-
Vizcacha is usually (but not always) spelled "viscacha," and it's a small rabbit-like rodent native to South America; it's closely related to the chinchilla. Given the far future…
18 Jun 2007, 00:03
-
Thanks, Matthew. It's "Lebling," by the way, not "Liebling." I think the archives have various lacunae; my original post on this topic isn't there, just responses from alga and o…
17 Jun 2007, 18:19
-
Oops. Make that vol. 7 of Urth. Sigh. -- Dave…
17 Jun 2007, 15:39
-
Roy, the easiest answer is that I had completely forgotten that I was the one who introduced that theory. I remember a couple of long threads on "Tracking Song" back in the dim a…
17 Jun 2007, 15:28
-
Personally, I would consider "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" (meaning all three novelettes, of course) as a good introduction to Wolfe. I have to admit that I've had very little luc…
15 Jun 2007, 02:46
-
Buck's dreams in CotW are easily explained. Jack London was a believer in racial memory (and a lot of other tosh as well). He wrote a whole novel in which the protagonist (an imp…
14 Jun 2007, 22:29
-
Aha! The French "grue" is "crane" (both the bird and the lifting device). I suspect that's where Nabokov got it (the bird, I would suspect, though I suppose "lifting device" migh…
10 Jun 2007, 01:14
-
If we're going that far, we might as well include L. Sprague deCamp as well. The "Incomplete Enchanter" stories he wrote with Pratt were one of the highlights of the "Unknown" er…
09 Jun 2007, 20:07
-
Well, chacun a son gout, as the French folks say. I've always found Vance's fantasy stuff to be his best work (with the exception on the SF side of of the first couple of Demon P…
09 Jun 2007, 18:09
-
A very funny book. If you don't know Chicago (which I don't) it's fun trying to "find" the area using Google Earth. -- Dave Lebling, aka vizcacha…
14 Mar 2007, 00:08
-
I would assume he's thinking of Foila, who is indeed a sympathetic and likable character, a soldier recovering from wounds(?) in the Pelerines' hospice. (She's the prize in the sto…
20 Oct 2006, 15:45
-
I found the Tiptree/Sheldon biography to be simultaneously reverential and revelatory. I don't think it was full of pop psychology or pseudo-feminism. On the contrary, it very ac…
20 Oct 2006, 00:12
-
They're actually a pretty decent adaptation, not Conanish at all. I have read (and own) the first two, which take the story up to the death of Thecla. Dave Lebling, aka vizcacha…
23 Sep 2006, 15:32
-
Stilskin asked: http://mysite.verizon.net/~vze2tmhh/gwjbj3.html Jim Jordan's interview with Wolfe (at the above link) answers your question. Search for "Sparta." -- Dave Lebling…
10 Jul 2006, 12:28
-
Adrian Robert wrote "Given such a span of time, almost anything could be proposed of course, but what about something minimal and plausible?" How about this? "Gene Wolfe is extre…
29 Aug 2005, 06:19
-
As I recall, one of the other books he finds is _The Mile-long Spaceship_ by Kate Wilhelm, which he (mistakenly) believes has been misshelved from the astronautics section, so he c…
26 Aug 2005, 13:14
-
I thought he was described as very pale-skinned with black hair. -- Dave Lebling aka vizcacha…
16 Jun 2005, 13:04
-
Umm, I don't think that word means what you think it means. It is not a synonym for "authoritarian" or "imperialist" or "social-system-I-don't-like" any more than "communist" is. …
23 Mar 2005, 05:44
-
My recollection is that Wolfe has stated that the pagan gods actually existed, and were in effect, demons. This is, I think, a conservative but orthodox position within the Catholi…
08 Feb 2005, 13:26
-
Indeed it was Eliza, written by Joseph Weizenbaum. For a long discussion of the reaction to the program, see his book "Computer Power and Human Reason," a passionate critique of "s…
01 Feb 2005, 14:05
-
Joe Weizenbaum wept.…
01 Feb 2005, 08:06
-
Which was precisely my point, if you read beyond the part of my message you quoted. As for "Lepanto," I still get a bit of a thrill from it, even now, but nothing like what it did…
11 Jan 2005, 13:55
-
From: "Andrew Bollen" I wouldn't say it's _that_ bad. Like Kipling, if you encounter it at a certain age, it's quite thrilling. It also works better if you recite it out loud; the…
11 Jan 2005, 13:30
-
Crush replied: Precisely my point. The MLG is so morally deficient that he cannot find a better object of worship than himself, and either out of delusion believes (or out of mend…
06 Jan 2005, 12:59
-
stilskin said: I think a more important component of who is worshipped and by whom is the level on which they live. As you go lower in level, the inhabitants are less likely to be…
06 Jan 2005, 11:55
-
Crush asks: The whole point of the message Able carries is to enable the Aelf to ask Arnthor, the god of Mythgarthr, to be a better god. Given Able's vision of Bold Berthold kill…
06 Jan 2005, 10:59
-
Crush asked: I don't recall that statement specifically, but there is a passage where Able says that all the levels of the WK universe from Mythgarthr on up have multiple "places"…
06 Jan 2005, 09:54
-
Isn't there also a segment in _The Knight_ where Gerda (not sure if it was her) describes having borne multiple children to the giant on whose farm she was a slave? She comments th…
04 Jan 2005, 06:08
-
Toug climbs the walls following after Mani, with the (somewhat) help of Baki. This is when they are first in Utgard. -- Dave, aka Vizcacha…
03 Jan 2005, 11:52
-
Who attacked King Gilling? Was it the same person (or being) both times? As with many Wolfe mysteries, I suppose he put all the information there and if one is appropriately Sherl…
03 Jan 2005, 10:08
-
I believe Parka is referred to in the second book as coming from a higher plane than Skai. The only other being we meet from a higher plane is Michael, who is from the Christian (i…
03 Jan 2005, 08:27
-
<<From: Kieran Cleary <kcleary at jb.man.ac.uk> Couldn't agree more re Pig. Did he like deciphering that dialect? He did nae! >> Thank you, Kieran! LOL, as they say on the web. I ha…
13 Feb 2001, 21:24
-
*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.…
12 Oct 1999, 16:25
-
He doesn't say he _has_ all six issues, just the first two. He's probably just repeating the original plan. Check out the URL: <http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIte…
19 May 1999, 15:24
-
The nice thing about "talus" as a term for the bulldozer-guard-robots is that the word also fits nicely within Wolfe's naming scheme, in that talus is rock debris, or a pile of suc…
26 May 1998, 09:38
-
CRCulver opines: Even Jove nods. Unless someone (Dr. Talos? mantis?) is faking the geological and archeological evidence, there's a _lot_ more time than that. The only out I see…
30 Jan 1998, 17:09
-
Thus, This is a mantic or even lupine opinion have a lot of trouble with. Primarily, I look at the mountains, all or most of which have been carved in the likenesses of rulers. I…
30 Jan 1998, 16:34
-
Speaking of "add word," has anyone else noted that Tick's speech is always perfectly good words? I think there's one exception that I remember noticing. It's amusing that Wolfe c…
17 Mar 1997, 13:13
-
I thought the Triviguantis were more Arab or Persian than Indian. They at least show Islamic survivals, wherever they are from. For example, their symbol is a red triangle, "becau…
31 Jan 1997, 14:57
-
"We And he and Incus give Silk the Pardon of Pas. During Silk's near-death experience alluded to earlier in your message, he sees Quetzal and Incus giving him the Pardon of Pas, …
29 Jan 1997, 16:31
-
On the subject of crosses, I found http://www.amulet.co.uk/symbols/crosses/ which has illustrations of more forms of cross than you've ever seen before. My suggestion for Silk's…
22 Jan 1997, 09:49
Urth Net