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This socialist enjoys his Gene Wolfe. Sent from my iPhone…
16 Dec 2010, 22:35
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Case in point for why we should take author's self-assessment with a grain of salt.…
16 Dec 2010, 17:52
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Personally, I prefer "words for nerds." LH…
16 Dec 2010, 17:46
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As I understood it, the cosmology of Arda/Middle Earth was supposed to be a mythical re-telling of the "true" (for Tolkien) cosmology, dressed up in the myths of the Elves, etc. O…
16 Dec 2010, 17:44
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The most annoying thing is how patronizing the guy is about sf literature. He doesn't examine why sf is not "respected" literary fiction, but rather assumes the imposed hierarchy i…
08 Dec 2010, 04:59
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Aren't you missing two big (very, very big) antagonists of the Increate? Sent from my iPhone…
03 Dec 2010, 20:36
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All that future wants for is a bonfire and some drawn butter. LH…
12 Aug 2010, 21:07
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Aw, it wouldn't be so bad to be a morlock. Swanky caves to live in, all the eloi you can eat... LH…
12 Aug 2010, 20:27
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Oddly enough, the only ones that I ever caught in my spam filter were Josh's. I told gmail to knock it off, and it did. But the rest of them get through fine. LH…
11 Aug 2010, 15:58
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Speaking as a writer of far less than Wolfe's caliber, I think we might overestimate the strength of writers that create wonderful puzzles. Sometimes, it is deliberate, but more o…
11 Aug 2010, 15:57
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Is the linearity of time a reputable concept that might conceivably be shared by Severian and Apheta? After all, some Hiero*s travel backward in time relative to Severian. Is BFO…
10 Aug 2010, 18:37
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This is where it gets tricky. IF Wolfe really meant to appropriate more than Kabbalistic names for the story, the higher/lower distinction does not easily parallel our modern "bet…
10 Aug 2010, 15:53
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Wouldn't this contradict the notion of simultaneously-existing universes that are "ranked' in order of ascension, a la the Kabbalah? I agree that it is difficult to compare Briah …
09 Aug 2010, 21:40
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Is it bad that I want to log in to my little-used LJ account to post a link to the poor beleaugered soul in the comments, directing him/her to this list? I mean, we may not be abl…
09 Aug 2010, 20:49
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Lamarckism is making a comeback in the pseudoscience of evolutionary psychology. It's still just as much crap as Lamarckism is, but the spectre of heritable acquired traits just w…
05 Aug 2010, 15:38
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I got the opposite impression, that racism and xenophobia are senseless, given the assumption that we are all children of Adam and Eve, and therefore that we owe filial respect and…
02 Aug 2010, 16:18
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The ocean is referred to as the "world-river" Oroborous. LH…
29 Jul 2010, 21:04
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Ever since I saw the Japanese book covers for BOTNS I've had in mind that a really subtle anime studio could probably do the series justice. Damn near incomprehensible quasi-gnost…
29 Jul 2010, 00:45
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Why not Dorcas herself? She has connection to rising from water/watery deaths. LH…
20 Jul 2010, 21:02
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Dark flow refers to the non-random motion of galaxies and galactic clusters relative to the cosmic microwave radiation background. Old models predicted them to move randomly; new …
15 Jul 2010, 18:13
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I'm originally from the Midland/Odessa area, though I went to law school in Waco and UT for undergrad (hence my virulent hatred of Aggies). I currently live and work in the RGV bu…
15 Jul 2010, 04:47
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The South refers more to what we call the "Southeast" now. Texas was a part of the Confederacy, but not because we felt any particular loyalty to Virginia, Tennessee, the Carolina…
15 Jul 2010, 01:20
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I know, I know. I'm pullin' y'all's legs. LH…
13 Jul 2010, 20:00
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Texans aren't Southerners. And my only stereotype of Yankees (meaning anyone from the north of Dallas) is that they add unnecessary "gs" to the end of words endin' in "in'." LH…
13 Jul 2010, 19:36
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No one's perfect. LH…
13 Jul 2010, 18:54
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The reader for Audible.com's audiobook (John Davis, I think) pronounces it "in-EER." For what it's worth, I always pronounced it "in-EER-ay," but I've been told I have a rather th…
12 Jul 2010, 21:46
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Aren't we forgetting someone else near and dear to Wolfe's heart that once used a devastating flood to bring renewal to a world dying, choked with sin? Why are we viewing the floo…
09 Jul 2010, 18:56
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Nothing good has ever come from taking Goodkind seriously. LH…
09 Jul 2010, 14:39
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When I was but a young lad in college, I took a course with Prof. Hoyt on the linguistics of Middle Earth, including an extensive survey of Prof. Tolkien's own writings on the subj…
07 Jul 2010, 20:18
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Tolkien made his living as a professor. The "background" of the Silmarillion was to give his world an impetus for his languages to change, much as our own did, coupled with his de…
07 Jul 2010, 18:25
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Why the slur?…
07 Jul 2010, 18:23
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Why do they need special motivation to be interested in earth, if they are but one of many interstellar/cosmic beasts? What if Erebus or Abaia are on Urth by some accident instead…
02 Jul 2010, 20:59
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Here's a hypothesis I have: (x) Wolfe found gnostic, kabbalistic and other (quasi)heretical notions interesting and plundered them for story material, eventually coming up with a…
24 Jun 2010, 15:16
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Something is enforced if there is a penalty for failure to comply. You are still free (in terms of will and capacity) to not comply; you must merely suffer the consequences. Let m…
24 May 2010, 16:34
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I care about Jeff. Lane…
21 May 2010, 03:00
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The term "Satan" means accuser, and in most texts, the angel known as "Satan" (which can be a term of office as well as name, acts as "God's prosecutor," seeking to tempt man into …
20 May 2010, 00:20
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Remember also that the several writers of Biblical texts came from different stages along the evolution of the native Hebrew religion from one essentially indistinguishable from th…
19 May 2010, 22:50
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Aztecs, you don't say? Remind me to sleep lightly the next time I stay over at my in-laws' place. Lane…
19 May 2010, 20:17
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2010/5/19 Ant?nio Pedro Marques <entonio at gmail.com>: That's what I read Wolfe as saying: the being worshipped is real even if humans misconstrue their nature. Let's say that …
19 May 2010, 14:47
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Which has not, of course, kept Roman Catholic authors from utilizing his philosophy and theology as the basis for their stories. I think Wolfe, unlike Simmons, might stop short of…
17 May 2010, 19:01
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Yeah, I realized that after I wrote it. I typically only respond at work when I'm away from my books. LH…
15 May 2010, 15:15
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Interesting theory. Yes; the idea of successive "worlds" with higher levels of existence is common in many belief systems, but the unique confluence of Hellenistic philosophy with…
15 May 2010, 01:21
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Yes, but he looks like a demented gargoyle. And I'll never forgive him for transworld depravity. I still have flashes of horror regarding long tutoring sessions with my sophomore…
14 May 2010, 19:20
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The "HTW" or Heaven of the Forms from Plato/neoplatonism and Wolfe's good-natured piracy of kabbalistic terminology share a common cultural source and still crop up in more modern …
14 May 2010, 18:50
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It would still be more efficient for Tzadkiel/Hierogrammates/whomever to send the White Fountain without the need for the test or maneuvering Severian on the throne. While we migh…
14 May 2010, 18:32
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It seems unlikely to me that the Guild would have set up a test for Severian where someone was killed needlessly; they abstain from unjust and unnecessary violence. I think perhap…
05 May 2010, 16:28
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It could also be an allusion to Finn MacCool, Irish mythological hero and lover of a woman from Faerie. Sent from my iPhone…
09 Apr 2010, 21:38
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I'm sorry, I had to go with Elric. I would rather fight with Stormbringer than Terminus Est. By the way, the BOTNS audiobooks on Audible are very well done. John Davis' reading …
04 Feb 2010, 07:54
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I would expect no less from Tycho, whose video game blogging skills I greatly admire. On my own video-game related column for a blog, I plan to discuss this reference and others t…
13 Jan 2010, 14:38
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That seems fairly blatant to me. Sent from my iPhone…
04 Jan 2010, 19:17
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