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In my younger days. Oh. That question wasn't directed at me, was it? Adam…
23 Sep 2008, 04:17
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Yeah, there are a few D&D kids here. Gary Gygax did die a few months ago, and the earlier editions were pretty clear about where the inspiration came from. A lot of people, s…
21 Sep 2008, 05:46
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If you want Pynchonesque Stephenson, it'd have to be the Baroque Cycle: really really long, full of awful puns, and dotted with occasional non-sequitur musical numbers. Seriou…
16 Sep 2008, 04:33
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One question. Does the ending suck? Stephenson can't write endings. That's a lot of why I liked the Baroque Cycle. 3000 pages of fun, so the 30-page crap ending wasn't too ba…
16 Sep 2008, 04:27
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So I'm re-reading Robert Borski on _Peace_, and it's quite clever. But something else occurs to me. The characters have, indeed, obvious color associations. And, well, there a…
28 Aug 2008, 02:29
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Throw it in a deep pit. That always works. No one ever escapes from deep pits. Adam…
14 Aug 2008, 23:26
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I could never decide whether it was meant to remind us that this was not really Latin and that translations (including, of course, the one from Severian's tongue into English!)…
21 Jul 2008, 16:29
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Free bullets at Brunians' house! Adam…
21 Jul 2008, 05:19
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At the risk of being really snarky, have you ever held a real job? Adam…
17 Jul 2008, 03:29
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Whoa, whoa, whoa. Is it actually a permitted doctrine in Catholicism that faith in non-Christian religions can have salvific power? Doesn't that explicitly contradict John 14…
16 Jul 2008, 18:17
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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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