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Good catch. Fritz Lieber rocks! Wolfe has said he sees little point in creating new words or names when there are so many good ones already. This is probably just a tip of the hat…
26 Mar 2009, 15:36
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The inhumi are usually referred to as reptilian, but I got the impression from somewhere that they did indeed evolve from plants. Wouldn't be surprised if the Neighbors did too. I…
22 Mar 2009, 17:23
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Chapter 1 of Through the Looking Glass. According to Peter Wright, there's a "reference" in that chapter to BotNS, but he doesn't say what it is. I assume it's simply the matter o…
21 Mar 2009, 02:38
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that IS a problem! Sure, why not? ;)…
20 Mar 2009, 20:17
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i always took that as a straight clue. The fluid nature of time is evident in NS and many myths. The story The Ziggurat contains a direct conversion of the slow-time-in-Elfland id…
20 Mar 2009, 17:32
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Thanks. It gets clearer for me with every iteration as well. You can also think of it as a language. Wolfe is so steeped in myth I bet it oozes out his ears. As in language, you h…
20 Mar 2009, 17:24
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No problem. Thanks for pointing me to your essay. The parallels to LS are indeed unavoidable. My guess as to the reason Wolfe chose this story to retell is simply that it involves…
20 Mar 2009, 13:01
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If you say so. I need to read it again!…
20 Mar 2009, 11:57
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Snakes' hands. You'll have to read John Crowley.…
20 Mar 2009, 02:07
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The difference between Wolfe's version of the faerie circle and the mythic originals is that the old plot mechanics have been switched out for something more complex and literary (…
20 Mar 2009, 02:04
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Exactly, thanks. I've pretty well forgotten the details of the Mabinogion myself. But I do remember that Annwn is always accessible, always close by---you can stumble on it anywh…
20 Mar 2009, 01:44
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Not at all. But I'm allowing myself to be understood too literally. I'm suggesting that Wolfe rewrites or incorporates myths and mythical systems, and that we can easily recogniz…
20 Mar 2009, 01:36
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Interestingly, "soul" often has been used the opposite of the way we use "self." That is, as something you possess that is not you, and which you may have stolen from you. If you …
19 Mar 2009, 21:44
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Sure they are. That is, they are of Faerie, as much as they can be while still being aliens on an alien planet. They're green, aren't they? Gods, fairies, same thing when it come…
19 Mar 2009, 21:16
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For me, it's enough that Horn saw and gave chase to a greenbuck. When you see a large white stag, the Old Folk are near---it's that simple---and if you are smart, you will go hom…
19 Mar 2009, 20:02
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Sure. I was only saying I had no trouble with the two-part model used to explain the Horn-Silk complex. John seems to suggest that it's even less of a problem than that from a th…
19 Mar 2009, 19:36
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No, I have not read that, but thanks! The correspondence of the Whorl gods to the Greek pantheon was always plain, but I never tried to map it. I will read this.…
19 Mar 2009, 19:07
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I have to comment that this schema easily allows for the copying of persona/whatever by machines in the first place. I don't believe that machines could copy souls. Machines are th…
19 Mar 2009, 18:52
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I'm stumped too. Why does Wolfe keep doing this to us? After reading and discussing all this, I can't help but envision Ossipago, Barbatus, and Famulimus rolling away the stone wh…
19 Mar 2009, 18:23
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James I see from the Wiki for Aristaeus that you are way ahead of me: "When he was grown, he sailed from Libya to Boeotia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeotia>, where he was in…
19 Mar 2009, 17:26
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I will never get any work done today, with all these interesting topics! He's referring to the empire of Charlemagne, the Holy Roman. The Frankish aristocracy assembled every year…
19 Mar 2009, 16:06
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I recall that now. I found Wizard Knight bewildering on 1 read, frankly. It had my head spinning.…
19 Mar 2009, 15:29
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Two cents: Stags are such a standard mythical sign of the otherworldly or godly, whether of Annwn or Olympus, that they are almost a cliche. So just the fact that Horn sights and …
19 Mar 2009, 15:26
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Naturally, a system of government that relies on the good character of the ruler is plainly not a good system. But democracy is no better in this respect. Monarchy is also more dr…
19 Mar 2009, 14:53
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I forget the name of the character, but I recall that the farthest-down "deity" is pretty clearly identified with the farthest-up. His/her dealings with Abel thus parallel Abaia's …
19 Mar 2009, 14:43
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Right, that was the point. Guns, iPods, laptops, cameras, cell phones, GPS units, and cash must be 90% of what people steal from homes and cars. Of course, one can assume any hom…
19 Mar 2009, 14:25
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Are you sure he wasn't humoring you? I kid. Sure, that's plausible. I tend to think it's unnecessarily complex for NS/LS/SS, but then see Wolfe's diagram of the Wizard Knight uni/…
19 Mar 2009, 14:21
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Uh-huh. Anyway, there is certainly much evidence for that position. What I find interesting is that his distrust of government is not ideological. That is, though in "Trust" he ha…
19 Mar 2009, 14:18
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Yes, exactly. I meant to contrast Wolfe's apparently traditional (in fact, steeped in 2 millennia of thought) Catholicism with both dualistic Protestantism and those Catholics wh…
19 Mar 2009, 14:07
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Possibly. It does explain things. But I just can't quite accept it. Severian's realization that he and Agia are seen as ghosts is just too wonderfully creepy and disorienting to no…
19 Mar 2009, 12:08
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Right. Which is why Wolfe is always using mythic material. He doesn't regard it as inadequate in any way, merely limited in its truth vs the real Truth, which is eternal. Myths a…
19 Mar 2009, 12:02
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As I see it, the idea flows logically from the concept that all time exists, or that there is a no-time or over-time (Eternity, Akal, Empyrean) from which all time can be accessed.…
19 Mar 2009, 11:56
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Those are good examples---I couldn't think of any right off. Yes, that's what I meant by "true" and "less true." That is, there is never just "bad" and "good." Any mistaken belie…
19 Mar 2009, 11:43
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Wow, that sounds right. But they hear the mail-plane and know what it is, even though it's from 50 years after their time. ???…
18 Mar 2009, 22:46
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That scene is disorienting, isn't it? I completely overlooked it during the various X discussions. Yes, this is our world and our past. My guess is that Wolfe is partly just telli…
18 Mar 2009, 22:41
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Yes, much better put. In reaching toward the divine, humans make stuff up. Some of it is true, some of it is less true. But Wolfe doesn't seem to see any of the stuff we make up a…
18 Mar 2009, 22:21
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Thematically, do you think Wolfe is pondering the extent and manner in which we make our own gods? Certainly the matter of "false" gods serving the true god is present in BotNS, an…
18 Mar 2009, 19:48
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And arrogant as well. Good on you, Josh. You have succeeded in stirring the pot, which was your goal. That says something about your emotional development, I think. Oh, and pleas…
18 Mar 2009, 17:03
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Yes, that's a good one. Remind me how it ends ...…
18 Mar 2009, 16:58
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Well, very few criminal shootings are from a distance or with a rifle (same thing). So it's always going to be point-blank shootings (of strangers or not) vs stabbings or beatings …
18 Mar 2009, 16:06
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I generally agree with you. But it is known that guns make IMPERSONAL killing easier and therefore, under the right conditions (the conditions being of greater importance) more com…
18 Mar 2009, 15:24
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yes, I know---that's why I asked! ;)…
18 Mar 2009, 15:14
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Don--- That's false. The South was always poor. Before the Civil War, it had 1/3 of the nation's wealth and 2/3 of the nation's rich. Don't blame Reconstruction---er, I mean, that…
18 Mar 2009, 15:12
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Brunians--- Some corrections. (1) Tucson is majority white (2/3), or was in 2000 when the total population was still less than 500,000. Both cities are under 600,000. (2) You s…
18 Mar 2009, 15:05
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So let me get this straight, Brunians. You're saying anti-gun sentiment is racist?…
18 Mar 2009, 14:45
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And if it doesn't?…
18 Mar 2009, 01:32
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There is also the silkie, an Irish shape-changing fairy who is either seal or woman (I think). It's nothing like seawrack, but then people often end up far from the original whe…
16 Mar 2009, 14:23
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Well, yeah, but it doesn't have sails.…
06 Mar 2009, 03:36
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Keep guessing!…
06 Mar 2009, 03:35
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Mike--- It's been a long time since I've read that story, but I agree that it's more complex than it appears---it didn't quite add up. I'll have to reread. I recall it seems to …
04 Mar 2009, 02:05
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