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From: Gerry Quinn 'A Story' (written by VRT), indicates that the abos recognise only the female genetic line: *********************************** "[You] resemble BloodyFinger" …
30 Mar 2013, 02:43
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From: Marc Aramini I don't think we know that VRT is half-human. It is a wise child that knows his father. Since this is science fantasy, I would not necessarily assume that it…
29 Mar 2013, 16:13
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From: Marc Aramini Yes. Yes. Even before that, with three Shadow Children left, the OWO becomes confused because "there are so many of you now and so few of us". But there's p…
29 Mar 2013, 14:39
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From: Marc Aramini I also agree with Tony's analysis (though I'm not certain Sandwalker is yet part of the Group Norm at this time). He makes this pretty clear in the passage st…
29 Mar 2013, 13:28
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From: Marc Aramini Doesn't that multiply entities unnecessarily? The abos have gender, sex, childbirth and hormonal systems akin to ours. Sandwalker says he is a man in part b…
28 Mar 2013, 15:04
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From: Marc Aramini Subject: Re: (urth) symbols, motifs,and extra textual relevance vs. onomastic onanism Which she compensates for using high technology, not a very abo-like trai…
27 Mar 2013, 15:05
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From: Gwern Branwen At least he can plausibly argue that cellphones, internet etc. are not available to the public in this setting. This is not a criticism of Wolfe — he has be…
10 Mar 2013, 13:52
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From: Antonin Scriabin Gurloes used to “talk to” (or taunt, who knows) the mad clients in the lowest floor. But I don’t recall any mention of Severian ever encountering several …
06 Feb 2013, 14:07
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From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes I was amazed by how many commenting SF fans hadn't read him! - Gerry Quinn…
13 Dec 2012, 19:22
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From: Lee Berman Actually, we learn the correct explanation from Dr. Talos's play, in the second book: PROPHET: Yet even you must know that cancer eats the heart of the old …
30 Nov 2012, 14:39
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From: David Duffy Well, it has fallen out of favour as far as I know! But by 'dubious' I meant 'unlikely to be correct'. Even if the vacuum is metastable, it's (fortunately) un…
29 Nov 2012, 21:55
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From: Lee Berman Well, it is also a key element of the story. Personally I would question whether dropping a black hole into the sun would dim it. I think it would cause it to …
29 Nov 2012, 17:32
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From: David Stockhoff That’s my view too. There are different types of hard SF though. There is the realistic sort where the writer tries to tell a story that could actually h…
29 Nov 2012, 17:25
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From: Jerry Friedman I don't think they would be visible because they would probably not be going fast enough. Meteors glow mainly because of their velocity relative to the Ear…
29 Nov 2012, 15:45
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From: Daniel Petersen We have a universe containing time travel with a single 'preferred' history that becomes somehow 'realer' than alternate and still substantially evolved hi…
26 Nov 2012, 17:43
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From: the badger Interesting thought. I haven't heard of it. Of course the Claw is really a thorn. I don't know that that has any significance. - Gerry Quinn…
02 Nov 2012, 00:18
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I’m sure many of you will have seen this, but Tor have an article on Wolfe’s _Peace_ for their “Ghost Week” series: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/10/gene-wolfe-peace-review - Ger…
27 Oct 2012, 16:35
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From: David Stockhoff I don’t find a connection between the Naviscaput and Abaia very convincing. The Naviscaput lived in shallow water / shoals, doesn’t seem to much resemble A…
19 Sep 2012, 23:24
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From: Marc Aramini Yes, that explanation makes sense. I hadn't realised the 'sic' was in the text. - Gerry Quinn…
18 Sep 2012, 16:29
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From: Lee Berman I say typo. It makes no sense as written, and the names are easily confusable. Reading the passage, I didn’t notice it, so it’s not implausible that author and…
18 Sep 2012, 10:27
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http://mashable.com/2012/06/22/kepler-alien-planets/ Actually, it’s not Blue and Green. But two planets have been found that orbit the same star and have a conjunction every 97 …
22 Jun 2012, 22:01
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From: David Stockhoff Yes, but that award should not be a significant plot point. More resemblances to the original Lake Avernus are fine, but one should stop short of drawing c…
22 May 2012, 14:59
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From: Marc Aramini Interesting comments on whether 2910 is actually a HORAR with fake memories or not. Personally I fall strongly on the side of him being a man. The only stron…
22 May 2012, 14:53
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From: Bruno de Albuquerque Furtado I think the Romans would have noticed if the lake was plagued with weeds as noxious as the avern! I think it’s possible to read too much into …
20 May 2012, 19:22
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From: David Stockhoff I don’t think it would be out of character for him to mention a technological feature like this. Well, I suppose he might well have included such a link as…
20 May 2012, 19:11
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From: Bruno de Albuquerque Furtado I think you are certainly correct that Wolfe was inspired by the Romans? belief — perhaps the myth inspired not only the avern and the Lake, bu…
20 May 2012, 14:05
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From: Daniel Petersen [old post] Which comments? And where is the following from? - Gerry Quinn…
05 May 2012, 13:31
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From: Marc Aramini Reading your summary, I was half expecting a riff on Asimov’s “The Machine That Won The War”. Could work as a story, too, IMO! - Gerry Quinn…
22 Apr 2012, 22:48
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They have flaws in common: _The Difference Engine_ is episodic, whereas _Holy Fire_ is picaresque; neither is truly a novel in the strongest sense. They both create worlds, thoug…
18 Apr 2012, 03:06
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From: Jerry Friedman I don't think that's cyberstalking (to use your corrected spelling). If people put pictures of themselves on the Web, it's so other people can see them. …
18 Apr 2012, 02:49
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From: Dave Lebling Sterling can’t plot to save his life. But _Holy Fire_ is great. - Gerry Quinn…
18 Apr 2012, 00:09
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From: Daniel Petersen _Hyperion_ and _The Fall of Hyperion_ are very good (there were two more in the series that were a lot weaker IMO) and I think they might appeal to Wolfe fa…
17 Apr 2012, 23:35
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From: DAVID STOCKHOFF If he had followed the undine he might have been, at least metaphorically. - Gerry Quinn…
17 Apr 2012, 13:21
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From: Nathan C. Tresch But the same argument could be made for any of the millions of spaceships in the universe. There is only one Ship, but it’s rather clear that there are nu…
15 Apr 2012, 19:23
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From: Sergei SOLOVIEV True, it is only in its crew that it resembles the Whorl. Maybe — but if so it is a much nicer and friendlier cousin! I don’t think so, really, though — a…
15 Apr 2012, 13:14
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From: Sergei SOLOVIEV I would rather place the Whorl as an evolution of the ship in Silhouette. Both are human-constructed, and both have been subject to mission-creep (although…
15 Apr 2012, 12:07
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From: Nathan C. Tresch It can’t really be. The Whorl is a hollowed out asteroid, and has no sails. The Ship has symmetric decks and sails. And the interior descriptions do not…
14 Apr 2012, 21:37
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From: Lee Berman Are all possible confounding factors (such as, for example, death penalties being likely to be legalised/outlawed during periods when murder rates are rising/fal…
12 Apr 2012, 21:18
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From: David Stockhoff Ask Abu Qatada. - Gerry Quinn…
11 Apr 2012, 12:16
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From: Matthew Knight It does seem more like that which has recently gone into effect in Timbuktoo. Christian fundamentalism is not usually presented with nuance either. - Ger…
11 Apr 2012, 11:01
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From: Gwern Branwen Is a single North American currency such a right wing concept as all that? Nobody calls one a Nazi for favouring European monetary union — quite the opposite…
09 Apr 2012, 23:52
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From: David Stockhoff There are TV precursors too, though, such as Twin Peaks. - Gerry Quinn…
06 Apr 2012, 19:33
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From: Lee Berman I didn’t watch it to the end, but one obvious interpretation of what is described above is that they are in a time loop. - Gerry Quinn…
06 Apr 2012, 16:09
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From: David Stockhoff Well, Marc’s is more verbatim: I have added interpretations, i.e. I think it is reasonable to assume they are indeed in a flying saucer. I wasn’t being sni…
05 Apr 2012, 14:02
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From: David Stockhoff I didn’t really get a “fairy” vibe, more of a “saucer alien from very scientifically advanced race” vibe. Granted Wolfe has explicitly conflated fairies an…
04 Apr 2012, 13:15
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From: Marc Aramini It *is* pretty cryptic. My thoughts on this one: First, I think they are in a flying saucer, presumably in a holding cell in half of the dome those things ha…
03 Apr 2012, 22:59
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From: Jeff Wilson But Battlestar Galactica... at least they planned that one, right? - Gerry Quinn…
03 Apr 2012, 20:35
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From: Lee Berman I never said Severian is using science and technology. What I am arguing is that whatever Severian is doing is understood by the Hieros (though not by Severian)…
03 Apr 2012, 18:06
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From: Lee Berman But clearly the physics understood by the Dawn Men is rather limited compared to that which will be understood by Severian’s time. Urth is full of clearly techn…
01 Apr 2012, 10:25
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From: Jeff Wilson You think maybe he could have some time travel ability that allows him to contact individuals outside his nominal timeframe? Some sort of negentropic effect fr…
01 Apr 2012, 10:10
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