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So--and I mean this less snarkily than it sounds--he's sort of in the Mel Gibson camp then? Come to think of it, most of the dualisms I can think of are probably anti-Manichea…
16 Jul 2008, 17:56
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It's a fair cop. And, with regard to the Flood....perhaps modern society overly plays DOWN the "death and" aspect of the death-and-rebirth that baptism IS. That is....maybe bap…
16 Jul 2008, 17:42
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The outright rejection of pacifism (which I believe is pretty clear in the interviews) seems to directly repudiate much of the Sermon on the Mount, which I think I am being pre…
16 Jul 2008, 17:34
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Hey: is the submerging of Ushas drowning, or baptism? Seriously: we're supposed to be talking about the writings of someone who is a) famously conservative, and b) famously Cath…
16 Jul 2008, 17:07
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I wonder how long it will be until we hear the Bush administration, and perhaps certain other beloved purveyors of fiction with soft spots for torture and torturers, justifying…
16 Jul 2008, 16:43
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Note that something that "seldom exists" within the "Corridors of Time" has just about *got* to be a loving nod to Borges' "A New Refutation of Time." Adam…
16 Jul 2008, 16:37
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I always assumed these were actual heads (well, actual worked-metal heads) on the quillion....but I don't know if there is textual justification for this. Adam…
03 Jul 2008, 17:13
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Yeah, but if you can make pistol-sized ray guns, time-and-dimension- hopping-mirrors, and The Ship..... Doesn't Wolfe *say* in one of the Appendices that Terminus Est is inters…
02 Jul 2008, 13:49
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There's a truly vile pun here about rebooting, but I am too gentlemanly to....damn. Adam…
19 Jun 2008, 18:35
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Which is why I said, days ago, "Thus proving the Gyoll is Owl Creek." Adam…
18 Jun 2008, 20:09
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Or, to be pedantic, it might be a photograph from some *later* visit to Lune. Maybe it's a picture from the Chinese landing in 2041. Adam…
17 Jun 2008, 03:53
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Which makes the Gyoll Owl Creek, of course. Adam…
15 Jun 2008, 18:41
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I'd like to propose that every character in the entire saga is actually some iteration of Severian. I don't think I want to *defend* that proposition, necessarily. Adam…
14 Jun 2008, 17:09
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Except that Bas-Lag is flat. I think it's also carried on the back of a giant turtle, and there are some elephants involved, but that's just speculation. Adam…
13 Jun 2008, 14:52
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Note that a wildly variable sun is a feature of Jack Vance's _Dying Earth_, and that there's a lot to be said for the theory that _New Sun_ is _Dying Earth_ rewritten by a bett…
11 Jun 2008, 18:25
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Well, Severian doesn't seem to *ever* keep it in his pants, as far as we know, so we can assume that he was at least enthusiastically trying to splash about. As it were. Adam…
06 Jun 2008, 19:04
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From what I can tell of Wolfe from his writings and interviews, he doesn't think very highly of pacifism, and I suspect his God favors justice over mercy. His Redeemer may not…
05 Jun 2008, 23:53
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Oh, much more the second, I think. Of course, it's not entirely unknown as a bookbinding even on plain old Earth. Adam…
05 Jun 2008, 01:24
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The first Virga book didn't do much for me. _Lady of Mazes_ was much better. Adam…
23 May 2008, 17:26
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And, man, Chandler is underrated. That's some complex and delicious stuff there. Marlowe is *so* much smarter and better-educated than he lets on; one of my favorite not- quit…
18 May 2008, 03:36
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You probably want to look at Doyle's shift to spiritualism following the death of his son. Adam…
17 May 2008, 20:39
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Brian, you mean? Once the Penny Arcade archive is back online.... http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/10/15 Adam…
14 May 2008, 22:36
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Oooh! Oooh! Are we going to be putting Catholicism on trial here next? Adam…
13 May 2008, 14:14
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Hi there. Can we add John Crowley too? Also, re: Mi?ville: I felt that _Waiting For Jake_ was way too much "Look at me! I've read Borges! Aren't I clever?" I must admit to a…
12 May 2008, 21:41
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Russ Allbery's devastating review of _CoC_(A Case of Conscience) is right on the mark. The first fifty pages, I think, are actually pretty good, and then Blish takes the novel…
12 May 2008, 21:38
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There is that. Although one could argue that "Rape and Forgiveness" is absolutely in the Mervyn Peake tradition. The thing I think is useful to remember about Moorcock is that …
12 May 2008, 15:24
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What, Blue “yster Cult” The song *is* pretty much the last word in Paeans To Giant Lizards. Adam…
12 May 2008, 13:57
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The album title sorta gives that away, eh? Adam…
12 May 2008, 13:44
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Well, I grew up outside of Atlanta. So "Westminster" won't help you much, I'm afraid. I only moved to St. Louis in 2000. Do you still live here? I grew up on Heinlein too. …
11 May 2008, 22:58
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I asked him what I think was a pretty coherent question at ReaderCon '99, and was a drooling and incoherent fanboy when I ran into him at Archon last year. I wish that I had m…
11 May 2008, 22:53
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St. Louis. Omnivorous reader. Perhaps my home territory is SF; it certainly where I started and, really, where I generally look first when I'm in a bookstore. If I had to pi…
11 May 2008, 15:56
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You don't call MUST...EAT...BRAINS!!! enough of a selection process? I would have guessed it's along the lines of: "Augh! Dying! Hey! You! Yeah, you over there in the tunic! …
08 Jan 2008, 02:58
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For $400, I got an XO laptop, and some kid in some Third World country got one too. That's what a Kindle costs, only no happy child in some other country. It makes a *fantast…
21 Dec 2007, 05:54
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Yeah, I think *someone* is looking to be a volunteer for a demonstration of the Two Apricots. Adam…
18 Dec 2007, 17:40
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I don't know that I like this idea, but it's a new one to me: What if the Whorl never actually GOES anywhere? I've wondered before what the acceleration means in terms of whether…
17 Dec 2007, 04:01
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I've also read a lot of Niven. I concur with the above, although I have no reason to know his nice- guy-or-notness. Adam…
06 Dec 2007, 04:13
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It's good Protestant theology [0]. Which is odd, given the religious affiliations of Chris, Wolfe, and most Mafiosi. Adam [0] Yes, yes, I realize that I'm being reductionist t…
01 Dec 2007, 00:02
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I have no solutions yet. Just this: "Parted Meadow" makes "Rivendell" rather nicely. Adam…
28 Nov 2007, 20:19
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Ultan is pretty clearly Borges. I have it on good (but secondary) authority that Cyby is Gary-Stu. And that, of course, makes Nessus Buenos Aries (which fits rather neatly). …
27 Nov 2007, 20:18
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It's also a Borges riff; I think the story in question is "The Circular Ruins." Of course there's also the one about the Minotaur which I thought was the source for Seventeen,…
27 Nov 2007, 15:55
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I thought they were on Urth's distant past, that he had swung himself backwards into time to when the New Sun was not yet, and hence was stuck. I may well have misread that. …
15 Nov 2007, 02:54
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This would be Severian and the Urth of the New Sun, is my reading. In addition to being a Christ figure he's a Mosaic figure--he brings his world to salvation but does not him…
14 Nov 2007, 23:09
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Joan/John Cusack. Adam…
19 Jun 2007, 20:43
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I imagine there's not a lot of repeat business if they aren't. Now I must write a short work of IF, "La Grenouille", in which you play the eponym, just so that I can say (shamel…
10 Jun 2007, 03:20
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But once we go this far then we need to start considering second-and- third order effects. I mean, OK, so you have Moorcock. Looking back you've got Mervyn Peake, and forward …
10 Jun 2007, 00:05
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Not that you're, uh, exactly blameless on that score, eh? Adam…
09 Jun 2007, 19:38
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I suspect you're thinking of the first printing of Deities and Demigods, which contained both Melibone and Cthulhu Mythoi. Since TSR never actually licensed the rights from Ch…
05 Jun 2007, 22:03
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Gary Gygax says in the appendices to the AD&D v1 DMG (IIRC) that Dying Earth Magic was the immediate inspiration for the D&D magic system. I think it's there that he says that…
05 Jun 2007, 16:42
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That's odd. I generally regard the scientific method as the act of trying to make sense out of the darkness and chaos without an appeal to the supernatural. I don't think thi…
14 Apr 2007, 16:37
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ITYM "Il Duce Hauser". HTH! HAND! Adam…
13 Apr 2007, 02:31
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