{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4899",
    "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": 4899,
    "subject": "Pirate Freedom",
    "messages": 3,
    "voices": 3,
    "first": "2007-08-28T20:10:12+00:00",
    "last": "2007-08-29T23:42:41+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<313675.39436.qm@web32102.mail.mud.yahoo.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Nicholas Gevers",
        "address": "vermoulian at yahoo.com"
      },
      "date": "2007-08-28T20:10:12+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Pirate Freedom",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Interesting! There is a case for seeing *Pirate\nFreedom* as SF, actually--Chris's story begins in Cuba\nsome years from now, the Communists having fallen, and\nhe remarks somewhere on his father having \"had him\nbuilt\" a certain way (genetically, I assume),\nexplaining his height and who knows what other\nabilities, including perhaps time travel? \n\n--Nick Gevers."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "\"As a boy,\" Gene Wolfe has written, \"I was very fond\nof pirates,\" and\nhis latest offering seems written expressly for that\nboy. In fact, the\nintended audience for this one seems even more YA\nthan _Wizard Knight_\nthough it's not being marketed as a juvenile, but as\nfantasy. _Pirate\nFreedom_, however, has *no* fantasy elements unless\nyou wish to count\nFather Chris's temporal displacement (curiously\nunexamined by the\nnarrator), nor is there much in the way of\nmetaphysical or spiritual\ndithering, considering Chris-the-pirate has taken\nHoly Orders. Instead,\nwe're treated to a very straight forward historical\nadventure with many\nasides about the true nature of piracy (as opposed,\nsay, to pop\nversions) and the narrative voice will probably\nremind you of Wizard's\nAble. Wolfe seems to have lots of fun with his\ndramatis personae,\nincorporating not only two characters from New Sun,\nbut also naming a\npirate after one of his fellow writers. But far and\naway, _Pirate\nFreedom_ is Wolfe's least challenging and unoblique\nnovel, with\nvirtually no unsolved mysteries or (for me)\nlingering resonance. As\nsuch, I took it to be the literary equivalent of a\nsorbet -- something\nto cleanse the pallet in preparation for more\nsubstantial fare to come\n(though I'm not encouraged by the early word on his\nnext two novels).\n\n-- \n  Rex Lycanthrosaurus\n  lycanthrosaurus at fastmail.fm"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<3981.83036.qm@web35908.mail.mud.yahoo.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "stilskin",
        "address": "acronus at yahoo.com"
      },
      "date": "2007-08-28T20:23:47+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Pirate Freedom",
      "in_reply_to": "<313675.39436.qm@web32102.mail.mud.yahoo.com>",
      "reply_link": "header",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "--- Nicholas Gevers <vermoulian at yahoo.com> wrote:\nInteresting! There is a case for seeing *Pirate\nFreedom* as SF, actually--Chris's story begins in\nCuba\nsome years from now, the Communists having fallen,\nand\nhe remarks somewhere on his father having \"had him\nbuilt\" a certain way (genetically, I assume),\nexplaining his height and who knows what other\nabilities, including perhaps time travel? \n\n--Nick Gevers."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Also, in no other novel that I can think of has Wolfe\nwritten as overtly about Christianity and the Catholic\nreligion.  That alone, to me, makes it something more\nthan a minor work.\n\nhttp://www.sff.net/people/stilskin\n\n\n       "
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<ecbb2eb0708291642q451c3f9epe6cf4a40b5280d2b@mail.gmail.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "aaron",
        "address": "aaronsingleton at gmail.com"
      },
      "date": "2007-08-29T23:42:41+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Pirate Freedom",
      "in_reply_to": "<313675.39436.qm@web32102.mail.mud.yahoo.com>",
      "reply_link": "header",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "If you don't mind my asking, why are you not encouraged about the upcoming\nnovels?  Just curious."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}