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The Robinsons are humans (but see below) who have a robot child. Julianne's parents are robots (but see below) who have a human child. That's why Julianne is unhappy and mumbles, a…
28 Jun 2007, 13:37
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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
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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
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Oops. Make that vol. 7 of Urth. Sigh. -- Dave…
17 Jun 2007, 15:39
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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I thought he was described as very pale-skinned with black hair. -- Dave Lebling aka vizcacha…
16 Jun 2005, 13:04
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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
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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
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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
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Joe Weizenbaum wept.…
01 Feb 2005, 08:06
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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According to http://www.pandorasbox.com/petaja.html (isn't Google wonderful?) the Kalevala-related books are: _Saga of Lost Earths_, _The Star Mill_, _The Stolen Sun_, _Tramontane…
30 Apr 2001, 08:58
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Which play is the Shakespeare reference in? And where in Milton? That's interesting. I've always had a soft spot for Finnish mythology (which I know isn't quite the same as Lapland…
27 Apr 2001, 09:21
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The Angels are "downloading" the Rush recording for purposes of psychotherapy, in fact social psychotherapy. They state this explicitly. The globes have been used to "teach" the an…
27 Apr 2001, 09:04
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(I previously sent this reply to the Whorl list by mistake, apologies to all for that.) Really? Anti-Christian, perhaps, but specifically anti-Catholic? Am I misremembering, but i…
26 Apr 2001, 14:13
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Really? Anti-Christian, perhaps, but specifically anti-Catholic? Am I misremembering, but in this universe, didn't John Calvin become pope? It seems to me Pullman is mostly attacki…
26 Apr 2001, 08:29
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I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, enjoyed the second, and finished the third. That seems to match Mr. Ansley's and Mr. Bishop's experience. (My evaluation of C. S. Lewis's space…
25 Apr 2001, 09:53
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<<From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net> Subject: Yet another Secret theory: we have met the enemy and he is us>> But how does your theory square with "a weapon too heav…
24 Apr 2001, 10:02
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Another idea on the Secret. If all of the inhumi who have human blood were taken on astral trips by Horn/Silk or someone with equal astral travel abilities, and _left there_ as bo…
23 Apr 2001, 14:44
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Hmm, given the conversation with Mora in which Horn basically tells her she's going to be dead sexy when she grows up, in spite of being a big, tough woman, my assumption has been …
23 Apr 2001, 14:32
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If the inhumi reach Blue by astral travel, wouldn't the human-inhumi appear on Blue as humans, as Jahlee does on Urth? However, as a version of the secret that provides an offensi…
20 Apr 2001, 13:08
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Wolfe is kind enough to preserve some ambiguity here. The obvious reading is that their guilds are brother and sister guilds. You may read it otherwise if you choose, but don't thi…
12 Apr 2001, 14:10
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That's what I can happen when I post before my first cup of coffee has kicked in. What I should have said is: "The narrator occupies Silk's body, but the climactic revelation that…
11 Apr 2001, 11:38
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As I think I said before, the godling reminded me of similar closed environment creatures in Varley's Titan trilogy. In both books they are manifestations of the bad temper of a go…
11 Apr 2001, 09:15
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<<From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu> If it weren't for the passage you quote, I would have said there is no Pas in the Narrator. Pig probably has some Pas because he…
03 Apr 2001, 13:46
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Mr. Borski, Maybe I need some gingko biloba too, but where is it stated that Neighbors have two heads? Four arms and four legs like many creatures of Blue, but two heads? Dav…
13 Mar 2001, 08:24
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Wolfe has a habit of introducing a mystery, having Silk/Horn state that he knows the answer, and then not saying what it is. Does anyone here know the answers to: 1) IGJ. Silk/Hor…
09 Mar 2001, 21:45
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<<From: "Patrick O'Leary" <poleary at cecom.com> Pig as Godling: Yes, the reference to "ears" and "claws" is probably the best evidence I've seen. Good fishing! Yet, for me, it still…
27 Feb 2001, 02:13
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Spammers get addresses by extracting email addresses from any available source, including web pages. Since the lists are archived on the web, they are accessible to address miners.…
23 Feb 2001, 12:45
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