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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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Guns are stolen all the time. Gun collectors have to lock up their stuff, and even then they get hit. I know someone whose neighbor bashed a hole in his wall to do it. He wasn't ho…
18 Mar 2009, 18:27
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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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Pretty much nails you, Brunians. Stubborn, resentful, sullen, obstructionist, failing to follow through with expectations of how to behave in a forum, failing to acknowledge resp…
18 Mar 2009, 16:10
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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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James Without disagreeing with your larger argument, I just want to point out that your statement below makes no sense whatsoever. It's plainly an argument from analogy, and not …
18 Mar 2009, 01:43
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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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Now I'm seeing ships volant everywhere! The logo on this page approximates my original impression of the flying ship volant: http://www.spaceblue.com/products/pdfblender/ Of cou…
04 Mar 2009, 21:27
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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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Awesome! ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:39:30 -0600 From: Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com> Subject: Re: (urth) Ship Volant To: The Urth Mailin…
20 Feb 2009, 02:56
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Bingo. Or Severian would have called the image on the coin a "tower volant." And on fire as well, presumably. I doubt there's a heraldry term for that!…
19 Feb 2009, 03:31
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That's a knotty question. Jordan expresses exactly my original assumption---but I always imagined an iconic rocket ship pitched or angled upward even though that doesn't fit with…
17 Feb 2009, 21:02
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cool!…
14 Feb 2009, 03:04
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Oubliette would be a great name for a bar. Hmm, on second thought it would probably get crowded with leather boys and daddies. Even if it wasn't in San Francisco. Incidentally, I…
13 Feb 2009, 22:35
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Definitely! Abel's man-crush on Ravd definitely makes him a Percival. ;)…
13 Feb 2009, 17:30
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True. Although where the Inquisition grew in power, and power can corrupt anything, we're talking about an order that must have shrunk in power and gained little from its practices…
13 Feb 2009, 02:22
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True. But that was after they had known Severian for quite some time. Still. Perhaps it's the masks that make them seem detached.…
11 Feb 2009, 16:21
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I am skeptical that something as vast as the RCC could ever "become" something as tiny and obscure as the Guild, but there are certainly correspondences and connections. The Guild …
11 Feb 2009, 16:18
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