Planetary
Protector Benjamin Mayhew IX at a banquet honoring Honor
Harrington. Honor and her treecat Nimitz are severely injured
while defending Mayhew.
And see what that brings
This refers to the damage that Nimitz inflicts on the assasins.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Audobon dancers
The Audobon Ballroom is an antislavery organization widely considered to be rerrorist.
who
Will not be chattels
Have strange bedfellows
To help with their battles
With secret agents
They sometimes have flings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Betan survey ships
A ship from the Survey Service of Beta Colony, captained by Cordelia Naismith.
Whose captains are taken
Captain Lord Aral Vorkosigan from Barrayar captures Cordelia.
Vorbarran warships
That with strife are shaken
A mutiny on Aral's ship.
Mess with
Cordellia
A slit throat she brings
Admiral Vorrutyer has tied Codelia, a prisoner for the second time,
to his bed, tortured her and ordered Sergeant Konstantin Bothari,
who is intensely loyal to Aral, to rape her. Bothari instead slits
his throat, because Cordelia is under Aral's protection.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Stealing
The capture of Miles Vorkosigan's artificial womb
during Count Vidal Vordarian's coup.
the
son
of
A
helpless Vor Lady
Cordelia organizes a forbidden rescue party for Miles, including armsman Bothari.
Who has an
armsman
Who is rather shady
Losing your head
After Cordelia captures Count Vidal Vordarian, he refuses to
accept that his cause is lost, Cordelia orders Bothari to execute
him, and he says "What? You're a Betan! You can't do—". Bad
guess ;-)
is
The fate that it brings
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Anger Cordelia?
You'd better get hopping
Lest you be there
When she starts to go shopping
Soon after Cordelia returns home with her rescued son, the
security staff want to see what is in the bag containig
Vordarian's severed head. After looking they ask how to list
it in the security inventory and she says Put it down as a
Winterfair gift for Admiral Vokosigan.
Aral has ordered that
she be taken to him as soon as she returns, and she joins a sealed
meeting. Aral's father, Count Piotr Pierre Vorkosigan, angrily
asks her Good God, woman, where have you been?
, she holds
up the bag, replies Shopping. Want to see what I bought?
, and
spills the head on the table.
Look what a pacifist
Cut off one little head and people remember it forever" ;-)
Betan girl brings
These are a few of
My favorite things
Vorbarran agents
Miles Vorkosigan in his persona as Admiral Naismith, on a covert
mission to extract Dr. Hugh Canaba from Jackson's Whole, with a
cover story of weapon shopping.
Who couldn't be bolder
Who have affairs with
A gene-tailored soldier
An 8' tall super soldier
commissioned by people who have
never seen combat, and treated as a laboratory animal. She
refuses to believe that Miles considers her human unless he makes
love to her.
A rescue shuttle
Bel Thorne's mission to ransom Miles.
That takes a few dings
Miles refuses to allow Bel Thorne to swap the quaddie Nicol for
him, and instead orders his men to fight. They are able to escape
in the shuttle, but it sustains damage while escaping.
These are a few of
My favorite things
Thieves dressed as boys
Kim, an adolescent girl who dresses as a boy because she is afraid
of being forced into a brothel if her sex is discovered. She is
hired to break into the wagon of Mairelon the Magician, who does a
magic show, and to look for a silver bowl.
Who are caught and coopted
Kim is caught by Mairelon and coopted into assisting him in an
investigation into the theft of the Saltash set
, which
incldes the silver bowl she was asked to look for,
Help solve a case
Kim discovers that Mairelon is actually Richard Merrill, a real
magician and member of an aristocratic family. Mairelon, his
assistant Hunch and Kim have a series of comic encounters with
various suspects.
And wind up adopted
Towards the end of the investigation, Kim mentions that a spell
she had deliberately interrupted looked bad, and Merrill explains
to Kim that only people with magical talent can see magic being
used. He then proposes making her his ward and teaching her magic.
Hide behind the table
Kim sees that Baron Gregory St. Claire, the thief that Merrill is seeking, is
attempting to cast a spell and hides behind a table.
When a foe magic flings
Kim sees that St. Claire, the thief that Merrill is seeking, is
attempting to cast a spell and hides behind a table. She sees that
the spell is miscast, and disrupts it, averting disaster.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Students of magic
Merrill is teaching Kim multiple languages and assigning magical
texts for her to read.
Weighed down by their reading
Merrill is giving Kim magical reading assignments in multiple languages.
Who their decorum
While Merrill is somewhat unconventional and neither he nor his
mother Lady Wendall are unduly unconcerned with decorum, his
paternal aunt Agatha Lowe, living in his brother Andrew's
house and acting as a chaperone for Kim, is very much a stickler
for appropriate
behavior.
Not always are heeding
Merril's aunt lectures both Kim and Merrill on what she
perceives as inappropriate behavior. She does, however, make
limited concessions to the demands of magical training.
Rescue their teacher
Merrill is part of a group casting a spell and Kim discovers that
he is in danger of insanity as a byproduct of the spell. She
trades places with him, risking her life, and averts disaster.
And get wedding rings
Merrill proposes to Kim after she recovers from her participation
in the spell.
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Bungled proposals
The widowed Ekaterin Vorsoisson wants a year of mourning before
considering any suitors. Miles, in love with her, is afraid that
someone else will marry her, and hires her to design a garden of
native plants as a ploy to be in frequent contact with her. Miles
unwisely confides in his his cousin Ivan Xav Vorpatril (That
idiot Alex
), who decides to prank Miles.
At a family dinner, Simon Illyan, the former head of Imperial
Security (ImpSec), asks about Miles's intended proposal to
Ekaterin, causing Miles to make a panicky proposal, and Ekaterin,
outraged at being manipulated, storms out.
can
Sometimes be tricky
You'll face his mother
When you mess with Nikki
She's a strong lady
Who knows a few things
These are a few of
My favorite things.
Gullible inlaws
Want to take Nicholai
Emperor Gregor
Responds to his outcry
Meddlesome shavetails
The
emperor
zings
These are a few of
My favorite things.