Subject: (urth) The Fat Magician

From: Andreas Muegge <dread.dragon at googlemail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:20:57 +0000

Hi,

Has anyone read the story "The Fat Magician" from the collection "Starwater
Strains"?

I am puzzled by the fate of "fat Ernst". It looks like the Nazis haven't
killed him but what became of him?

Ciao,
  Andreas
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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:17:46 +0000

> killed him but what became of him?

If the obvious answer that the Nazis took him and killed him isn't good 
enough, there is one other possibility -- he has somehow transformed 
himself into the young woman, Gertrun.

There are obvious issues of age and appearance, but Gertrun is of the 
S___ family, and so was Ernst. There's something at the end about 
"What's more disgusting, a man in a dress or..." and mention of 
werewolves. It's barely possible. It looks like Gertrun and Dr. Cooper 
became lovers, though...

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From: Andreas Muegge <dread.dragon at googlemail.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:44:48 +0000

Hi Dave,

> enough, there is one other possibility -- he has somehow transformed himself
> into the young woman, Gertrun.

Hmm. But how is this possibility supported? By the "werewolf" remark, which
might imply that Ernst is able to change into something different? Or maybe
he does not "transform" into another person but is rather linked in another
way (?) to the family S_____. The grandfather was a conjuror and the picture
not only showed Ernst but also another person in the background...

One more thing. I was puzzled by the fact that the waiter in the caf?
recommended the Romantic Hotel for lunch. He obviously tried to lure Dr.
Cooper to this place. When Dr. Cooper arrived in the hotel, he immediately
felt attracted by Gertrun and they quickly became lovers. This looks like a
too pleasant arrangement to ensure that an offspring is born...

-Andreas
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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:06:27 +0000

> not only showed Ernst but also another person in the background...

Maybe Gertrun was a ghost. In the beginning Cooper said it would be a 
ghost story, and that he personally encountered it. He said he would not 
tell the whole truth for the sake of a promise he made to an attractive 
woman who was kind to him. It's not the first time Cooper had a fling 
with a supernatural being -- there was "The Nebraskan and the Neriad."