Subject: (urth) Cassie's Mobile Home (AEG spoilers)

From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:38:57 +0000

Something very strange was going on with Cassie's apartment in this story.
There are too many inconsistencies for the explanation to be typos or
mistakes. I believe the answer is that Cassie was unconsciously warping
reality. Dr. Chase implied that the change he enabled in her was more than
just bringing out latent talent: she had been raised to a near-angelic level
of power. "It is easy, terribly easy, for someone who has transformed up to
slip back down" (p. 100).

   1. In the beginning, Cassie lives on West Arbor (p.81), next to apartment
   3B (p. 52), so she's in 3A. It's probably on the third floor of a small
   building; it's only a few steps from the elevator to her door (p. 52).
   2. It's within a short walk of a Baskin-Robbins (p. 43). It's not a big,
   upscale store since only a single surly teenager is on duty there.
   3. It's eighteen blocks from the home of the successful Sharon Bench,
   probably on the poor side of town (p. 24).
   4. There is a mention of windows, but not French windows or a balcony (p.
   43).
   5. It's difficult to find parking places nearby -- Chase has to walk four
   blocks (p. 81).

A couple of days later:

   1. She's on the fifth floor (p. 111).
   2. The view shows several cars parked on the side of the street, at about
   the same time of day as when Chase had trouble finding parking (p. 111).
   3. Some nearby buildings have doormen (p. 111), but apparently not hers.
   Several people call unannounced. Her telephone is working, but she gets no
   calls about them (p. 105-110).
   4. That night, she suddenly has a doorman who calls to screen her
   visitors (p. 116).

She didn't just move to a fancier place with her success. She had the same
upstairs neighbor, Brian Pickins (pp. 85, 250). The hole Gideon Chase made
to break into her apartment also connects the places (p. 76, 87).

After she goes to the South Sea island, the assassin gives her address as
181 East Arbor Boulevard, apartment 301 and Cassie confirms it (p. 249). The
fact that it is back on the third floor suggests that it's reverting to a
lower level since she is not there to maintain focus on it. The doorman may
also be gone, since the cultists have managed to kill a tenant and take over
his apartment undetected.

In the end, she seems to have lost her power and she is prematurely aged,
possibly from burn-out as well as her harrowing experiences. Her apartment
has gone back to the west side of town ("Best of all it was on the east side
of Kingsport, across town from her old one." p. 293). This transition was
rougher than the others and it seems that in the process all of her
possessions were lost (p. 292).

There are several other instances of reality-warping in the rest of the
story.

   1. People start thinking she is famous before she has even given her
   breakthrough performance (p. 45), and Sharon calls her a famous actress the
   day after that performance (p. 89).
   2. Early on, Cassie is familiar with Mickey the stage manager and asks
   for him by name (p. 58). Later, she doesn't know his name (p. 137). A famous
   star wouldn't know a lowly stage manager, unlike the struggling actress she
   was.
   3. Vince Palma knows her full name and uses it in public (p. 63). Later,
   Cassie is so surprised that Reis has found out her real first name that she
   stutters (p. 146).
   4. She sees Alexis Cabana as a waitress at Rusterman's (p. 118). Alexis
   doesn't remember acting under that name (or she pretends not to). I don't
   believe this is just a coincidental resemblance. Possibly the past has been
   warped so that Cassie played the main role ("By this time you'd be Jane
   Simmons." p. 54).
   5. Cassie hid her diamond necklace in her hotel room and the next morning
   finds it in a room safe she doesn't remember using (p. 152-153). I believe
   she created the room safe overnight out of her wish to have a more secure
   place for her jewels.
   6. She calls Sharon from the South Sea island at her breakfast time (p.
   236), which would be nearly Sharon's lunch time because Cassie is a late
   riser ("I get up at eleven, don't I, Margaret?" p. 139). There is almost no
   time difference, which is impossible if Sharon is really back in the states.
   I believe Cassie has time-warped this call. It's possible that some sort of
   time-warping is available on the islands and that Reis makes use of it,
   because he acts so quickly to find Cassie almost as soon as she is recruited
   by Chase ("This afternoon I found my director." p. 66). There seems to be a
   connection between Woldercan, where ethermail messages can arrive out of
   causality order (pp. 18-19, 298), and the Chtulhu-ruled islands. (Woldercan
   is the name of a city where a pagan god was worshipped with human sacrifices
   in "The Circus of Dr. Lao", so a link is definitely implied). Former
   ambassador Klauser also says that time is an illusion (p. 298).

In the end, "Fiona" was hoping to bring Cassie Casey back (p. 296). She was
going to Woldercan to see Gideon Chase. I doubt he would be able to perform
the same trick twice, but he will love her anyway ("As soon as he spoke, he
knew that for him no reversal would have the least effect." p. 81). There's
a chance for a bittersweet happy ending, but Cassie was still deep in grief
over Bill/Wally. She may have had a sense of Bill's presence because of the
last fading traces of her power which she lost when she got far enough away
from Earth. That would account for her sudden desperate cry: "Please, oh,
please, Wally! Come back to me!"

Reis had good intentions, but he had a "touch of megalomania" (p. 304) and
wanted to rule the world ("I have that island now, but I've seen a better
one. A blue isle in a sea of black. I fight for it every day, and I'll win."
p. 125). He did far more harm with his good intentions than the amoral Dr.
Chase, especially when he provoked a fight between the Navy and Cthulhu. I
would say that the power of his alchemical wealth was the "evil guest" in
this story which destroyed both him and Cassie.
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From: Dan <autarch at cox.net>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:35:52 +0000

At 12:28 PM 10/24/2008, you wrote:

>Message: 3
>Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:38:57 -0600
>From: "Dave Tallman" <davetallman at msn.com>
>Subject: (urth) Cassie's Mobile Home (AEG spoilers)
>To: urth at lists.urth.net
>Message-ID:
>         <1bf4dd40810240838m48105531j8e02c373b3f7db03 at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>

I agree. But I'm not sure Cassie was doing all this by herself. I seem to 
have the recollection that Margaret was present during some of these 
events. In fact, with the safe episode, it almost seems as if she's 
directing it. I am rereading now and will keep this in mind.

>to break into her apartment also connects the places (p. 76, 87).

So I wonder what has happened to the personal fortunes of her neighbors. 
They must have improved for them to continue to live in a swank upscale 
apartment. A rising tide lifts all boats?

>possessions were lost (p. 292).

I know the bank kept her saftey deposit box by automatically charging her 
account, but wouldn't her apt have been rerented and her possessions 
liquidated after her extended absence?

>please, Wally! Come back to me!"

I know they said Woldercon was really far away, but outside the galaxy? 
When I read that, I got the sinking impression she really wasn't going 
there and was perhaps comitting suicide.

>this story which destroyed both him and Cassie.

Plus I don't understand why he just gave up and surrendered to the 
islanders or devise some way to rescue her. I need to reread that section 
again.

Dan

---

From: Mr Thalassocrat <thalassocrat08 at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2008 07:48:43 +0000

On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 2:08 AM, Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com> wrote:

>  Something very strange was going on with Cassie's apartment in this
> story. There are too many inconsistencies for the explanation to be typos or
>    1. In the beginning, Cassie lives on West Arbor (p.81), next to
>    apartment 3B (p. 52), so she's in 3A. It's probably on the third floor of a
>    small building; it's only a few steps from the elevator to her door (p. 52).
>
>    2. It's within a short walk of a Baskin-Robbins (p. 43). It's not a
>    big, upscale store since only a single surly teenager is on duty there.
>    4. There is a mention of windows, but not French windows or a balcony
>    (p. 43).
>    5. It's difficult to find parking places nearby -- Chase has to walk
>    four blocks (p. 81).
>
> A couple of days later:
>
>    2. The view shows several cars parked on the side of the street, at
>    about the same time of day as when Chase had trouble finding parking (p.
>    111).
>    3. Some nearby buildings have doormen (p. 111), but apparently not
>    hers. Several people call unannounced. Her telephone is working, but she
>    gets no calls about them (p. 105-110).
>    3. Vince Palma knows her full name and uses it in public (p. 63).
>    Later, Cassie is so surprised that Reis has found out her real first name
>    that she stutters (p. 146).
>    5. Cassie hid her diamond necklace in her hotel room and the next
>    morning finds it in a room safe she doesn't remember using (p. 152-153). I
>    believe she created the room safe overnight out of her wish to have a more
>    secure place for her jewels.

Thanks for digging up all of that and putting it together. I'm not totally
convinced that Cassie's apartment changes. She actually does have a balcony
to start off with (p76, down the bottom). It doesn't have to be a
particularly deluxe building to have a doorman. In my experience, generally
visitors who know which apartment they are going to don't get stopped by
doormen, but somebody in a chauffeur's uniform might well be, and of course
the driver might simply have asked the doorman which apartment Cassie was
in. I don't see any particular inconsistencies in the references to parking
difficulties etc etc. The only really telling points are the reference to
"five floors below", and the "East Arbor" reference by the assassin. These
*might* just be typos.

On other time things: If Kololahi is a fictionalised Tonga and Kingsport is
in MA then the time difference in fall would be about 18 hours, or 6 hours
with a day shift (GMT+13 versus GMT-5). This fits with Cassie's observation
after being dropped off by Gid at the airport (p225) - in the evening back
home, a little after lunch here. If she's having an early breakfast and
Sharon is coming up to lunch-time when they speak, that fits also: her
comment about getting up at 11am earlier doesn't mean much (she's playing
prima donna, I think, and anyway apart from late-night encounters with alien
bat-people it's likely enough she's getting to bed early in Kololahi).

I wonder if Cassie is hoping Gid can bring Bill back to life, at the end. I
think she's hoping he can bring back her mojo, but maybe that as well. Is it
possible that Bill can astral travel in some way? His appearance as
talking-head to Cassie in his limo may not have been just a holo-projection.
Gid seems to have ghosts or spirits of some kind in his hopper; he says
somewhere that he's talked with ghosts; maybe he can bring Bill's, somehow.
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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:06:35 +0000

> "five floors below", and the "East Arbor" reference by the assassin. These
I suppose most of these things could have natural explanations if we 
really pushed it. The apartment building could have a bizarre numbering 
scheme such that apartment 301 is on the fifth floor and the twin 
apartment next to it is numbered 3B.  Maybe the assassin got the address 
wrong and Cassie went along with it because she was afraid to contradict 
someone who was pointing a gun at her. Wolfe is normally so careful with 
details that I tend to believe such things are clues. He has done 
characters with reality-warping powers before -- for example when Horn 
turned a different ring into Seawrack's ring over time.

> bat-people it's likely enough she's getting to bed early in Kololahi).
Cassie seems to wake up late whenever she has a chance to, all through 
the book. I think she  would continue this habit when she was treated as 
pampered royalty. When Cassie asks for her breakfast after her call to 
Sharon, there is a pause as if the hotel staff is confused. Afterwards 
they say that King Kanoa and his men have been given something to eat, 
but they don't call it breakfast for them (p. 237-238). I get the sense 
that her breakfast is not at a normal early hour.

The phone call went through a dedicated satellite in Clarke orbit (p. 
227). Reis may have installed strange technology from Woldercan to allow 
him send calls through time, which would help to explain how he can keep 
one jump ahead of his enemies. The other people on the island who make 
cell phone calls are Australian tourists who would be close to the same 
time zone when they called home.

> somewhere that he's talked with ghosts; maybe he can bring Bill's, somehow.
That's an interesting possibility. I doubt she will get her mojo back, 
but possibly Gid can get her in touch with Bill's spirit again. (I say 
again because I think she just lost contact at the end when she calls 
out to him).

---

From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:27:12 +0000

> directing it. I am rereading now and will keep this in mind.
Margaret is probably a werewolf and a spy (I'll post all my reasons in 
another entry) but I doubt she has extensive magical powers. She does 
know enough about hotel security that she was able to guess that Cassie 
might use the hotel safe without resetting the combination. Easter 
Sinclair may have done this also -- remember that she had jewelry stolen 
while Margaret was in her employ (p. 140). Margaret may have been the thief.

> apartment. A rising tide lifts all boats?
Either that or they found themselves with rents they could no longer afford.

> liquidated after her extended absence?
I can believe she lost the apartment by not being there to pay rent, but 
it says that her possessions "mysteriously disappeared" (p. 292). I take 
that to mean that the landlords didn't have a good explanation when 
Cassie talked to them. I suppose the Squid God cultists who took over 
the apartment upstairs could have made off with them.

> there and was perhaps comitting suicide.
She sent an ethermail to Gid telling him she was coming there. I see no 
reason for such an expensive way to commit suicide as buying a hopper 
and taking off for galaxies unknown. If Woldercan was outside the galaxy 
one has to wonder how it was ever found. There's a lot of space out 
there between galaxies...

> islanders or devise some way to rescue her. I need to reread that section 
As king Bill may have felt he had to take personal responsibility for 
the terrible unexpected collateral damage to the islands he ruled. He 
has some moral feelings, even though he normally justifies everything he 
does for the greater good.

---

From: Adam Thornton <adam at io.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:37:41 +0000

On Oct 25, 2008, at 12:27 PM, Dave Tallman wrote:

> I can believe she lost the apartment by not being there to pay rent,  
> but it says that her possessions "mysteriously disappeared" (p.  
> 292). I take that to mean that the landlords didn't have a good  
> explanation when Cassie talked to them. I suppose the Squid God  
> cultists who took over the apartment upstairs could have made off  
> with them.

Hm.

I took that as an ironic "mysterious disappearance."  As in, "the  
landlord took everything, sold it on eBay, and then lied about it and  
said he had no idea, none whatsoever."

Perhaps my view of landlords is jaundiced.

Adam
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From: Bryan Alexander <bryan.alexander at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:47:53 +0000

I can join this discussion at last, now that a library copy of the novel is
in my hands.And that I've finished Anathem.

On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 1:27 PM, Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com> wrote:

>> have the recollection that Margaret was present during some of these events.
>> In fact, with the safe episode, it almost seems as if she's directing it. I
>> am rereading now and will keep this in mind.
>>
>>
> another entry) but I doubt she has extensive magical powers. She does know
> enough about hotel security that she was able to guess that Cassie might use
> the hotel safe without resetting the combination. Easter Sinclair may have
> done this also -- remember that she had jewelry stolen while Margaret was in
> her employ (p. 140). Margaret may have been the thief.
>
> I can believe she lost the apartment by not being there to pay rent, but it
> says that her possessions "mysteriously disappeared" (p. 292). I take that
> to mean that the landlords didn't have a good explanation when Cassie talked
> to them. I suppose the Squid God cultists who took over the apartment
> upstairs could have made off with them.
>
>> When I read that, I got the sinking impression she really wasn't going there
>> and was perhaps comitting suicide.
>>
>>
> reason for such an expensive way to commit suicide as buying a hopper and
> taking off for galaxies unknown. If Woldercan was outside the galaxy one has
> to wonder how it was ever found. There's a lot of space out there between
> galaxies...
>
> As king Bill may have felt he had to take personal responsibility for the
> terrible unexpected collateral damage to the islands he ruled. He has some
> moral feelings, even though he normally justifies everything he does for the
> greater good.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>

-- 
Bryan Alexander
http://infocult.typepad.com/
http://twitter.com/BryanAlexander
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From: Mr Thalassocrat <thalassocrat08 at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2008 21:52:03 +0000

On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 10:36 PM, Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com> wrote:

> Cassie seems to wake up late whenever she has a chance to, all through the
> book. I think she  would continue this habit when she was treated as
> Sharon, there is a pause as if the hotel staff is confused. Afterwards they
> say that King Kanoa and his men have been given something to eat, but they
> don't call it breakfast for them (p. 237-238). I get the sense that her
> breakfast is not at a normal early hour.

Another explanation might be that Sharon is in California. Under the
Kololahi = fictionalised Tonga assumption, that would put her 3 hours ahead
of Cassie (with a day shift). Sharon connected with the California cult
somehow?

>
>
> The phone call went through a dedicated satellite in Clarke orbit (p. 227).
> Reis may have installed strange technology from Woldercan to allow him send
> calls through time, which would help to explain how he can keep one jump
> ahead of his enemies. The other people on the island who make cell phone
> calls are Australian tourists who would be close to the same time zone when
> they called home.
>

Perth would be 5 hours behind Kololahi, so not really much difference to the
shift versus MA (except the other way, and without the day shift).
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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:21:34 +0000

I wrote:

> Even with different laws of physics I doubt Gil would think they could
> resurrect the dead. But if she got far enough away and could send an
> ethermail she might be able to send Bill messages back in time, and
> might hope to change the past. From the point of view of an object
> moving relative to us a long distance away, events that are in the past
> to us can be present or future to it. The paradoxes involved are one
> reason that relativity does not allow FTL travel or messages. Wolfe
> instead allows FTL and the time paradoxes.
>
>
I'd like to expand on this theory, which I think may be a key to the book.
When Cassie asks to drive Gid's hopper, she says "I want to be -- I want to
matter. I want to be somebody, not because I'm Wallace Rosenquist's woman or
because I'm Gideon Chase's woman. Because I'm Cassie Casey."

On a superficial reading Cassie is a poor protagonist. She's dragged along
from event to event and she seems to have very little control of the
outcome. But what if she were able to use a hopper to send a message though
time to warn Reis away from his fatal mistake? Then she's the heroine after
all. It's a self-sacrificing move because she will wipe out herself as she
is, but if it works she and Bill will be together again, and happy.

Can the past be changed? Cassie gets a clue that it could be possible when
she receives the response ethermail from Chase in Woldercan. She realizes
she could either send or not send the ethermail being responded to. "If I
don't send mine, his will have to be accounted for in some other way and
it's liable to get complicated." (p. 298). Her message could warn Reis that
even if he changes his actions in response to the warning the ethermail must
still be sent. She may have consulted with Chase on Woldercan and determined
that she had to travel far out in space in order to have a chance to get a
message back in time to make a difference.

It would be a violation of "Chekov's gun" principle to allow a powerful
story element like time paradoxes without giving them a more important role
in the plot than an early birth announcement (p. 19) and an early response
to a travel message (p. 298). Perhaps the many subtle continuity errors I
found were the result of Cassie's message attempts as she tried to hit the
range. She had to be careful what she wrote, since Bill's enemies could
monitor ethermail (p. 18). It might be much easier to produce subtle changes
that make no ultimate difference, like changes of address, the existence of
hotel safes, and the careers of fellow actresses, than big changes that
completely alter one's own past. Cassie, with her enhanced powers and her
connection to her future self, may sometimes be able to dimly remember a
different version of how things happened when everyone else cannot. This
would explain why things often seem dreamlike to her, and why she can spot
the waitress who was once the actress Alexis Cabana.

By the end of the book she has not succeeded in saving Bill. But if she
keeps it up she may eventually win. That's what I'm going to hope, because
it turns the whole book around. Brava, Casey! Oh, brava!
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