{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6347",
    "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": 6347,
    "subject": "The Land Across",
    "messages": 3,
    "voices": 3,
    "first": "2013-03-10T00:34:43+00:00",
    "last": "2013-03-10T13:52:03+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<CAM0v-i6iMNP1sMUb=_grcy5iVkBBX3+FyOT7FLpvydM8U6W_9w@mail.gmail.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Antonin Scriabin",
        "address": "kierkegaurdian at gmail.com"
      },
      "date": "2013-03-10T00:34:43+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) The Land Across",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/gene-wolfe-the-land-across-cover-art-and-synopsis-reveal#.UThFLk3ZXxc.twitter\n\nLooks like we have a release date, synopsis, and cover art. So excited!\nLooks like something of a change for Wolfe, I am very intrigued. My two\nfavorite writers have new novels coming out in the fall / winter. 2013 will\nbe a good year!"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<CAMwO0gwX6mQxLFNPNb_Xe=9ExjUqad7tuvMtNCSVXmWTW5zUng@mail.gmail.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Gwern Branwen",
        "address": "gwern0 at gmail.com"
      },
      "date": "2013-03-10T03:33:27+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) The Land Across",
      "in_reply_to": "<CAM0v-i6iMNP1sMUb=_grcy5iVkBBX3+FyOT7FLpvydM8U6W_9w@mail.gmail.com>",
      "reply_link": "header",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "On Sat, Mar 9, 2013 at 7:34 PM, Antonin Scriabin\n<kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:\nLooks like we have a release date, synopsis, and cover art."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Synopsis:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "A novel of the fantastic set in an imagined country in Europe\nAn American writer of travel guides in need of a new location chooses\nto travel to a small and obscure Eastern European country. The moment\nGrafton crosses the border he is in trouble, much more than he could\nhave imagined. His passport is taken by guards, and then he is\ndetained for not having it. He is released into the custody of a\nfamily, but is again detained. It becomes evident that there are\nsupernatural agencies at work, but they are not in some ways as\nthreatening as the brute forces of bureaucracy and corruption in that\ncountry. Is our hero in fact a spy for the CIA? Or is he an innocent\ncitizen caught in a Kafkaesque trap? Gene Wolfe keeps us guessing\nuntil the very end, and after."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I'm not sure why, but for some reason I thought that _The Land Across_\nwas going to involve time travel or dinosaurs!"
        },
        {
          "kind": "sig",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "gwern\nhttp://www.gwern.net"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<E528E5994A2648D6AB9EB780315D9861@Rover>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Gerry Quinn",
        "address": "gerry at bindweed.com"
      },
      "date": "2013-03-10T13:52:03+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) The Land Across",
      "in_reply_to": "<CAMwO0gwX6mQxLFNPNb_Xe=9ExjUqad7tuvMtNCSVXmWTW5zUng@mail.gmail.com>",
      "reply_link": "header",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "From: Gwern Branwen "
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "Synopsis:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "A novel of the fantastic set in an imagined country in Europe\nAn American writer of travel guides in need of a new location chooses\nto travel to a small and obscure Eastern European country. The moment\nGrafton crosses the border he is in trouble, much more than he could\nhave imagined. His passport is taken by guards, and then he is\ndetained for not having it. He is released into the custody of a\nfamily, but is again detained. It becomes evident that there are\nsupernatural agencies at work, but they are not in some ways as\nthreatening as the brute forces of bureaucracy and corruption in that\ncountry. Is our hero in fact a spy for the CIA? Or is he an innocent\ncitizen caught in a Kafkaesque trap? Gene Wolfe keeps us guessing\nuntil the very end, and after."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "I'm not sure why, but for some reason I thought that _The Land Across_\nwas going to involve time travel or dinosaurs!"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "At least he can plausibly argue that cellphones, internet etc. are not available to the public in this setting.  \nThis is not a criticism of Wolfe — he has been criticised for ignoring such things in _Home Fires_ but in truth perfect communication is a plot-wrecker.  I suspect few novelists/scriptwriters etc. like what cellphones do to their mise en scene.\n- Gerry Quinn \n "
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}