Posted from 2 addresses as Jeff Wilson, Jeffery Wilson clueland.com, Jeffery Wilson
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Er, how do you explain Docas' husband being dead *and* immortal? Or the well-connected Inire handicapping his earnest search for Dorcas' body by doing it manually and alone, on…
02 Jul 2008, 07:36
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How are "Sev and Jonas" not a New Sun purpose? The trysts can use "normal" secret passageways and such; that there are so many makes it easy for Inire to park his portals out of …
02 Jul 2008, 07:10
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Sev's movements in the Houses seem to be under manipulation by Inire, for example the forced perspective room covered by the drop-down painting is explicitly his work. It's possi…
01 Jul 2008, 17:33
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It is interesting in that the one "no one would read" is apparently supposed to be the one that eventually made its way back to "G.W." Say, maybe that "explains" some of the disc…
01 Jul 2008, 08:36
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What means of time-travel or at least exceptional egress from the here-and-now are there in the Book vs _Urth_? In roughly ms order: - The vicinity of the Atrium of Time - I…
01 Jul 2008, 07:26
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-What else would Vodalus be doing with freshly dead bodies of specific people? -The volunteers are likely on guard against graverobbers in general, as there are other motives tha…
30 Jun 2008, 16:46
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Severian's remarks in the ms indicate he has no worries that anyone else will ever see the book he is writing. I suppose that could be a ruse to fool spies, but then the entire B…
30 Jun 2008, 16:35
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That's pretty iffy, given the popularity of political assassination stories and the large numbers partaking of her memories. How likely would they all be to miss it? I also don't…
30 Jun 2008, 09:41
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If this is true, wouldn't that mean that Vodalus (and the others who presumably later share her memories) would have knowledge of the future era's general public, like Agia dispo…
30 Jun 2008, 07:46
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A clean sword stroke limits the trauma to a relatively thin layer of some millions of cells and connective tissue, perhaps some fracturing would spread through the one or two int…
26 Jun 2008, 06:28
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Stitching a freshly severed head back on is much less impressive than returning days-dead Zama to life, or generating an entire new body for himself on The Ship.…
25 Jun 2008, 08:21
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In the same vein, the realities of early 20th century university construction dictate a juxtaposition of diverse styles and periods as well as enclosed and exposed spaces connect…
24 Jun 2008, 02:47
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You're welcome. It confused me for the longest time how there could be a *naval* battle at a place called Hampton Roads, but I guess I 'm not the only one and perhaps it is refle…
20 Jun 2008, 14:42
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Er, Lilith (being as much a part of Adam as Eve was) would be as un-alien as one could get.…
20 Jun 2008, 04:02
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The giant keeps to channels on the island most of the time, doesn't he? I think he owes more to the other ur-story, the Battle of Hampton Roads, where the Monitor's considerable…
19 Jun 2008, 20:45
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I think it's been pretty well established that higher classes are literally heads above those below them, as average heights go. However, the exultants seem to do this artificial…
19 Jun 2008, 20:20
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The Tim Robbins film "Jacob's Ladder" is a much longer and less rewarding (except for Danny Aiello and the Disco-Cthulhu scene) treatment of the same idea.…
19 Jun 2008, 06:04
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Juturna also claims Severian could enjoy their company, despite his obviously smaller scale. This implies there are a variety of sizes of undines, and/or possibly male undines pr…
19 Jun 2008, 03:26
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The enormous Blue Whale's voice is louder than a jet engine and can be heard through water over distances of hundreds of miles, perhaps thousands in the absence of motorized ship…
18 Jun 2008, 04:34
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A scene depicting a tall, dark stranger with a dashing cape and sword in parley with a naked body builder might not be out of place if the brothel caters to minority tastes.…
17 Jun 2008, 03:13
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IIRC we established that there is no picture of the original moon landing that matches the composition described. It's either a mistake on Wolfe's part, a painting (perhaps by Mi…
17 Jun 2008, 02:57
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elusive Ellison!…
17 Jun 2008, 02:49
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Please recall, it's not a conventional top-down raining flood, but involves oceans slopping out of their basins to cover the land, and eventually the land turning over, continent…
13 Jun 2008, 14:48
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Perhaps a hill or other rise of land intervenes? Food for thought, indeed.…
13 Jun 2008, 05:32
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Then it would be more efficient still to send a team of agents armed with turkey basters down to Echopraxia.…
12 Jun 2008, 08:33
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Gravity doesn't dictate size, rather mass and distance dictate gravity. An asteroid can have a gravity of 1g is you pack it itghtly so that you can be withing a few meters of the…
12 Jun 2008, 08:25
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I don't think this is supported by "Masts sprout from every deck, a hundred times taller than the Flag kepp of the Citadel," or by Severian being able to leap clear the distance …
12 Jun 2008, 08:13
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Yes of ocurse it is, it has to be. The problem is, when the author starts making up non-physical stuff, and doesn't stop with Wells' single improbability, where *does* he stop? W…
12 Jun 2008, 07:46
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I don't think we can square that figure with Sev's account of the masts and sails early in URTH. Also, regular solar sails of even that scale aren't adequate to propel the Ship o…
11 Jun 2008, 18:29
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Er, wasn't it one of Typhon's children who threw "black beans on the grave of the sun"? They would have had access to several ships who could have been used to as magnetic tongs…
11 Jun 2008, 03:34
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Other than Butler, they'd all outlived the majority of their peers outside the field, and were fortunate to have had long, productive lives beyond what was expected in the times …
11 Jun 2008, 03:23
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She does use of a sort of dimensional portal to deposit Severian back on the Ship, already back in Briah, and is visible to him for a while after. (URTH, late Ch 22 - early Ch 23…
11 Jun 2008, 03:03
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It may be a Twain reference, but there was also an historic example on February 29, 1504 involving Columbus and a lunar eclipse, from whence the story element springs.…
11 Jun 2008, 01:08
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LEO velocity is about 5 miles per second, so each second of eclipse is 5 miles worth of ship, plus the penumbra penalty (altitude times twice the tangent of the sun's arc width (…
11 Jun 2008, 01:07
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That would make it only about 80 miles up, a rapidly decaying orbit to be sure. It would have to have some form of lift to let it hover in place anyway, because at orbital speeds…
10 Jun 2008, 15:00
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We don't know this is true within the context of the books. Several examples of antigravity (the throne room and the fliers to name two) are provided that might be parleyed into …
10 Jun 2008, 09:29
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The timeline of change is fairly arbitrary. The factoid about light emitted in the core of the sun taking millions of years to reach the surface is technically correct according …
10 Jun 2008, 06:59
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How can we objectively distinguish between the two cases? Otherwise, you're merely substituting your judgment for theirs in determining if the Increate "really" wants them to do …
09 Jun 2008, 04:23
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Your reasoning here is almost air-tight, except that 1) time travel makes all the time-conditional predicates suspect. 2) a very common Wolfe theme is an evil person's misdeed furt…
08 Jun 2008, 08:28
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I don't see the narrative presenting "appears in the sun" as an alternative possibility to "travels to the sun". It could be that the fountain-like flux of energy will only turn …
07 Jun 2008, 23:58
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This doesn't strike me as embarassing, and Severian seems to get a bit of a vicarious thrill from imagining their coupling.…
07 Jun 2008, 03:01
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So are the overwhelming majority of crucifixions, yet the cross is still a positive symbol for Christians. I'm comparing them chiefly in the capacity of people to honor their …
06 Jun 2008, 07:43
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Mechanical limbs, animal parts on otherwise human bodies, human faces on animals, and relics of many epochs are everyday sights around Nesus and the Citadel; I doubt leather made…
05 Jun 2008, 02:16
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Why not? The greatest sacrifice to honor the greatest sacrifice.…
05 Jun 2008, 02:09
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If you combine these concepts, the Roche or Drotte mistake could be a redaction error where for example a fourth boy's presence was elided by inconsistently assigning his dialogu…
01 Jun 2008, 08:01
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There is a problem in that Urth's history seems to include a Christian era as well. The millions of years figure is more figurative than literally believeable; how likely are re…
01 May 2008, 21:53
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Urania of Uranus urgently yet urbanely urinated uranium hexafluoride on the urban landscape, abating the urticaria of Urkel, an Uruguayan ursine.…
24 Apr 2008, 20:46
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Some of the list links are saying there's no list now. Did something happen? I can't get to the most recent archives as it is.…
07 Mar 2008, 20:16
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Perhaps there are similar lacunae in the book, not as obvious?…
27 Feb 2008, 06:03
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For those who prefer reading detective stories to enacting them: http://www.siriusfiction.com/…
25 Feb 2008, 23:08
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