wiki-illiam #104: q18 and LAST at last hooray

( Q18: During 2008: )

the rules as they have evolved:
a: nice full answers and anecdotes if poss
b: say if googled or no; leave time for non-googlers to play
c: obviously look ahead at future questions if you want
d: don't bring in confirming or dissenting answers from other fora until next set is up and running

( spoilers )

i dremt i dremt

a: it was the end of the world ftb THE CITY OF HELL had appeared on earth
b: which is the plot of james blish's faust aleph-null (first line: "the room stank of demons")
c: in death valley i think (it is in the blish book anyway)
d: we were trying to escape by not overflying it...
e: ... but where we did fly acted like a wooden spoon through porridge on the land below us :(
f: so in fact we were causing one of the effects of hell ourselves, very turbulent local earthquakes (like spoon thru porridge cf e above)
g: it was imperative that we meet the lord of hell himself
h: who was a scion of a great earthling tycoon viz murdoch or similar...
i: and very VERY fat...
j: and squeezed into a costume representing this fine fellow immediately below