# PEACE: Venus sans arms

*The Urth list — 3 messages, 3 voices, 07 May 2002*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/3232>

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### Michael Andre-Driussi
*07 May 2002, 23:54*

>> Andy Robertson quoted me and wrote:
>> (Still hunting for another source to that wonderful "Venus di Milo" story!
>> So haunting, since I all-but-swore that I'd seen it before, somewhere,
>> just
>> before reading PEACE . . . )

> A Lafferty story?????

Intriguing notion! I haven't read much Lafferty, he exists in one of my
blindspots, but it is possible.  APOCALYPSES, perhaps?  Not that
collection, STRANGE DOINGS, I don't think . . . certainly not ANNALS OF
KLEPSIS, nor "900 Grandmothers," nor "Continued on Next Rock."

The story in PEACE is about how the statue we call Venus di Milo is a
forgery, in that it is not as old as it is thought to be, nor is it Venus.
The fellows who "found" it in the cave (by the sea?) sold it to the
(English?) gentlemen, and then they offered to sell him the arms, as well,
but he declined.

Something like that.

(It does seem like something Lafferty would do, sheesh!)

=mantis=

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### Adam Stephanides
*08 May 2002, 13:53 · follows Michael Andre-Driussi*

> on 5/7/02 6:54 PM, Michael Andre-Driussi at mantis at siriusfiction.com wrote:
> Intriguing notion! I haven't read much Lafferty, he exists in one of my
> blindspots, but it is possible.  APOCALYPSES, perhaps?

That would certainly be a prime candidate.  The first short novel in it,
"Where Have You Been, Sandaliotis," is about forgery and contains a Master
Forger.  But checking the most likely places (and it's been a long time
since I read it), I didn't find any reference to the Venus de Milo.  The
closest I found was a story told by the Master Forger about how he forged
the "Weeping Hermes of Praxiteles," a lost masterpiece of ancient Greek
sculpture, and then discovered the real sculpture and found it wasn't as
good as his forgery.

--Adam

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### Andy Robertson
*08 May 2002, 17:17 · follows Adam Stephanides*

----- Original Message -----

> From: "Adam Stephanides" <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
> That would certainly be a prime candidate.  The first short novel in it,
> "Where Have You Been, Sandaliotis," is about forgery and contains a Master
> Forger.  But checking the most likely places (and it's been a long time
> since I read it), I didn't find any reference to the Venus de Milo.  The
> closest I found was a story told by the Master Forger about how he forged
> the "Weeping Hermes of Praxiteles," a lost masterpiece of ancient Greek
> sculpture, and then discovered the real sculpture and found it wasn't as
> good as his forgery.

I don't have acces to APOCALYPSES, but I think this is where I remember the
motif from.   It was about forging statue(s), but not necessarily the Venus

    hartshorn

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