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They are successive attempts at simulation, not measurement. It does not pertain to lack of progress towards perfection. It pertains to 'progress' towards a static solution. (I…
07 Jan 2011, 17:10
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Or an extra 'n' to be precise. But thanks! Actually there are probably a few more details that could be changed, but overall I think it provides a pretty coherent picture of the …
07 Jan 2011, 17:02
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When you say 'bounce ideas' do you just mean post ideas, no matter how wacky, and that evidence against those ideas is unwelcome? Wolfe's books are not, of course, detective stor…
07 Jan 2011, 16:54
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Of course, in 5HoC, Wolfe has Marsch refer to the paleolithic pygmies known as the 'Good People' who, he says, are known to have survived in Ireland and Scandinavia until the end o…
07 Jan 2011, 16:31
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----- Original Message ----- In _The Long and Short of It_ he spends ages trying to prove that Mme. Etienne is an abo (she isn't, though Casilla may be). Then he admits that i…
06 Jan 2011, 21:54
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----- Original Message ----- Reading on the website may help in going back over a thread. I try to interleaf-post or bottom-post as here, but often the post formats play havoc …
06 Jan 2011, 20:01
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That would make more sense timewise (though sepia is *still* a stretch!) Still, it could have been an even more distant ancestor. ----- Original Message ----- From: aaron …
06 Jan 2011, 19:58
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Colourful? You haven't seen colourful yet! I remain comfortable with my conclusion regarding the nature and current status of the abos. Amazon showed me that chapter of Borski'…
06 Jan 2011, 19:56
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I think it was basically passing the time at dinner table. Apparently it was traditional in the household. I do prefer the Brown Book. Wolfe has himself said that the stories i…
06 Jan 2011, 19:28
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[ I got caught up in my little story and failed to respond to the rest of your post about timelines.] Given the planetary colonisation wars between Earth nations and the absence …
06 Jan 2011, 19:22
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Like I said, a century or so. There are two very strong pieces of evidence for this. First, the Eye observatory, a ring of 402 trees marking the days of the Saint Anne year. W…
06 Jan 2011, 18:10
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Wolfe explaind in the interview I quoted that he was trying to make all three novellas contemporaneous, at least on the surface. If he is going to delve into the history (prehis…
06 Jan 2011, 01:22
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My only comment here is that Wolfe is talking about twenty years after writing 5HoC, and has forgotten the name of the novella; I think he has also forgotten which group of pre-col…
05 Jan 2011, 21:03
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I have always thought it should have been called A Story, by "John V. Marsch". But perhaps that would have been giving the game away too easily. The problem is as you say, it d…
05 Jan 2011, 20:34
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----- Original Message ----- I must disagree - he is expressing a somewhat self-serving philosophy, but it doesn't mean he doesn't know the difference between how they see them…
05 Jan 2011, 20:17
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----- Original Message ----- Perhaps. But that, I think, is the only messy thing about it. Making Sandwalker's people human involves much messiness. And it doesn't quite solv…
05 Jan 2011, 03:56
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Well yes, in part! I seem to recall he speaks of many conversations with her. He also had access even on Sainte Anne to any texts Marsch brought with him, and to Marsch, and he…
04 Jan 2011, 21:12
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As a proponent of the theory that the Shadow Children are human, I'll set out the major reasons and/or answers I see to the foregoing objections. Telepathy is the hard one. How …
04 Jan 2011, 20:45
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Answered already - of course the abo Marsch has studied anthropology in order to pose as an anthropologist. It's an obvious typo - it should have been "fifteen hundred". Unless …
04 Jan 2011, 18:53
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Fair enough point about the source of the names. But they do refer to the passers-by as their brothers. Aliens *might* say that of humans, but it would be a bit insulting to Sa…
04 Jan 2011, 18:41
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I'm not implying that at all, and neither is VRT. He does not say he is an example of Dollo's Law, but he mentions it because an aspect of it is reminiscent of his case. Let's …
04 Jan 2011, 16:14
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.> ..just before the description of the device, we have an inexplicable statement of "Dollo's Law" It's not at all inexplicable. He thinks of Dollo's Law in the context of his …
04 Jan 2011, 02:11
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The simplest explanation of Atlantis and Gondwanaland is that it's a riff on the observations of the narrator in the first novel, when forced by Mr. Million to debate the origins…
04 Jan 2011, 01:30
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So why the insistence that this must not apply to Veil's Hypothesis? - Gerry Quinn…
03 Jan 2011, 18:10
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----- Original Message ----- She is - as befits a careful and modest scientist - stating the case for the idea that abo shapechanging is a myth. Just before that she carefully …
03 Jan 2011, 17:54
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I think it is wrong to think of Aunt Jeannine as an unreliable narrator in this instance. The full quote is: "Veil. who wants a dramatic explanation for the cruelty and irration…
02 Jan 2011, 22:18
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I quite like that cover on Fifth Head. At least it passes the train test. (The colours in the image you link to are horribly washed out compared to the version I have - it's as i…
01 Jan 2011, 19:24
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I think IGJ is the one I would be most embarrassed to be seen reading on the train - I'd sooner have a sexy mermaid on the cover than that ridiculous Neighbour falling over his fee…
01 Jan 2011, 18:09
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On the other hand, people have objected to the Short Sun covers - but are they not, essentially, very faithful and literal representations of the contents of the books? - Gerry Qu…
01 Jan 2011, 17:00
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Welcome! What's the question? I'm guessing you are asking where the apparent quotations come from. I did a google search out of curiosity but found nothing useful. Perhaps Wolf…
01 Jan 2011, 15:42
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I shouldn't fret too much about it - I'm sure most authors, however much being questioned by enthusiasts for their works annoys them, would be more annoyed still if it all went awa…
31 Dec 2010, 14:28
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What textual references? There may be some metaphorical references, but I don't recall anywhere at all where the text seems to be seriously implying that these planets are liter…
30 Dec 2010, 19:52
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Wolfe didn't paint the cover. Granted the covers are pretty literal, but I don't think we can take the artist's rendition as tremendously authoritative. (Also, is Horn describe…
30 Dec 2010, 18:21
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Correct me if I'm wrong - but didn't Wolfe say he was joking when he said Urth is Green, and that he regretted it? And do you not accept that the four points I made are somewhat …
30 Dec 2010, 05:47
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----- Original Message ----- [--] I fully accept that there are different levels of meanings to be found. (The concept is analogous to and may be derived from Aristotle's theor…
30 Dec 2010, 03:29
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Completely different planets, completely different biota, completely different stars, you get from one to the other in a generation ship... True, but the hillmen and marshmen see…
30 Dec 2010, 03:05
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He also said Urth = Green, and look at the trouble THAT'S caused! As you say, he made some comment to that effect. But the book indicates otherwise, so I tend to believe he miss…
30 Dec 2010, 00:43
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Ideally, all but one, or at most a few, should be wrong. How large a proportion of posited theories are wrong will depend on the number of theories posited, which in turn will d…
29 Dec 2010, 23:50
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Feel free to speculate on the history of that system... the fact remains that the number is stated to be one. - Gerry Quinn…
29 Dec 2010, 23:31
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I don't remember them dream travelling. And they certainly did not lure humans to their system - quite the opposite. (I'm ignoring for the purposes of this point that the Shadow…
29 Dec 2010, 22:19
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The Cumaean makes it clear that she is not contacting anyone on Blue or Green: "The red star there is called the Fish's Mouth, and on its one surviving world there dwells an anc…
29 Dec 2010, 21:57
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----- Not being able to count the towers is a common enough way of saying there were a lot of towers. The city is enormous with its towers and sub-cellars. Rigoglio's assertio…
29 Dec 2010, 21:40
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However, the book explicitly indicates that they orbit different, distant stars. Nor is it indicated anywhere that they try to stop Severian - indeed, they seem to help him. As…
29 Dec 2010, 21:23
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I made no estimates - I just noted that if one free associates ad infinitum on the subject of fish, a proportion of the associations that come up will probably have no meaningful…
29 Dec 2010, 21:17
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I can't speak for Son o'Witz, but I think the black hole was placed as a consequence of the actions of Typhon. Typhon is long gone, and his successors operate differently, at lea…
29 Dec 2010, 21:17
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There are ruins below the water's surface on Earth too. Does that mean the Bible story of the Flood is literally true? - Gerry Quinn…
29 Dec 2010, 21:17
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I think if the Short Sun trilogy has a one sentence theme, it is man's inhumanity to man. That, after all, is the condition on Blue, and it underlines the secret of the Inhumi. A…
29 Dec 2010, 21:16
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I thought you raised some interesting associations, but there was nothing really specific to grasp. The problem is that one can generate an endless stream of associations regard…
24 Dec 2010, 15:54
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Who said they died anyway? Of course one can point out that they do not seem to be currently active at the end of UotNS, but perhaps they are biding their time and allowing human…
24 Dec 2010, 15:45
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----- Original Message ----- In this particular case, I pointed out that either of two possible sea goddesses could have been meant - that increases the number of possible theo…
24 Dec 2010, 15:37
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