Ticket to Ride Trivia Quiz

Answer: Starstormers

There are five books in the series; the first one, "Starstormers", was first published in 1980. The others are "Sunburst" (1980), "Catfang" (1981), "Evil Eye" (1982), and "Volcano" (1983).

Answer: Helva

"The Ship Who Sang" was first published in 1969, and Anne MacCaffrey later used the "Shellperson" characters in several other novels too. A shellperson is a one whose body has failed them, almost always as a newborn, and they are housed inside a complete life support system inside a titanium shell.

They can then be educated and trained, and eventually put to work, as a space ship, planetary manager, or even a space station. They are in massive debt by this point, to the galactic authorities who pay for their shell, medical treatment, and education, but with work, and luck, they can pay off these debts and "buy themselves free" of any obligation. Helva is one of the lucky ones who manages this.

Answer: Jellico

Captain Jellico, and Queex the Hoobat are the undisputed rulers of the Solar Queen. Hoobats are described as a cross between a crab and a parrot, with blue colouring and a mean disposition :-D
Jellico and the rest of the Queen's crew feature in the "Solar Queen" series of books by Andre Norton. The fifth of them, "Redline the Stars" (1993), was written jointly with Pauline M. Griffin. The last two of the series, "Derelict for Trade" and "A Mind for Trade", both published in 1997, were written in collaboration with Sherwood Smith.

Answer: The Apocalypse Troll

All four of the books in question are by David Weber. "The Apocalypse Troll" was published in 1998. "Torch of Freedom" (2009) was written together with Eric Flint, and is set in the "Honor Harrington" universe. "Out of the Dark" was published in 2010, and "We Few" in 2005. "We Few" was written with John Ringo and is the final book in the "Empire of Man" series.

Answer: Sable Keech

"The Voyage of the Sable Keech" is Neal Asher's second "Spatterjay" novel, and was first published in 2006. They are set in the same universe as his "Agent Cormac" and "Polity" novels.

Answer: An ash tree named Yggdrasil

The crew refer to their tree ship as Yggie and it is almost "one of the family" on their epic journey.
"Genesis Quest" and its sister volume "Second Genesis" were both first published in 1986.

Answer: Northwest Smith

The first published Northwest Smith story was "Shambleau" which appeared in "Weird Tales" November 1933 issue. The complete set of all the stories was also printed in an omnibus edition, "Northwest of Earth" published in 2007.

Answer: Offog

Realising that they have no idea what their "offog" is, and knowing they cannot get away with an inspection without accounting for it, the crew decide to report it destroyed. Unfortunately, this report sparks a bit of a panic back at Central Command, and it turns out that an offog is actually an Off. Dog, or official dog.
These events occur in the story "Allamagoosa", by Eric Frank Russell, which won a Hugo Award in 1955.

Answer: Cory Doctorow

"I, Row-Boat" was written in 2006, available as a downloadable e-book. It was then published in book form in 2007's "Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present". It was also nominated for a Locus Award in 2007, placing third in its category.

Answer: Dream Pool Essays

The UFO is described as "a pearl shaped object" which "shone a blinding light", and "cast a shadow over ten miles across".
Shen Kuo had a distinguished career as an officer in the army, and a high ranking government official, before he retired to his isolated country estate to write.
The earliest copy of "Dream Pool Essays" extant is one which dates from 1166AD, which is now housed in a Japanese museum.
English translations of parts of the essays can be found in various volumes of "Science and Civilization in China". This series of books by Joseph Needham began to be published in 1954.