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More than anything else, I think it's a matter of not wanting to give the game away -- he has repeatedly claimed that everything we need to know is there, and he doesn't want to te…
25 Jul 2006, 17:09
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Good heavens, who _accused_ you? Accusation is for bad things. Lupine obsessions are just part of the game, something to be aware of and allow for, not to avoid like the plague. Cl…
25 Jul 2006, 02:10
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ARCs usually have plain paper covers with only some type giving the publishing information and noting that it is an ARC.…
24 Jul 2006, 18:59
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I definitely recall an OT passage -- the one Oreb's name is taken from. Can't think of a NT passage, but it's been a couple of years.…
23 Jul 2006, 17:06
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That's a really interesting take. I like it. I'll have to give it some thought.…
23 Jul 2006, 05:41
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Since it's fiction, we don't have to 8*) Frankly, I think Wolfe kind of wrote himself into a corner here -- by having Urth's history _so_ parallel to Earths, he put himself in a p…
22 Jul 2006, 06:51
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Aaaargh. You're right, I just spaced on that.…
22 Jul 2006, 06:48
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The son of Joseph and Mary, who was both enlightened and possessed by the Outsider.…
21 Jul 2006, 18:22
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B writes... ... after some stuff I generally agree with on method ... Now, you see, I'm not even convinced of _that_ (though, as always, I'm willing to be convinced). I think Fat…
21 Jul 2006, 18:19
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I wasn't suggesting that they should be "limited or dismissed." Rather, that we should take account of them, both in ourselves and in other posters, as they emerge. Thus, I'm cert…
20 Jul 2006, 17:53
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I didn't say the Crucifixion hadn't occurred. An interesting interpretation. The exact quote is: "To those who have preceded me in the study of the posthistoric world, an…
20 Jul 2006, 17:34
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B, I meant to write "...where you can _easily_ break out...", so we are more in agreement than you thought! Clearly there is a reason why Zak's Ship goes all that way rather than …
19 Jul 2006, 21:24
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To indicate that it is not our Earth. You're right there. However, what appears* to be the case is that it is "our Earth" in a previous cycle of the Universe, but in the far future…
18 Jul 2006, 18:22
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Yes; or, by the nature of wikis he could remove it himself. But here's the thing. This puts the burden of monitoring the wiki -- the whole thing, or at least every article about a…
03 Jul 2006, 19:15
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Or what. Nobody belled the cat. Doubtless you are, module some appropriate definition of the word "important." I suspect that most actually- important things (as opposed to clever…
24 Jun 2006, 01:11
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Actually, this immediately sounds Tim Powers-ish to me. Not that that's a bad thing!…
16 Jun 2006, 17:18
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Probably not, but I believe the approach I'm mulling over -- basically, a weighted version of fuzzy definition -- would make defining SF a lot less controversial also. It's just th…
16 Jun 2006, 16:47
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Alan, Thank you for posting that -- I do like Tom Stoppard a lot (especially _Travesties_ and _Dogg's Hamlet and Cahoot's Macbeth_ and ... Oh, heck: I like Tom Stoppard), and what…
16 Jun 2006, 02:12
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Stanislaus, Ummm ... no, I don't think so. That's a very _narrow_ definition of opinion. I can have the opinion that Gene Wolfe is a good writer; or that the Earth is flat; or tha…
14 Jun 2006, 19:57
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Now that we've all had the chance to play "bash the fantasy writer (and fellow list members)," does anybody have any thoughts on the original quote? To save y'all from having to di…
14 Jun 2006, 18:01
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I'll go you one better: I don't hate any writer of any sort, at least as a writer. Nor any musician, painter, or any other sort of artist. I hold with Kurt Vonnegut that hating a w…
12 Jun 2006, 06:48
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This provides a good jumping-off place to answer Stilskin's question, "What was Donaldson doing that nobody had done before in fantasy?" 1. Disclaimer: since I haven't read every …
10 Jun 2006, 21:05
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It seems to me (which I like to use instead of "I think" or "in my opinion") that, while the "I think" statement is _factually_ implicit in any utterance, failure to _explicitly_ m…
10 Jun 2006, 06:57
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No; but I do think that anyone who confuses "writer I don't like" with "egregiously untalented," or confuses their personal opinions with facts ("Donaldson's early prose is mind-nu…
10 Jun 2006, 01:02
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Case in point... If you really think that, then you should go enjoy some nice Terry Brooks and Dennis McKiernan books, and leave the adults alone.…
09 Jun 2006, 22:53
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Experience. I'd better explain that. I don't mean that this is a particularly disdainful group of readers/fans. But Donaldson has come in for a great deal of disdain over the year…
09 Jun 2006, 22:52
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Ooooo. I woudl so like to read ... h'mmm, I'm pretty sure "Hunter Lake" has been collected ... but any of the others that haven't been?…
09 Jun 2006, 00:34
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Ahem. --Dan'l…
08 Jun 2006, 21:22
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H'mmm. It's certainly true of 5HC -- #5 has only Maitre, the shadow-child doesn't have much of a paternal presence (vague memory, y'know), and VRT's mum vanished years ago. It's …
07 Jun 2006, 18:28
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Somehow ... I've never been able to take Fechin very seriously. I suspect after all these years that his resonated in my mind with Steppin Fetchit. --Dan'l, embarassed…
05 Jun 2006, 19:16
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Actually, I took the mask to suggest that the assassin was a disaffected member of the Order of Seekers for Truth and Penitence who did not approve of the Autarch Severian's reform…
31 May 2006, 18:48
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Ummm. While I'm not interested in accusing you (or anyone else) of being a bully, I do feel that this is just a wee bit OTT. --Dan'l…
29 May 2006, 05:17
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Be, How do you feel about extratextual statements by the writer? I ask because some people feel that the author of a work has no special authority over the work or its interpretat…
29 May 2006, 05:13
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This is correct. And there were exceptionally beautiful human faces -- to the point, as I recall, that they were no longer quite human -- underneath the second layer of masks. Seve…
27 May 2006, 02:11
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Totally off topic, but ... Is there any particular reason why you believe b to be a he? I had tentatively decided "she," but would not presume to address b as either "he" or "she"…
26 May 2006, 02:09
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Heh. The question was bait and I got switched! I guess I was trying to see if, for example, anyone would suggest the alzabo as a cacogen: certainly, a case can be made. What human…
24 May 2006, 00:44
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"Both cacogen and hierodule" is like saying "both vertebrate and mammalian." The latter implies the former. You are right, of course, that the text leaves the hierosity of Father …
24 May 2006, 00:03
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Seconding what Daniel says; B, I find your posts fascinating, and usually well-reasoned even if I don't agree with them. You are not the first person to come into this list and mak…
23 May 2006, 23:57
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For those of us who aren't big opera fans, can you give us an outline of Tannhauser?…
19 May 2006, 04:57
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B, The "clone wars" were a series of postings, some of them quite heated, on a propounded theory that Silk was a clone of Typhon, in itself not utterly imporobable, but then follo…
19 May 2006, 04:53
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Because Baldanders is nasty, brutish, and, uh, tall? No; I think you're quite correct. This is one of those things that has been under our noses forever. D'oh! Of _course_ the Meg…
18 May 2006, 22:49
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Ooooh. Nice detail; I'd forgotten that entirely. And we've had a previous significant encounter with a slippery wet stone in a river, which involved Juturna -- yes? --Dan'l…
18 May 2006, 19:56
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Typhon's own hair? I'm pretty sure it's blond, contrasting with Piaton's black. Unless I've reversed them.…
18 May 2006, 19:53
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I had the impression that the undines were women once who'd gone through a process like-but-unlike what Baldanders is doing to himself: like, in its main physical effects; unlike, …
18 May 2006, 18:36
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The text, of course. Baldanders is a human scientist attempting to achieve a kind of godhood. If this isn't clear, I can only say, read more closely, especially the sequence (in CL…
17 May 2006, 20:22
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Ummm ... no. Baldy is not a "baby Abaia," he is a human who aspires to the state of Abaiahood. Given that Abaia seems to be a kind of demonic being, this is equivalent to saying th…
17 May 2006, 20:00
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Where to begin ... First of all, pedophilia, unlike gayosity, does _not_ appear to be significantly biological in origin. (Twin studies, etc.) Second, you seem to be taking an ex…
17 May 2006, 17:20
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By George, I think b's got it.…
15 May 2006, 05:12
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The man has a point.…
15 May 2006, 02:18
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Why, thank you!…
13 May 2006, 23:36
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