Posted from 2 addresses as Jeff Wilson, Jeffery Wilson clueland.com, Jeffery Wilson
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uncanny attraction between long-lost siblings is fairly common in literature and not unknown in RL This could be a habit of speaking for an adopted sister. It may also be that J…
10 Jul 2008, 03:20
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Baldanders demonstrates humans can become enormous water-breathers. Juturna was likely turned at a very young age, and being from the land herself is better at manipulating air-b…
09 Jul 2008, 19:15
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It doesn't have to be scientific evidence, just textual evidence. I'm serious in thinking she is a contender for sister, and I am serious that she is a candidate for shapeshiftin…
09 Jul 2008, 19:09
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Dare I ask for something that indicates they are shapeshifters, regardless of the point being made? Y'know, objectively? Jeff…
08 Jul 2008, 21:54
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The short answers/spoilers are: - the world doesn't stay flooded; when the White Fountain passes on into the sun, the tides return to normal. - the destruction is widely spread…
08 Jul 2008, 21:35
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I'm pretty sure Juturna is Severian's sister.…
08 Jul 2008, 17:33
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Can you point out the shape-changing incidents for Inire and the Cumaean?…
08 Jul 2008, 17:00
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He also says there are so many pictures that he's only cleaned them three times each or so during his career; fifteen years worth of paintings can line miles of underground hallw…
08 Jul 2008, 05:56
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There's no "attempt," the transcendence is a natural process. The Overlords intercede only to prevent the human race from destroying itself before the transformation can be compl…
08 Jul 2008, 05:49
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It seems like a stretch for Inire to serve the Autarchs for a thousand years when he only lives for 20 himself, even using time travel to skip over the boring parts but still cre…
08 Jul 2008, 04:25
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Do we know for sure the links are unusual, rather than "just" tunnels?…
08 Jul 2008, 00:10
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Since Tzadkiel is a Hierogrammate rather than a Hierodule, no it doesn't count. What kind of true love is he getting by lying about his species, or by trying to impress pre-pubs…
07 Jul 2008, 03:28
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But don't the various female forms have immediately recognizable faces? How similar is the non-bestial male face to the female face? Inire as a Hierogrammate-let, I can buy. It c…
07 Jul 2008, 03:15
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Okay, so T's race can take different shapes, and split off independent parts, stipulated. But can T's race take on a multitude of different faces? And where is it writ that Inire…
06 Jul 2008, 19:55
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Stop. There is no evidence Tzadkiel can assume _any_ shape. It has several at its disposal, but we do not know if they are finely customizable. Also, we do not know that Hierogra…
06 Jul 2008, 01:35
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THE BONESETTER'S DAUGHTER by Amy Tan I just realized that this book is like a fully worked out example of a Gene Wolfe puzzle story, only with a revealing resolution. It's got …
05 Jul 2008, 22:41
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That's okay. To be unconvincingly correct is not usefully different than being wrong, and may actually be counterproductive by helping discredit the right answer.…
05 Jul 2008, 22:24
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Okay, you have no explanation to back up your earlier supposition then. Relaxation vs rigor mortis is a question of how long has he been dead. The body relaxes immediately as soo…
05 Jul 2008, 17:22
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One of the ways of telling a person is dead is that opposing muscle groups are relaxed, so it would not be unusual for a person often in the grip of strong emotion to look more y…
05 Jul 2008, 05:06
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Like the mysterious alien artifact used to make mercury thermometers?…
02 Jul 2008, 22:00
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This is exactly how Toricelli made a vacuum in 1643, the tube being equal in length to TE.…
02 Jul 2008, 14:05
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I understand that pistol-size rayguns and interstellar-range spacecraft are also not actually possible. Who does that Wolfe guy think he is fooling?…
02 Jul 2008, 08:59
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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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