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True. But a small black hole would be a most excellent thing for hollowing out an asteroid. Of course, you would have to be careful not to drop it... Spectacled Bear.…
08 Sep 2003, 13:16
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It's much simpler than that. If you hide the sun somehow (it doesn't matter how) then you will see the stars that are normally obscured by its glare. If the sun stays hidden, you w…
07 Jul 2003, 12:36
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When I came to read these books again after a gap of many years, I found that this passage had been stamped on my memory like the pattern on a metal coin; it was as perfectly famil…
11 Apr 2003, 10:41
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[On first reading I read this as "the goddess at sixteen inches", which is apt, if not what it actually says in the story :-) ] Anyway: "The boy who owned her's been dead now fo…
28 Jan 2003, 19:54
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Roy said: "Given the necessarily limited amount of memory available in a mechanical doll, I don't think it would be expended on a person the child could never know." - which I woul…
28 Jan 2003, 19:40
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I think she simply recognized him as such - but was it only because he was acting in a helpful and fatherly manner, or is he really Green's father? Some versions of the legend of A…
28 Jan 2003, 10:03
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The lady in the haberdasher's called Tina a "magic doll", and in a world with a real goddess that has to be a possibility, as Mantis suggested. But at lunch with Lora, Green talks …
27 Jan 2003, 11:37
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I think this is a very important thing to remember. "Speculative fiction" and "framework" do not sit well together. "If Rules are a Framework for the Mind, Why Should the Mind not …
20 Jan 2003, 11:07
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It's a very long time since I read Doors, but I don't think his name is really Green. He is asked his name, doesn't answer, then gives Green as the answer to a different question. …
02 Jan 2003, 12:45
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As an augur he was extremely poor, and had very little food to live on. Look at what a treat the tomatoes are in Long Sun, for instance. Spectacled Bear.…
08 Jul 2002, 16:25
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Definitely. He's the right colour, the context is right, and he says that "he" will fly again. He would have said "it" for the lander. Spectacled Bear.…
24 Jun 2002, 08:43
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This is a great theory. I notice that Ardis switches off the light in a hurry just as Nadan is about to undo her laces, which fits nicely. On a more literary note, this is the Per…
08 May 2002, 16:28
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This is probably obvious to most people, but it's worth saying anyway: anyone who has that email address must NEVER EVER mention it on the list, because it will be "harvested" and …
03 Apr 2002, 08:06
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At 06:12 2002-03-28, Marc wrote: ... The ideas about trees are extremely interesting, even without believing that Blue is Urth. And the reason it seems unlikely that Blue is Urth …
28 Mar 2002, 13:24
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(waves a paw) Questions or problems: write ranjit at urth.net…
30 Jan 2002, 12:43
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At 06:23 2002-01-09, maa32 wrote: ... That's certainly true. There appear to be so many loose ends, like the whole business of who the Mother is and what she intends, and the link…
09 Jan 2002, 10:10
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I recall that he explicitly denied that Blue and Green were St Anne and St Croix. Could that be what you are thinking of? Spectacled Bear.…
09 Jan 2002, 09:55
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True. Poetic, too. Gets my vote! Spectacled Bear.…
10 Dec 2001, 18:41
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True. Poetic, too. Gets my vote! Spectacled Bear.…
10 Dec 2001, 18:41
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(raises a paw) A wonderful book! It reads like a collaboration between van Vogt and a writer. The other things I know by Harness are "The Rose" and, er, you know, that other one w…
10 Dec 2001, 10:33
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"Now *that's* clever." - Wallace, in "The Wrong Trousers". Spectacled Bear, who thought of the same lists but would never have come up with such a good name.…
10 Dec 2001, 10:27
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I think this is one cut at each end of the portion of vine used to make the staff. The tip of the vine wouldn't be much use even if you could find it. Cugino cuts off a length of v…
03 Dec 2001, 11:00
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Sorry, I don't recall. One thing I do remember is that Peter was interested in the urth and whorl lists, but didn't know how to subscribe. He doesn't seem to be here now; did anyth…
24 Aug 2001, 17:48
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I heard recently that not only did far more of the German high command agree with this beforehand than would admit to it afterwards, but that it nearly succeeded. A getaway train w…
14 Aug 2001, 14:13
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At 18:13 2001-08-02, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote: (of Samuel Delany) _Nova_ is one of my favourite books of all time. Filming it well would be a challenge: firstly, because if you le…
03 Aug 2001, 11:25
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At 00:42 2001-07-31, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote: ... I think Pullman actually acknowledges this point, and not only rejects the criticism but makes a feature of it. I'm thinking of …
02 Aug 2001, 14:38
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If it's the one that was on the BBC last year, the inspiration comes from Peake's paintings and his time in China. His daughter was quoted as saying it all looked just right. If y…
25 Jun 2001, 10:39
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At 01:26 2001-06-21, Michael Andre-Driussi wrote: ... It's one of history's great lost opportunities that the inventor of this phrase didn't use one of the other names for the obl…
21 Jun 2001, 08:10
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And even more wrong to describe the moment as "maudlin" and "banal". Were he and I reading the same book? Another reason for children to like this more than adults is that are are…
30 May 2001, 11:33
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Indeed, though I'm not at all sure what the significance is! SBear.…
30 May 2001, 10:47
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At 20:56 2001-05-24, algawrote: [waves to Copperhead thread!] It doesn't need to be Manichean, does it? The Authority doesn't have the power of Creation that he claims, after all.…
25 May 2001, 16:58
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Thanks for that, alga! I finished the series just last night, and I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who didn't consider it entirely satisfactory. The plot of the third book is …
24 May 2001, 18:33
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The Changer swaps things with cognates, i.e. rough equivalents. The thing moving under the leaves is surely a Copperhead snake, which has been swapped with a Serpent from another u…
04 May 2001, 17:53
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There are bears? <borrows son's new book> It's rather good, isn't it! Why am I here in the office when I should be at home reading the last two chapters? Most unfair. I particul…
04 May 2001, 09:17
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At 21:04 2001-04-19, James Jordan wrote (on the Whorl list): Now that's interesting. One very striking thing about the book is the way it has detailed action within the chapters, …
24 Apr 2001, 13:39
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Well, it would account for Seawrack being able to stop it throwing Babbie overboard (no easy task) and for it being in the story at all. So yes, it could very well be the Mother. T…
24 Apr 2001, 13:34
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That detail wasn't mentioned directly in the text, I'm sure, but we did discuss it here. Have a look around August 2000 in the archives. Adam, you drew attention there to the Neigh…
24 Apr 2001, 13:29
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At 00:38 2001-02-28 -0500, William Ansley wrote: ... I think we sorted out a straightforward interpretation of "Kevin Malone" when we discussed that. That is *very* short, admitte…
28 Feb 2001, 09:16
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OK, reading this list, it is striking that after 7 books in this series, the very, very, smart people posting cannot come up with a consensus about what the hell is going on with…
27 Feb 2001, 14:51
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[...] Oh. Ah. Well, mm. Still, I enjoyed _RttW_ while I was reading it :-/ ... He's both of them, and he was defending Nettle. I do agree that it's a Bad Thing to happen. Oh de…
16 Feb 2001, 18:42
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Yes. Why do we need all the stuff about the fragment in Pig? I didn't see any evidence for it in the text, and it simply seems unnecessary. Adam makes a far better case against it …
16 Feb 2001, 18:15
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... So he's been to the undertaker in the nearest town, bought the coffin and he or they have put her into it, and his hands and arms and face are still bleeding? I don't think so…
14 Feb 2001, 18:37
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Let me have a go. 1. Jahlee thinks of herself as a beautiful woman - a bit of a vamp, one might say. Compare her teasing Hide, and probably others, plus the guard on Urth, and her…
14 Feb 2001, 12:04
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Hello! It is - *but*, why does he add all those H-s like a Cockney? It made Pig's speech tongue-twistingly difficult for me to read, even though I wasn't reading it aloud. Very p…
12 Feb 2001, 11:23
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At 15:45 2001-02-11 -0800, mattjaq at telocity.com wrote: ... He mentions "their" Green, which is Lune. Not the same place at all. I think the rest of the questions have been answer…
12 Feb 2001, 09:52
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At 10:32 2001-02-09 -0800, Shannon Appelcline wrote: ... No-one else from Viron talks like that, with the sole and interesting exception of Hound. Does he just imitate Silk? He cl…
12 Feb 2001, 09:32
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... <<<< The Flyers are "little people", reminiscent of Fairies in their size and secretiveness. And Celticness, I suppose. They are the crew, and the bridge is the bridge of the …
09 Feb 2001, 13:35
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At 10:23 2001-02-08 +0000, Adamwrote: ... Well, they *are* writing a book, and you must admit it reads better this way. It's a dramatised account, not a dry history, so I think th…
08 Feb 2001, 18:13
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At 19:53 2001-02-06 -0000, Ian wrote: ... ... Yes - it's definitely Horn speaking at the time, and he never does use it. It's Silk who does that. I don't know exactly what happen…
08 Feb 2001, 18:04
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I've just finished it, and I was getting really worried as the end approached without Silk turning up. All along I did wonder if he ever would, or whether Horn would realize that t…
08 Feb 2001, 12:51
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