{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/3968",
    "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": 3968,
    "subject": "Celestial Matters",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "2003-04-24T18:59:04+00:00",
    "last": "2003-04-24T18:59:04+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0304-3312@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "James Jordan",
        "address": "jbjordan4 at cox.net"
      },
      "date": "2003-04-24T18:59:04+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Celestial Matters",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "I wrote:\nand there was that excellent novel a few years back, *Celestial Matters* \nby Richard Garfinkle -- a Lupine treat -- that was set in a \nPtolemaic/Platonic universe.)"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I just want to second this. No, it's not complex in the Wolfean way, but I \nthink most Lupinists (esp. Latroists) will enjoy it. It's unique, as far as \nI know, and it's fully worked out. Here is part of a short review I wrote \nfor a Christian audience:\n\n     Here is a novel of \"hard science fiction\" set in an alternate universe \nwherein the Greek view of the universe is real. The earth is at the center, \nand everything revolves around it in Ptolemaic cycles and epicycles. A piece of\nmoon has been captured and fitted out as a space-travelling\nplatform. Naturally (!), this piece of the moon wants to return to its \nproper place in the sky, for it \"loves\" the rest of the moon. The mission's \npurpose: to capture a piece of sun for the Greeks to use in their ongoing \nwar with the Middle Kingdom (China). A well-known scientist, Aias, captains \nthe mission, accompanied by a lovely Sparta-trained Xeroki (Cherokee) \nbodyguard.\n        What makes this novel unique is its portrayal of ancient\nscience and philosophy. Garfinkle knows his stuff, and by the time\nwe are finished, we know a lot of it also. We also learn about\nancient Chinese science and Xi (Chi) forces. There's even a bit of Plato.\n        There's nothing \"Christian\" about this novel, except that it\nIS a novel and as such reflects the way narrative has developed in \nChristendom. But it is a lot of fun, and educational as well. I\nparticularly enjoyed it when Aias emerges from a lunar cave as his moonrock \nspace platform travels near the sun, and ... but I must not say more.\n        Of course, there are lots of adventures along the way, as\nChinese spies try to prevent the moon-ship from taking a piece of\nthe sun, and as Aias comes to learn more about the nature of\n\"reality\" in this world. And we see a clean and refined romantic\nrelationship develop between Aias and Yellow Hare, his Xeroki\nbodyguard. I found the narrative well-paced, and completely clean\nof anything objectionable in the areas of language and sexuality, hence \nsuitable for younger readers.\n\nNutria"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}