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See my comment to Roy about why to have an unreliable narrator. Not only did the artists take liberties with his image, it seems far more likely than not that the programmers did…
18 Jan 2011, 22:26
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Yeah, I do. I hope you don't think was deliberately condescending. I was just building to my point. Roy, a good reason to have an unreliable first person narrator is that someth…
18 Jan 2011, 22:04
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To put things in perspective, in order to take Berlin, the Soviets pummeled the city with 5X the explosive force in rockets as Hiroshima. And the conventional invasion of Okinawa…
18 Jan 2011, 20:15
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This was often the case. Many people were defamed after the start of the Korean War. On the other hand, anyone who stayed in the CPU after the Molotov--Ribbentrop Pact could not …
18 Jan 2011, 19:01
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I resonate with the sentiment, but one cuts nasty deals in a war (in this case, the Cold War). We cut one with Stalin in WWII as well. J…
18 Jan 2011, 18:40
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Correction: The thing is that people assume Tussah speaks first and then _Typhon_ ONLY because they assume Tussah's is the 'carved brown face' and Typhon has the 'blue eyes'.…
18 Jan 2011, 15:14
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All morality is about causing people to act contrary to their natural inclinations. This is the problem with using surveys (such as the Kinsey Report) to determine the opinions w…
18 Jan 2011, 15:08
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Once again, I think this ascribes to Vanity was is overtly described as a practical decision. Typhon would have preferred to have the colonists forget everything about their hist…
18 Jan 2011, 14:19
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I don't consider it clear at all that it is Tussah speaking. In fact, I don't think there is _any_ definitive reason to assume "You must, my lad." and "We're your parents." to be…
18 Jan 2011, 14:08
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I realize it is easy to forget, but these books weren't written by Silk. They were written by Horn. While we can assume Horn is honestly writing about what he was told and saw, w…
18 Jan 2011, 12:11
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Tick is an homage to James H. Schmitz's Tezey Amberdon stories. Her earliest story (I think) was called "The Novice". Telzey was a girl who carried on psychic communication with …
18 Jan 2011, 03:01
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When Silk meets his parents in Mainframe, Horn writes: "You must, my lad." A man's voice, the voice of which Lemur had been a species of mockery. Looking up he saw the car…
18 Jan 2011, 02:55
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I don't understand why you think this argument is so convincing. 1) Typhon told Sev that he kept his face for purely practical reasons. Not aesthetic reasons. If one accepts his…
17 Jan 2011, 21:41
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The thing about Wolfe that you often have to have multiple (seemingly? yes) valid conclusions that run in opposite directions. Wolfe can be ambiguous, so when conclusions collide…
17 Jan 2011, 21:31
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I have, but you'd have to accept that Wolfe is doing something extra-textually with the story to accept that; that is, drawing from the Illiad, Robert Graves, etc. u+16b9…
17 Jan 2011, 20:12
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Not really. But Rana works nicely for the story. It's located in a constellation that was traditionally seen as a stream. And there's a "Basket" star in that constellation. As f…
17 Jan 2011, 18:18
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I've heard this explanation for Typhon's motives often. But, if this is the case, why did Pas not possess Silk during all that period after he was resurrected and have him leave …
17 Jan 2011, 16:57
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On 1/17/2011 8:21 AM, This is the first time I realized that Fish and Frog are a continuation of Wolfe's Blue/Green theme. Nice catch. u+16b9…
17 Jan 2011, 16:42
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I don't want to steal anyone's thunder but Wolfe used to be much more free with explanations before he became famous with New Sun. One might well assume that many people were tip…
17 Jan 2011, 16:41
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That's a good question, but I'd be the wrong person to enthusiastically follow that path since "Silk" is not a Fish related name. I've always assumed Fish and Frog referred to the…
17 Jan 2011, 13:52
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Tussah is the only choice I can imagine. The Ayuntamiento would be a logical choice, but I presume his sponsor is dead since he seems to have been abandoned. This brings up the …
17 Jan 2011, 12:20
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Why wouldn't he just hope that he would live long enough to get the ship launched. Then, what they knew about him would be immaterial.…
17 Jan 2011, 12:09
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I called this a confirmation not evidence. Obviously, it would fall under the rubric of "Confirmation Bias". I agree --already from the text-- that Silk is the son of Typhon. But…
17 Jan 2011, 11:43
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I just read Wolfe's werewolf short story, "Innocent", from the Full Moon Anthology. It strikes me that Wolfe is a fearless writer--willing go into territory that risks totally c…
17 Jan 2011, 11:33
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I work off the presumption that all the embryos are clones of Typhon's family and court. Silk is a clone of Fish--one of the sons of Spring Wind and Bird of the Woods. Tussah is …
17 Jan 2011, 11:26
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Despite the reference in the characters section, I've never been happy with the idea of her as a NATURAL "natural daughter". Nothing gets drummed in over and over in the text as …
17 Jan 2011, 11:21
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Not at all since I say Silk is most directly a clone of Fish not Typhon. But I say Fish was a clone of Typhon. I think Remora knew Silk was a clone. Thus his visit and conversati…
17 Jan 2011, 10:36
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I said: for structural building (growth) in the form of 1) There's plenty of room in Severian's encounter with the Green Man for undiscussed feeding processes that included taki…
16 Jan 2011, 22:32
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You might be interested in this, Lee. While browsing a used bookstore yesterday, I happened upon "New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology" for which Graves wrote introduction. The…
16 Jan 2011, 22:14
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Yes, but one must allow the possibility that artifically manufactured algae could leverage the sunlight to get more oomph. Even today, people boost the idea of solar energy repla…
16 Jan 2011, 20:38
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Just dropping in momentarily. "Devout" might be overstating it. I am, however, adamant that "The Greek Myths" is very useful in interpreting Wolfe's writings at least from the la…
15 Jan 2011, 03:05
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BTW The cover of Home Fires is pretty boring, but at least its better than the 4th grade Photoshop cover from The Sorcerer's House. Wolfe recently said something about the cover…
30 Dec 2010, 19:21
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Not physically. Only in astral-travel to visit Sinew and drive out the inhumi and their human slaves. u+16b9…
30 Dec 2010, 18:43
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It's so comforting when something like this happens. u+16b9…
30 Dec 2010, 18:10
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Right, Jordan. When OBW starts 1) Horn has died in the pit and been resurrected, 2) traveled to Parajuco and boarded a ship to Green, 2) Died on Green and had his "spirit" transm…
30 Dec 2010, 18:09
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He only gives up one eye. he has one left.…
30 Dec 2010, 17:17
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What page was it? u+16b9…
30 Dec 2010, 16:32
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I suggested this recently. There are problems with it. http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2010-December/020017.html u+16b9…
30 Dec 2010, 16:17
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Actually, I believe Hyacinth is Fava (the inhuma whose body died during dream-travel). I think she was collected by the Rajan and taken to the Whorl to take part in her story (ju…
30 Dec 2010, 16:13
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Well, I agree they RETAIN it in theory. But they can't use it. VRT stays in his prison, not because he CAN'T escape but because he can't imitate John V. Marsch and escape. Marsch…
30 Dec 2010, 16:00
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Mother's husband that is.…
30 Dec 2010, 10:08
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Well, he said he should just keep his mouth shut. It's a pretty random joke if that's all it was. The nasty sarcasm in such a joke totally alien to my interactions with Wolfe. Bu…
30 Dec 2010, 09:34
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And yet, the author has something to say that throws a kink in our initial interpretation. This reasoning of yours is like a little child's who thinks his father has become scary…
30 Dec 2010, 04:29
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There's not much discussion of religion in Green's world, but assuming his is ours there is a Christian Church. If there were no equivalent in Lara's world, their world would be …
30 Dec 2010, 04:07
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Well, I'm not inclined to squint at the stories to see if they are theologically correct, but I did take a stab at this here: http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2010-D…
30 Dec 2010, 02:06
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It doesn't mean it isn't true. It only means it has not been established HOW it is true. I think it is true. I only doubt that the Blue/Green sun is Urth's Sol. There are at lea…
30 Dec 2010, 01:46
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If Wolfe is to be credited, they are not.…
29 Dec 2010, 22:54
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In fairness, that's what Wolfe did when asked why the Whorl was sent. He also said Typhon didn't know about the inhumi, and they weren't part of /his/ plan. Their bodies are rept…
29 Dec 2010, 20:37
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From "How To Read Gene Wolfe" by Neil Gaiman http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/2007/gwng0704.htm 3) Reread. It's better the second time. It will be even better the third time. And anyway…
29 Dec 2010, 19:25
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I don't think this applies to the inhumi and I think you have misinterpreted the lesson. I think Wolfe is making a statement about colonization here. It has always gone on. One g…
29 Dec 2010, 17:42
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