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Yes, those were two novels by each of them that I hadn't yet read, so I read them both recently, hoping for resonances. My first impression is that they each took their own unique…
17 Dec 2012, 16:02
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Oh goodness, yes! In terms of sheer intensity and originality of imagination, I put him up there with Wolfe and Lafferty and Lewis and Tolkien (as a theological myth-maker). And …
17 Dec 2012, 15:51
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David Stockhoff, you're first paragraph made me 'LOL' as they say (in spite of its wrong Robinson). David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net> wrote: 'If the story always comes …
29 Nov 2012, 16:34
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Very good. We need to see more application of his essay on Tolkien to his own works. It's easy to get so lost in his intricacies and tensions that we lose sight that the works do…
28 Nov 2012, 23:30
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So you take hard s.f. to be a philosophical position (committed to some form of naturalism, if not physicalism)? I've heard Michael Flynn is a theistic hard s.f.er, but I don't kn…
28 Nov 2012, 23:06
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Ah, helpful. That's part of what I was wondering too - whether the story itself suggested or allowed for the 'commingled atmosphere theory'. Sounds like we need to discard it (im…
28 Nov 2012, 22:59
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Yep, that's what I was worried about, but I have no scientific training so I didn't know if there were some exquisitely rare scenarios where this might be just barely plausible. (…
28 Nov 2012, 22:48
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I look forward to your analysis. (Again, I note that Lafferty had similar slightly bemused and sceptical reactions to not only the hippie/post-hippie movement in general but the '…
28 Nov 2012, 22:39
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That's a wonderful thought, Antonin! Is this feasible? (Both generally and in the text?) -DOJP…
28 Nov 2012, 16:04
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I'd tend to agree with Lee here. -DOJP…
28 Nov 2012, 16:03
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Lafferty felt himself just slightly distinct from mere 'white': he said in an interview that he avoided being a WASP by the narrow margin of being instead a 'ruddy Irish Catholic'…
28 Nov 2012, 16:01
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DAVID STOCKHOFF <dstockhoff at verizon.net> wrote: 'a character claiming that only he can provide eternal life' = 'a character saying he goes from house to house delivering gifts …
28 Nov 2012, 15:53
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It's the same phenomenon with Wolfe as with Lafferty - these conservative Catholic blokes happen to have such boundless imaginations (with philosophical/theological gridwork to hol…
28 Nov 2012, 13:24
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ha ha! I thought maybe it was 'nuncio' and 'Aeon' and such. Someone should start a band called that (S-T.M.E.o.H - er, St. Meh?). -DOJP…
28 Nov 2012, 12:13
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Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote: Trying to reinterpret your words in my own coarse fashion, I wonder if we can stretch the analogy to suggest that as metal being bl…
27 Nov 2012, 16:16
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Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote: Good and evil, the divine hammer and tongs which forge us, yes? Still, between such awesomely superhuman shaping tools, I'm not sur…
27 Nov 2012, 14:21
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I'm also reminded that Jesus said he would be lifted up on the cross just as Moses lifted up the bronze *serpent* in the desert, so that all who looked toward it would be healed of…
27 Nov 2012, 13:57
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My point is that seraph means serpent and there's nothing in the Biblical text that I'm aware of that tries to distance that snake-like image from the angelic beings themselves. A…
26 Nov 2012, 22:12
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I don't think seraphim are affirmatively both angelic and serpentine in the canonical books.…
26 Nov 2012, 21:08
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Well, fellas, I can't get into it now, but there are PhD theologians out there who see it differently - it's not as cut and dried as you gents are making it sound. Omnipotence and…
26 Nov 2012, 20:58
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A universe with a preferred history has the advantage of being scientifically compatible with some kind of Judeo-Christian deity who can be seen as selecting the best of all possib…
26 Nov 2012, 20:28
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Especially if we buy into Daniel Petersen's ideas regarding Wolfe's libertarianism, humans who prey upon other humans are to be considered parasites. Forgive me for being pedanti…
26 Nov 2012, 16:21
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We need the illusion(?) of free will to function as a human being on a day by day basis. But the devoutly religious must somehow reconcile this with the irrational awareness that w…
26 Nov 2012, 14:23
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Clearest in his treatment of the chems. That is, you may not necessarily own even your thoughts, but there are still occasions where you get the opportunity to make meaningful dec…
26 Nov 2012, 13:01
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Some passages struck me as flirting with some sort of determinism (even if compatibilist), but I can't recall where offhand. Does anyone see any evidence of *libertarian* freewill…
26 Nov 2012, 11:33
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Your observation on Commitments that Shape human life contributes fruitfully to a discussion of Wolfe's rendering of 'predestination and freewill' (a major thematic thread of his w…
23 Nov 2012, 11:49
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Thus, the serpent cursed to crawl on his belly is a de-winged dragon. But it doesn't sound like their are claws to speak of on these flying-serpent 'dragons'. But Satan is referr…
23 Nov 2012, 00:04
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Yeah, that's a plausible reading. I need to read the book again. I came away with the kind of possibilities you're suggesting here in tension with what seemed to me a more spirit…
03 Nov 2012, 21:37
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The Chris who is writing the story seems a bit more complex than some cunning greedy mob boss type. His commentary on both his pirate adventures and his current Catholic and urban…
03 Nov 2012, 16:55
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Congrats, Allan! Thanks for sharing! Always glad to hear about my favourite author (and one of Gene Wolfe's favourites). Dan'l, that's very interesting that it's your favourite …
01 Oct 2012, 23:03
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I didn't realise this one hadn't been collected elsewhere. I can't believe it. It's one of my favourite short stories. His interaction with the android girl reminds me just a ta…
01 Oct 2012, 11:32
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That was meant to read: 'so it still seems superfluous to me...'…
28 Sep 2012, 20:10
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Well, any 'real' magic (i.e. occult sorcery or what have you) wouldn't be 'just magic' anyway, it seems superfluous to me that you point this out. I'm not in any way denying causa…
28 Sep 2012, 20:07
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David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net> wrote: "Strike the scaffold, boys!" Cheeky so and so... "You're saying the same thing I am, except my example was drawn from straightf…
28 Sep 2012, 20:01
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No, Chekhov's gun does *not* have to be combustive rather than demonic *if* demonic forces are part of the narrational storyworld - the 'scientific' view in that case would be to a…
28 Sep 2012, 19:26
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On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 7:15 PM, Marc Aramini <marcaramini at yahoo.com> wrote: For the most part, I think there are still mechanistic or symbolic explanations for stuff like this,…
28 Sep 2012, 19:21
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Ant?nio Pedro Marques <entonio at gmail.com> wrote: Vision: - I think this is one case where Wolfe just chose to go with a cool idea, not worrying very much whether it can be scien…
28 Sep 2012, 18:01
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So: this might be the thread I've read with the most avid interest. (But I've skipped and sketchily skimmed many.) My keen interest is not about seeing what theory works best. …
19 Sep 2012, 12:12
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In the way he talked about it in his recent acceptance speech in Chicago, I somehow got the idea he had finished it. -DOJP…
21 Aug 2012, 23:09
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That is flipping amazing good news. I've been thinking for ages that these other two 'Books' of the Solar Cycle were well worthy of their own lexicons, but I had totally resigned …
21 Aug 2012, 19:20
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I got the vibe that it was not being interpreted with as light a hand as that, however. In fact, I got the impression they were used to support a feeling of disenchantment with him…
01 Aug 2012, 13:41
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Quick clarification for those dropping in: I, Daniel Otto Jack Petersen, DID NOT WRITE THAT REVIEW. I merely copied in its closing sentences. Basically, I'm pleased as punch tha…
01 Aug 2012, 12:48
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My pleasure, Antonin! Only too glad to try to help out another Laff enthusiast. There's a guy who comments on the blog called Andrew Ferguson who wrote his MA dissertation on Laf…
16 Jul 2012, 22:31
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Hi Antonin, I still haven't read anything but *The Devil Is Dead* because the other volumes have been too expensive for me to obtain. I get the impression you can read at least th…
16 Jul 2012, 21:59
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Yes, yes, yes. Good points all round, Marc. Glad you mentioned 'Tracking Song' - I hadn't even thought of that one in connection to 'Alien Stones' - interestingly, the two storie…
16 Jul 2012, 15:08
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I haven't read Borski's take, but it looks like I'd be inclinded to side more with your analysis here. It's actually been some years since I read this story, but my overwhelming m…
16 Jul 2012, 12:40
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*I get that sense, but that Urth has staggered on in obstinate mediocrity long after the mega-culture has flamed out. * Ah, I hadn't thought of that - that's even more bleak! I g…
17 May 2012, 08:59
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His people knew what they were doing. Yeah, that's the assumption back of the entire Solar Cycle, which is highly effective in giving a powerful sense of decay, and, even more so…
17 May 2012, 08:25
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well, actually, I'm not sure this kind is meant for interstellar travel, but, anyway, it shows how a small 'world' could be made inside a hollowed asteroid with an axis 'sun' sourc…
16 May 2012, 19:37
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Yes, to their credit, the corrections you've noted regarding Blish were thrashed out in the ensuing dialogue of the original thread. And yeah, that article looks like it could be …
07 May 2012, 10:22
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