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From: Jeffery Wilson In a word, friction. The matter would be gaseous in this case and particles could not swirl in independent orbits. But even if it were composed of solid p…
09 Sep 2013, 13:56
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From: David Stockhoff Well, it could emit penetrating particles that have a heating effect when absorbed by matter. Say it emitted a large pulse of particles similar to neutrino…
09 Sep 2013, 13:50
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From: Jeffery Wilson It doesn't matter (in engineering terms) whether stuff that reaches the event horizon goes somewhere else or not (that's kind of the definition of an event …
09 Sep 2013, 12:42
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From: Jerry Friedman [..] The Hawking temperature of a black hole in the sun doesn't matter. What matters is the energy emission from infalling matter as it accelerates and is …
09 Sep 2013, 09:58
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From: Jeff Wilson I interpret them as seeds of what later became the undersea lords - Erebus, Abaia et al. (My pet hypothesis, admittedly coming from SF of a later era, is that …
08 Sep 2013, 23:52
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From: David Stockhoff There was stuff about new continents rising too, though. - Gerry Quinn…
08 Sep 2013, 20:37
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From: David Stockhoff Wasn't that prior to the discovery of radioactivity, though? [The limited lifespan that the Sun would have if its energy output were based on chemical or …
08 Sep 2013, 13:19
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But the Moon has no atmosphere — forests couldn’t grow there! Seriously, why bother responding? The guy is plainly clueless about any SF that exists outside very limited paramete…
06 Sep 2013, 15:45
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From: Lee Berman True in a technical sense. The question, however, is whether some of those details relate to Silk as a character. That's not really relevant, as all I have pro…
28 Aug 2013, 12:43
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From: Marc Aramini I don't really get this. "He was the smallest of those dead" could mean he was dead, or it could mean he was the smallest of those left for dead by the resid…
27 Aug 2013, 15:18
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From: Marc Aramini Well, yes - but he had them digitised and they became the gods of the Whorl. Sure, there may have been some plan to have them physically embodied once they re…
27 Aug 2013, 15:05
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From: Marc Aramini If I recall correctly, Silk is falling asleep when that occurs to me. They are all embodiments of Woman - that is how I see it. I don't think it makes any s…
27 Aug 2013, 11:36
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From: Craig Brewer http://betweenletters.quora.com/14-Writers-Handwrite-Their-Writing-Advice-on-Their-Hands?ref=fb So Wolfe is left-handed? - Gerry Quinn…
27 Aug 2013, 11:18
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From: Marc Aramini http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?687417-I-desire-discussion-on-Gene-Wolf-s-New-Urth-Long-Short-Sun-cycle-anyone-game What I admire most is the guy’s ener…
23 Aug 2013, 09:49
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From: Marc Aramini I haven't read the story, but it sounds like organised religion. As for connections to other stories, the appearance of God on a screen is surely reminiscent …
19 Aug 2013, 10:47
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From: Marc Aramini The way I read it is they are bacteria and the key words are "how he [] taught them to tear the meat they trod and so live lawfully, and how they gave freedom t…
14 Aug 2013, 08:33
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A little late to the party here... but it just occurred to me that if _The Six Fingers of Time_ can get an option due to the freezing time idea, then surely Cordwainer Smith’s esta…
04 Aug 2013, 22:42
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From: Fred Kiesche Common interests seem more likely. Delaney was mostly writing before Wolfe - I think he's been writing mostly autobiographies and gay porn since the '80s. H…
25 Jul 2013, 10:12
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From: Ashley Crill The way I understood it, both work - but eating the brain, rather than the body, and probably using a higher-quality elixir compared to whatever Vodalus was a…
15 Jul 2013, 10:46
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From: David Stockhoff Exactly. You can't predict alien super-science without joining the dots a bit! - Gerry Quinn…
14 Jul 2013, 14:06
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http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation - Gerry Quinn…
13 Jul 2013, 16:55
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From: Lee Berman In one of his books (can't remember which) Mars/Ares is referred to as the god of defence. - Gerry Quinn…
17 Jun 2013, 11:33
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Sad news. He has always been one of my favourite authors. Good to see he finished that jazz album though! - Gerry Quinn From: Craig Brewer Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 9:46 …
29 May 2013, 21:08
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From: Marc Aramini I noticed two pieces of evidence, though one is given to Number Five, who of course has the same realisation. Then again perhaps Number Five was himself inte…
21 May 2013, 15:33
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From: Lee Berman With enough technology, perhaps arcologies would make even the higher densities tolerable. Then there is _Stand On Zanzibar_ by John Brunner, though perhaps it …
10 May 2013, 17:16
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From: Lee Berman A lot of people are willing to sign up for a one-way trip to Mars (though I think they are optimistic if they assume their life expectancy there would be high).…
10 May 2013, 13:01
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From: David Stockhoff Of course Wolfe was cautious with regard to digital computers in 5HOC. Mr. Million requires a train of large cabinets to support a core capacity that is l…
06 May 2013, 16:16
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From: Sergei SOLOVIEV That it would most likely progress quickly? What I mean is that a SF author in the '80s could safely postulate easy and advanced cloning, since there are n…
06 May 2013, 14:14
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For me the interesting aspect of Agia/Agilus is how Agia becomes entwined in Severian's story, becoming in some sense his Nemesis. It would have been possible to leave her at th…
02 May 2013, 11:04
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From: Lee Berman I think it was Jonas who said that they were the newest. I would see an analogy to the Captain in _Silhouette_, in which the ruling elite are given special food…
19 Apr 2013, 13:15
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From: Darth Ed Fairly untrodden, I'd say. Proust seems to be the main go-to non-SF author other than Borges. - Gerry Quinn…
16 Apr 2013, 09:32
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From: Lee Berman If that was the reason I would not find it understandable, and so I assume there must have been some other reason. Even if one doubts the ungulate[*] connectio…
15 Apr 2013, 09:42
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From: Marc Aramini She is able to walk fine later on, e.g. when they walk a longish distance "if was far" to the bees nest. And later still, she follows him down the river. At…
13 Apr 2013, 10:51
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From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes Delaney's point is true, but I do not think literal metaphors are at too much risk of being ignored on this list! Freud's "sometimes a cigar is just a …
13 Apr 2013, 10:24
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From: David Stockhoff I don't think there is evidence for that. Nessus is full of poor people, and IIRC somebody says something about how they could march four abreast over a b…
12 Apr 2013, 14:13
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From: Lee Berman Well, I still see a problem with this. Perhaps the expression 'false positive' is not greatly suited to literary criticism, but we can come up with measures ba…
11 Apr 2013, 18:25
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From: Marc Aramini Maybe abos feet are more significant because their hands don't work so well. He's the viewpoint character throughout; it's not unnatural that most foot refere…
11 Apr 2013, 11:30
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From: DAVID STOCKHOFF *********************************************** "What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!" No answer. The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looke…
11 Apr 2013, 10:50
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From: Marc Aramini If it is lower-case it has to be a typo, or rather a misinterpretation by the proofreader, I think. I have the Gollancz SF Masterworks edition; it is still pa…
11 Apr 2013, 10:33
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From: Marc Aramini Yes, I'm pretty sure of that. Because metamorphosis symbology makes no sense in the particular context and it's not marked in any way. Which isn't metamorpho…
10 Apr 2013, 17:22
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From: Marc Aramini No need to mention it, because they are clearly intended to refer to humans, the ancestors of the Shadow Children. And even if they hadn't been, they built s…
10 Apr 2013, 17:10
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From: Marc Aramini *Mary* Pink Butterflies. All the female children of the Hillmen are named Mary, I would guess, as all the males are named John, although the name is commonly…
10 Apr 2013, 15:22
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From: Ant?nio Pedro Marques No dia 04/04/2013, ?s 00:48, "Gerry Quinn" <gerry at bindweed.com> escreveu: I suspect it might sound less plausible if you were there! I agree that…
04 Apr 2013, 13:34
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From: David Stockhoff It may be that sometime between now and the twenty-ninth century or whenever, such a term will come into use, perhaps with regard to wood and forest based …
03 Apr 2013, 23:48
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All this free association seems to neglect that we are told at the outset that children are extraordinarily cheap in Port Mimizon. - Gerry Quinn From: David Stockhoff…
03 Apr 2013, 22:20
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From: Marc Aramini "Sandwalker kicked Eastwind's feet so that he fell into the water." The *drug* (remember, that plant they chew) that swam in the Shadow Child's mouth went int…
02 Apr 2013, 14:20
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From: David Stockhoff An organising principle must organise. What is organised by this storm of putative connections? [And 'odd' things that are not really odd at all? Can't a…
02 Apr 2013, 10:23
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From: Marc Aramini Read it again. It was the first people - the shape changers - who did not use them. Not the second people who came among them. - Gerry Quinn…
30 Mar 2013, 15:08
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From: Tony Ellis Because at 1:1 (and surrounded also by many indigenes) "we" for the Group Norm means mostly indigenes. Before, it did not. The Shadow Children are egotistical,…
30 Mar 2013, 14:48
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From: Marc Aramini Humans are a species, and the passage says the second species "came among" the first. Those are the only two species that need be involved. It was their min…
30 Mar 2013, 14:44
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