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This is not that inconsistent an interpretation. So what's so good about being human ;)? Presumably a soul, but how much do you need, and are there lesser benefits? David Duffy.…
09 Dec 2005, 04:57
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Probably for the same reason as historical anthropophagy, to get spiritual/magical power. Traditionally, you want to eat the bravest of your enemies, IIRC. Coming back to the Ael…
08 Dec 2005, 10:50
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Stephenson's book is full of SFnal references and jokes of varying quality: "They were a shade of brown that was darker than black" appears on P 530 of the Morrow hardback. David…
08 Dec 2005, 10:34
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I think he acts *exactly* as a knight "should" act in all these examples. That is, men who *openly* carry weapons push around the lower orders, and defend their honour to the death…
01 Dec 2005, 08:01
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It is possible that the carved brown face is made of wood -- the experience is pretty dreamy. David Duffy.…
03 Aug 2005, 20:58
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That's more like _Schizmatrix_, IIRC, where stars with interesting lives sell their blogs. Though turning to Wolfe, Number 5 may have spent his nights watching lots of old video o…
06 Jul 2005, 14:11
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You *have* to read at least one of his novels. _Brokedown Palace_ is pretty indirect. It might be the closest to say _Short Sun_. Brust channels Dumas very well too -- I was rea…
08 Jun 2005, 01:04
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Paul Park's _Starbridge Chronicles_ have been compared to Wolfe in the past, esp for the use of language -- you are halfway through _The Soldiers of Paradise_ (vol 1 of the trilogy…
16 May 2005, 15:52
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Well, the Dryden quote was included in the 1913 Merriam Webster dictionary definition (but I don't know if that is true of the OED or SOD, which I believe is Wolfe's preference -- …
12 Apr 2005, 16:51
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In _Soldier_, Short Sun and Wizard-Knight, Wolfe spends a bit of time on judgement by humans of gods. The Giants-proper (not the little ones ;)) are of Skai, and as such should …
07 Apr 2005, 23:59
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I've just been rereading Delany's _Empire Star_ (1966), and was struck by certain resonances with tBotNS I suppose SPOILERS AHOY a) the heroine is …
06 Apr 2005, 21:33
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A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome. --Dryden. | David Duffy (MBBS PhD) ,-_|\ | emai…
03 Apr 2005, 21:20
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Much discussion here about appropriateness of higher authorities flooding the whole world for 40 days and killing everyone save a small band of survivors. I suspect this has been …
29 Mar 2005, 19:52
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Which can come back around to Wolfe, the Divine Right of rulers, and the natural hierarchy of authority, and the lawfulness of revolution. The Autarch is exactly in the mould of H…
21 Mar 2005, 17:58
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In that case, you would see it as _Peace_, but with a happy ending ;) A few bits and pieces which I have had trouble sending at the time: Surely Set is correct: Osiris-Isis-Set …
28 Feb 2005, 15:46
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I am irresistibly reminded of Luther explaining how dogs also go to heaven: "Be comforted, little dog, thou too in the Resurrection shalt have a tail of gold." ;)…
03 Nov 2004, 15:27
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If Wolfe is a lesser short story writer, then why are the embedded stories (eg Peace) so good and so central to the novels ;) A most memorable SF/fantastic short with world build…
26 Jun 2003, 05:45
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I seem to remember earlier discussion of this. Looking on various web sites, Mithra was incorporated into Zoroastrianism as one of the holy immortals aiding Ahura Mazda: "Mithra w…
12 May 2003, 01:24
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While rereading Lem, I was suddenly caught by "no more than any genuine heresy such as the Manichaean or the Pelagian." And yes, the Pelagians "emphasize human free will as the d…
07 May 2003, 22:10
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I have to add the coda to a Watson bibliography I checked: Visitors to this page also looked at these authors Roger Zelazny Karl Edward Wagn…
20 Apr 2003, 04:55
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Was it possibly a review in Foundation, comparing Donaldson's _The One Tree_ with _The Sword of the Lictor_ (both out at that time)? As I remember that article, the reviewer found…
20 Apr 2003, 04:51
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Of course, he could have just meant a headache ;) or depression. Googling gave: http://www.angelfire.com/ri/tucker/gender/eunuchs/terms.html The method of striking or crushing…
22 Jan 2003, 01:14
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Three points: instead of CMF, how about TSF (theological speculative fiction) WRT the end of _TAD_, Horn in _OBW_ muses that if he returned to life with Nettle on The Lizard, one…
21 Jan 2003, 03:01
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Not having read TAD, are we perhaps talking lunar months here?…
20 Jan 2003, 02:09
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I can't resist pointing out that these are used in chess notation: "!?" interesting and speculative "?!" bold but unsound Lots of use for them on this list ;) David Duffy.…
07 Jan 2003, 01:59
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All this information about the Ozzian army reminded me (off topic) of John Wright's _The Golden Age_: his soldier too wears tinted specs IIRC. David Duffy.…
16 Dec 2002, 06:26
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I seem to recall someone earlier pointing out that Silk was always very abstemious, as befits an augur.…
07 Jul 2002, 06:10
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Has anyone mentioned this is a response/riposte to Orwell and Nuspeak? | David Duffy (MBBS PhD) ,-_|\ | email: davidD at qimr.edu.au ph: INT+…
11 Jun 2002, 02:25
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alga said: and Rostrum said: We were told that the Neighbours carried inhumi to the Whorl, possibly deliberately, which doesn't seem like a very angelic thing to do ;). Perhaps Q…
24 May 2002, 03:26
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The only reason for its mention I can see is the symmetry with _"A Story"_, where one of the twins is cut (probably actually castrated). About level of destruction of physical evi…
22 May 2002, 07:27
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There is little doubt that there were abos. It is more the melancholy fact, that just as on our world, all evidence of their occupation is intentionally (and/or incidentally) dest…
20 May 2002, 05:44
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These are all shadings that merely reflect the sophistication of the writer and timing of how the stories were written. Take _The Sound and the Fury_: if the different parts had b…
20 May 2002, 00:49
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Apropos suites and mosaics, there is a much older model such as the stories about Robin Hood etc. There, they are cycles. They may represent episodes in the one narrative, variat…
16 May 2002, 07:36
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And are polymorphic: short and ugly, taller and fair. It is the obvious link, given the "abo" terminology, which I think is unique to Australian vernacular, but there is little ma…
07 May 2002, 01:24
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Having reread 5HC after reading all your insightful comments: VRT's father is deft enough to have made the arrowheads [viz Peace BTW], but says his son could not have knapped them…
30 Apr 2002, 06:07
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From urth at urth.net Fri Feb 15 17:09:21 2002 Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 15:04:25 +1000 (EST) From: urth at urth.net To: Digest_Members at mailhub1.uq.edu.au Subject: Digest from urth at urth.ne…
15 Feb 2002, 07:15
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I think, just as Gevers suggests Wolfe is deconstructing all the other genres in BotLS, he is having a hack at profane love as not (necessarily) being a solution to the existential…
08 Feb 2002, 07:09
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Apropos Aegypt-iv At the Xmas party, Pierce meets a strange man who seems upset with the way things are going in _Daemonomania_. | David Duffy. …
01 Feb 2002, 05:44
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I see the history of New Viron, incl Horn & Nettle's failure as farmers, and the rise of slavery, as an attack on certain libertarian fantasies that all will be well living the aut…
05 Jan 2002, 12:32
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Tolkien said that he disliked allegory. As a child, I read his introduction to LOTR, and used it to justify a literal reading of the Pilgrim's Progress ;). Wolfe always has a-not…
14 Dec 2001, 00:18
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I just watched a documentary about the Royal Menagerie within the Tower of London. Not only was there a Lion Tower (where the lions and tigers were, demolished in the 19th C), but…
01 Sep 2001, 10:49
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_The magic faraway tree_ (we're not restricted to "High Fantasy" are we ;)) _A wizard of earthsea_ _The Weirdstone of Brisingamen_ _Elidor_ _The nargun and the stars_ _Sweethallow…
02 Aug 2001, 00:07
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Dan'l and William said: I have to admit, the last time I reread the trilogy, I read it backwards, and enjoyed Titus Alone the best (I was reminded of it last weekend, sitting in d…
03 Jul 2001, 23:28
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I think we're in the wrong worldview here. The song is magical, so its effects break down immediately from the point of view of a pre-Contact narrator, no matter how acausal that …
23 Jan 2001, 23:36
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I think _Peace_ is definitely _modern_ in that sense. The logic, such as in the example above, is dream logic, and the modernists were all influenced by psychoanalysis. "Who know…
08 Dec 2000, 00:12
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Not having read the story, is it the Ship of Fools?…
04 Sep 2000, 04:04
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Put me down please!…
09 Aug 2000, 04:33
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As a good Gnostic and fan of heterodoxies, JC would be happy to have Judas as hero, wouldn't he? I was fuzzily thinking as part of the hero, based on my distant memory of the fina…
03 Jul 2000, 00:47
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Reynard can be seen as doing his duty as he sees it. Rush is offered a choice at the end of his narrative (which suddenly reminds me of the offer to Silk). He knows what he is …
29 Jun 2000, 06:31
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Truman's name is actually written Harry S Truman -- not having the book here, what is the exact punctuation?…
28 Jun 2000, 00:33
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