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Cathaholics, aka Recovering Catholics are not unique on the American scene. To evoke interest one must be interesting. Brian: You are all individuals! Voice In Crowd: I'm no…
26 Nov 2008, 00:09
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Ron Hubbard was an excellent writer. "Fear" is possibly the scariest book I have read. .…
24 Nov 2008, 22:18
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That's it. .…
23 Nov 2008, 16:09
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Severian certainly does tell the Secret Of The Guild. .…
22 Nov 2008, 22:35
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Nigel and I had an exchange of letters before he left for WindyCon which makes this strange situation look even stranger, but I think I would need his permission before going into …
17 Nov 2008, 20:10
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I didn't even know that Rosemary *had* a phanton twin. .…
17 Nov 2008, 19:03
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Oh my! Poor Nigel! I do hope he is OK, are you following up? .…
17 Nov 2008, 02:37
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Probably. There are normally a couple three totally obscure people in every generation who get the joke. .…
06 Nov 2008, 23:10
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That is the short answer. The long answer is that Plato was aware when he wrote the dialogue that people would spend a lot of time, money and effort trying to implement his 'ideal…
06 Nov 2008, 21:25
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Heavens no. .…
06 Nov 2008, 21:21
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(A) Pimps tend to have accurate perceptions and judgements about human nature and motivations, and hence make good leaders. The greatest general who ever lived was a slave dealer. …
06 Nov 2008, 20:28
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Are you saying that anyone, with any sense is liberal about some things and fascist about some others? .…
05 Nov 2008, 19:53
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A person can be disaffected at Bush and still be quite concerned as to what an untried liberal Democrat who came up out of what is perhaps the wackiest urban political scene ever i…
05 Nov 2008, 15:09
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He was home for a while off-stage, between volume two and volume three. He forgets. .…
04 Nov 2008, 14:41
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Cadmus was from Phoenicia. As are Greek letters, the polis and a lot of other things that people think of as typically Greek. Yes, Perseus was the ueber-Greek. Wasn't Danae Cadmus…
20 Oct 2008, 17:03
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I read a *way* interesting book about this, which does happen, in this instance among the Mapuche of Chile. What actually is done (or was done in this case) is that there is a disa…
20 Oct 2008, 12:56
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So did the Bni Israel, at least according to the Bible. 'Baal' means 'Lord'. That's it. Contrast various names in Kings and Chronicles. -baal becomes -bosheth ('bosheth' means 'sh…
20 Oct 2008, 11:43
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Mr Thalassocrat writes: You have to watch that Ezra guy. .…
20 Oct 2008, 11:11
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John Watkins writes: Yes, that is true. And the other one could be Yemen, Nubia or Abbysinia. All of these countries had really a lot to do with each other: straight shot down the…
20 Oct 2008, 11:09
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Oopsies! I thought it was Phoenicia, but it was actually Ethiopia or one of them. I see that the other Cassiopeia is associated with Phoenix. Here is a very good summary of the my…
20 Oct 2008, 10:57
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Master the Ruler of the Seas writes: And where was that country? .…
20 Oct 2008, 10:44
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Nigel writes: Damn. Blast. Or the past. Children have made excellent soldiers at least since the devlopment of lightweight repeating firearms (say a hundred - hundred fifty yea…
20 Oct 2008, 10:40
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I've done that twice. I am considering buying a convention ticket, a train ticket and a hotel room this time. It would not be a sensible thing for me to do right now. .…
10 Oct 2008, 23:49
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Yes, Jupiter's Great Red Spot has been widely known since shortly after the invention of the telescope. .…
10 Oct 2008, 18:11
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Right. This is in reference to two fictional characters, in the play Cassie is originally appearing in. .…
10 Oct 2008, 16:13
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The play Cassie is in at the beginning of the book is called "The Red Spot" and two of the other characters in the play are talking about taking their vacation in the moons of Jupi…
10 Oct 2008, 16:11
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Don writes: Beg to differ, Takanga sounded a lot more like Tonga than it does like anyplace else. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonga In any case it is obviously a Polynesian and …
09 Oct 2008, 07:26
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I bought it and read it yesterday. It is very interesting, but (as with all of Wolfe's books) I am sure that I will not begin to get it until several readings. .…
08 Oct 2008, 21:01
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Matt writes: The Wolfe/Gaiman collaboration? And what about the Wolfe/Swanwick collaboration? Are these still happening? .…
06 Oct 2008, 17:53
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Adam writes: Don't forget the soupcon of Romano (*not* Parmesan) on top of the Render Unto Caesar salad. .…
05 Oct 2008, 22:27
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Matt writes: Could be, masked man. He's aware of it, and of what goes on here, and has opinions about it. Indeed he does. I'd say some kind of a lemon/basil vinagrette, perhaps…
04 Oct 2008, 21:57
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It probably means that I screwed up and should check again.... .…
30 Sep 2008, 16:25
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I was thinking of going but could not find a room at the convention hotel. How did you manage to find one? Or did you get one at another hotel? .…
30 Sep 2008, 14:46
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This is what I think also. Yes. Me too. But I wouldn't want a blood transfusion from one. .…
22 Sep 2008, 22:10
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So you are arguing that all life that is native to Urth is compatible _in the sense that we are talking about_? For instance, mollusks and vertebrates, here in this world, both ha…
22 Sep 2008, 20:23
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All life here isn't. It may be that there are a limited number of possibilities: I don't see how this makes it necessary for there to be a Creator. .…
22 Sep 2008, 19:05
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I believe that he is making a little joke: some people call it 'scientism', when you make a religion out of science. .…
22 Sep 2008, 19:02
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I was in the service when D&D first came out, and beginning to experience the kind of slack an infantryman may experience if he is not in a combat zone and knows the way things wor…
20 Sep 2008, 18:27
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Sure. Sorry, I was confused by your saying 'real ghosts', which I took to mean 'ghosts as people who believe in ghosts in the real world believe they behave'. .…
18 Sep 2008, 14:07
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Pedro writes: Flimsy. There is a whole class of ghosts that interact with physical objects. They are called poltergeists. .…
18 Sep 2008, 13:58
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Swanwick is great. .…
17 Sep 2008, 03:17
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Haven't read Capek, but Dostoevsky puts me to sleep. .…
16 Sep 2008, 05:33
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I've had other people say similar things to me, but I don't see it as all *that* good. But then I don't really like either Pynchon or Gibson either. .…
16 Sep 2008, 04:25
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I hope not: 'Snow Crash' wasn't that bad. I have no idea if Brooks is good or bad apart from Shannara: the one Shannara book I read traumatized me so badly that I am unlikely to r…
16 Sep 2008, 04:03
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It looks like Stephenson has done a 'Sword Of Shannara' on TBOTNS. What a maroon! .…
16 Sep 2008, 01:56
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Oh yeah. I thought everybody knew this. .…
07 Sep 2008, 00:36
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For the Romans it was, yes. Was it for the Carthaginians? For the Chinese? For the Japanese? For the Polynesians? Compare Olmec jade and Shang jade: http://www.chinese.tcu.edu/ww…
04 Sep 2008, 15:44
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That and lots of other stuff. Cocaine and nicotine in Egyptian mummies, Roman sculptures in Mexico etc. .…
04 Sep 2008, 14:01
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You don't think that there was at least occasional transatlantic contact? Seriously? .…
04 Sep 2008, 00:34
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Like? .…
03 Sep 2008, 18:40
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