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In the American army but not the Enemy's. Not very convincing. ... Brenner (meaning "burner"--I suppose a charcoal burner or some such.). It seems to match fine--whoever came t…
23 May 2012, 04:37
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The real expression is "Forewarned is forearmed."? "Forearmed" means "armed in advance" and is hardly ever used outside this proverb. — I was making a joke--a man with four arms i…
23 May 2012, 03:58
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You'll figure out who is whose enemy soon enough, or learn to ignore the enmity. In English, "Forewarned is four-armed". I'm in a somewhat similar position. Jerry Friedman…
23 May 2012, 03:04
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The morning glory also seemed rather Ballardian, as far as I remember the story. What's the Ballard story with the creatures that have adapted in anticipation of a nuclear holocaus…
02 May 2012, 18:04
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And called /The Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius/, a title whose Lupine significance I didn't notice last night. Jerry Friedman…
27 Apr 2012, 13:21
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... It's by W. H. D. Rouse. http://books.google.com/books?id=UawfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR1 I don't know anything about him, but Wikipedia does. Jerry Friedman…
27 Apr 2012, 05:07
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I didn't know that was your criterion. The gateway to Faerie certainly made a difference to the Auberon-Sylvie part of the plot. — The brownie is mostly there as decoration and to …
19 Apr 2012, 17:22
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I find Eddison's Tudor style really remarkable, though I'm no expert. He resembles Wolfe in Political Incorrectness, though he's a lot more in your face about it--in fact, I can re…
19 Apr 2012, 14:47
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There's a brownie in the City, and what appears to be an animated statue, and the killing of a changeling (that eats hot coals), and a gateway to Faerie and a way to communicate to…
18 Apr 2012, 17:07
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Correct. *now working on equations to solve /Lolita/* Jerry Friedman…
18 Apr 2012, 15:44
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... 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. This is me: http://en…
17 Apr 2012, 21:55
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I didn't like either Beasts or The Deep. In my opinion, Engine Summer is a masterpiece in both senses. Jerry Friedman…
17 Apr 2012, 20:11
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I strongly second the recommendation for Crowley, and I'd start with Little, Big, although he's never written anything bad since Beasts. For some reason Crowley put the climax of t…
17 Apr 2012, 19:08
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Oh no no. Lafferty has "beautiful moments and bad quarters of an hour." I did like /Last Call/ a great deal. Not /On Stranger Tides/ so much. Or even a short narrative. Apparent…
17 Apr 2012, 17:06
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Apparently all crocodilians ambush their prey and roll like that. http://books.google.com/books?id=f8uFPKPzlnEC&pg=PA264 Jerry Friedman…
30 Mar 2012, 19:02
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I agree. This sort of irony would show up again in Wolfe's work. The fantasy and the non-recognition feel Chestertonian to me--the supernatural in the midst of life--though I don'…
24 Mar 2012, 15:35
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Was filo really a common southern dessert at the time? The main sources of "Philo Queen" must be the fictional detectives Philo Vance and Ellery Queen. I'm not sure how Descartes …
24 Mar 2012, 15:25
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... A Texas A&M magazine, apparently. The point of the package is that UT students are effete, as you say, and scared of anything associated with Texas A&M, where Wolfe and his re…
24 Mar 2012, 15:19
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I shouldn't have said that in the OT God recognizes the existence of other gods, since I'm not sure he does. As you say, his worshipers do, even Moses (Ex. 15:11: "Who is like you …
21 Mar 2012, 01:39
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Lee Berman: I have suggested that the God of the OT seems to be rather pagan by our In the early books, but not the later ones. All true. Jesus had nothing to say about polygam…
19 Mar 2012, 16:55
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... I don't think that follows. Universes are similar to each other, and might affect each (through "morphic resonance"?). So maybe there could have been a very Catherine-like sto…
15 Mar 2012, 04:57
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I'm inclined to agree, Marc. The Commonwealth doesn't strike me as clearly worse than much of A.D. Earth history. Ascia is more totalitarian than any tyranny I know of, but on the …
12 Mar 2012, 03:48
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Thanks for your answers. I'm sorry if I was unclear. I didn't intend to suggest there was any nastiness or meanness or evil or cruel delight in the Christian conception of God, and…
07 Mar 2012, 22:54
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... Or just from the point of view of characters in the Whorl, who associate him with space? For that matter, could someone remind me of where the Outsider is described as a dark…
06 Mar 2012, 22:16
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As are all the other inhabitants of the Seven Worlds. I suppose the dragons are supposed to be his gods. I agree with all that. Another proof is that he gets punished for blasphem…
28 Feb 2012, 00:17
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(Characters'.) I'm not sure what you're saying here. I think Wolfe did a good job distinguishing the speech of the characters, except for the ones I mentioned, which are too mecha…
11 Jan 2012, 06:04
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My objections in the /Long Sun/ are to Xiphias (every sentence ends in an exclamation point!), Olivine (every sentence gets to the second-last word and then... every sentence gets …
10 Jan 2012, 04:52
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That they're the original human Group of Seventeen. Then "megatherian" would mean "follower of the great beasts". Jerry Friedman…
07 Jan 2012, 00:50
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For example, we assume that "megatherians" means Erebus, Abaia, and the rest, although there's at least one other possibility, beyond the possibility that they're not connected to …
06 Jan 2012, 20:27
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... I do like this. And there's no problem reconciling it with the idea that Severian gets his energy from Yesod--the temporal anomaly could make that possible. Jerry Friedman…
22 Dec 2011, 19:21
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... Certainly we're supposed to pick up those aspects. This would all be fine, if it weren't for Wolfe's article in /Thrust/ as quoted in LU: "There are?/no/ fantasy elements inv…
22 Dec 2011, 19:19
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But that's precisely what we've got with the analeptic alzabo and the inhumi. The rules underlying them make psychological sense because they work by "contagion", but they don't ma…
21 Dec 2011, 21:25
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[the analeptic alzabo] To me, the problem of rejection seems quite different, as we know ways to deal with that. Most simply, the boy who "donated" blood may have been O-, and the…
21 Dec 2011, 20:19
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Yes, but RNA in cooked flesh? Surely it would have to be in the brain, but nothing in that scene (CotC, Ch. XI)?seems to suggest that they ate Thecla's brain. On the other hand, no…
21 Dec 2011, 01:23
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... Does he ever get specific about any examples of manipulation, beside the obvious ones (direct appearances of BF&O, the aquastors, and the Yesodim)? I looked at his chapter on …
21 Dec 2011, 00:34
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... ... And specifically associated with Dionysus, as at http://books.google.com/books?id=XCDvuoZ8IzsC&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153 Okay, I suppose it's time to ask this question--not ju…
20 Dec 2011, 19:36
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Very interesting essay. Of course Wolfe's world-building is the kind that Heinlein championed, "The door dilated", but taken much farther than Heinlein ever did, even in /The Moon …
20 Dec 2011, 19:12
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Also a favorite of mine, no one will be surprised to hear, along with the other set piece about the forms of governance. For some friends of mine who don't like Wolfe, the style i…
19 Dec 2011, 23:43
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Actually, /The Big U/ was the first. I found it intermittently amusing, but a lot of people didn't find it amusing at all. I second the recommendation to start with /Snow Crash/. I…
19 Dec 2011, 23:40
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I'd better clarify that. Though I disagree with much of what you say about Wolfe, the only things that tempt me to personal abuse are your stratagems. Jerry Friedman…
17 Dec 2011, 16:26
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From: Lee Berman severiansola at hotmail.com ... ... If you ask about your contributions to the list, the only way I can answer is by insulting you, and there have been more than…
17 Dec 2011, 16:04
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One of those instances of "is". If your definition of "fairy story" is that it has elements such as those, then yes. If it's that the story has no scientific explanations of the st…
16 Dec 2011, 16:34
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... An exceptional YA reader, I'd say. People who could have followed TWK in their mid teens are undoubtedly overrepresented here. In fact, I'd say it's the anti-Connecticut-Yank…
07 Dec 2011, 04:56
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... Chicks can be brown or black, as an image search will show you. I suspect that we are supposed to think of the golden color, though, as you say. Also that Dr. Talos made the c…
04 Dec 2011, 00:00
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... There's always time travel. Is it odd that Severian doesn't consider the possibility? By the way, is there any reason to connect the speculation that there's only one Ship wi…
02 Dec 2011, 17:05
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... Have I said this before? I feel certain that the homunculus is lying (or Severian imagines that it is). It pretends to agree that it's nothing of interest, and dead, as a reas…
01 Dec 2011, 05:30
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See below. Got it. I disagree with that too. Unless you're just saying you're certain that it refers to Typhon, which I can't argue with. That's what I was disagreeing with. I to…
01 Dec 2011, 05:26
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I don't view it that way. Are you perhaps reasoning that if one possible connection doesn't interest me, I don't see any connections? I didn't exclude anything. I don't know where…
30 Nov 2011, 06:00
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This sentence from the occultist Eliphas Levi, which I'd quoted earlier. "Some alchemists, impressed by this idea, speculated on the culture of the mandragore, and experimented i…
30 Nov 2011, 05:38
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Yes, that's why I said the mandragora might be a mandrake root. "Folk etymology associated the second element with /dragoun/ and substituted native /drake/ in its place." http://…
29 Nov 2011, 06:23
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