{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/2808",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 2808,
    "subject": "Hamilton Academicals",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "2001-08-24T23:32:27+00:00",
    "last": "2001-08-24T23:32:27+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0030-0672@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Nigel Price",
        "address": "nigel.a.price at virgin.net"
      },
      "date": "2001-08-24T23:32:27+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Hamilton Academicals",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "In \"To Nigel\", P Morris wrote:\nI realise this group is composed of \"Wolfe fans\" and also \"Wolfe\nprofessionals\", (I count myself among the former, but not the latter)"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Two distinct groups of contributors? What a chilling thought...\n\nNo, no, it may appear that way sometimes, but I'm sure it's an allusion.\nWe're all fans really. If I've been more than usually pompous recently, I\napologise."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "But why are you wasting your time..."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Because my real jobs currently (Beta testing software, compiling a\nconcordance to a new translation of the Bible, researching employment issues\namong Swiss bankers, writing a video script to train shop managers for a\nnational chain of hardware stores) are nowhere near as much fun as\ndiscussing Wolfe, whose works I admire and adore in equal measure."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "...slamming Hamilton for, I guess, lack of\nseriousness, lack of artistry, philosophic shallowness etc????"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "And there was I thinking that I was praising him to high heaven and trying\nto persuade everyone to read him! I didn't spend the summer reading the\n3,600 pages of \"Night's Dawn\" and then rush straight onto \"A Second Chance\nat Eden\" because I thought Hamilton was bad. He's not, he's brilliant,\nabsolutely brilliant. His books are exciting, horrifying and funny by turns,\nand tremendously gripping. I think I may be slightly in love with the\nheroine of the series, Louise Kavanagh, and finally leaving the crew of the\nstarship Lady Macbeth behind was almost like a minor bereavement!"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "Anyone who has enjoyed both Hamilton and Wolfe can immediately see they\nare\ntrying for two entirely different outcomes.  Hamilton is an \"adventure\"\nwriter.  You can see that in his lively if somewhat silly \"Mindstar\""
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "books."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "He is interested in exploring future tech, arranging a sweeping narrative,\nand resolving a somewhat interesting problem (the possession)\n\nWolfe, as we all know, is interested in religious-philosophical issues,\nand\nworking out long, subtle jokes..."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I agree completely with what you say. The amazing thing as a Wolfe fan,\nthough, is the way that Hamilton uses many of the same themes and raw\ningredients which Wolfe uses, but succeeds - wonderfully - in making a\ncompletely different type of book out of them. That's why I originally\nthought that it might be worth mentioning Hamilton on the list. Then I got\nback from holiday, and found that the subject had already been raised."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "..that attract the interest of the professional\nunravelers such as yourself."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "You flatter me. I'm a failed academic who earns his living as a hack writer\nand consoles himself by pontificating about his favourite SF author. It's\nmostly harmless, if occassionally tedious for the other list subscribers."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "You seem to be blaming Hamilton for not being like Wolfe."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Well, that was certainly not my intention. What I was trying to explore is\nhow he can use similar tropes while being so very different."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "Face it, there's only one Wolfe."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Indeed. My very favourite author."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "I count myself among one of his greatest admirers."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "As do we all, I suspect. Sometimes, Wolfe writes so well that he simply\ntakes my breath away.\n\nNigel\nin deepest, darkest Minety"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}