{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/80", "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": 80, "subject": "All the Hues of Hell", "messages": 3, "voices": 2, "first": "1997-07-03T09:30:42+00:00", "last": "1997-07-03T21:30:06+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Ron Crown", "address": "crownrw at slu.edu" }, "date": "1997-07-03T09:30:42+00:00", "subject": "(urth) All the Hues of Hell", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Alga mentioned a while back that The Island of Doctor Death and Other\nStories and Other Stories is coming out soon and would be fun to\ndiscuss. I've been reading a couple of Wolfe short stories reprinted in\nDavid Hartwell's The Ascent of Wonder anthology and thought maybe a\ndiscussion of these could jump start us with short stories.\n\n\nSPOILERS FOLLOW\n\nThe first story is the one mentioned in the subject line. For those of\nyou who haven't read it or may have forgotten it, the story is about a\ncrew of three, two humans and one mechanical being of some type (this is\none you have to suss out for yourself, BTW, though considering it's\nWolfe, the clues are fairly obvious), investigating while in orbit\naround it a world of \"shadow matter\"(dark matter?). While observing the\nshadow planet they discover a humaniform being of some type, capture it\nand bring it on board their vessel. One of the human characters thinks\nhe is dead and that the vessel has actually reached Hell and its never\nmade clear (at least not to me) whether this character is actually dead\nor (as the crew robot claims) insane.\n\nAnyway, the main question for me is the ending. The crew has a pet\nmacaw (named Polyaris; can anyone think of other Wolfe stories with\nbirds who figure importantly, Oreb is obviously one) who suddenly begins\na screech that signals \"Danger! Fire! Flood! INVASION and CATASTROPHE!\"\nThe shadow being then begins to change color from an original \"dusty\npinkish brown\" fading to gray and then white. He then curls into a\nfetal position.\n\nAt the same time the female crew member, who is carrying the male crew\nmember's child has not observed any of this but is touching her belly\nand says \"It moved [i.e. the fetus]! It just moved. I felt life!\" End\nof story.\n\nThe editors blurb compares this ending to the end of 2001 but it seems\nto me there is a little more going on here, though as is usual with\nWolfe, I'm not sure what. For one thing, there seems to be some sort of\nparallel being drawn between the female crew member's pregnancy and the\ncrew's vessel (named the _Egg_) being fertilized (?) by the shadow\ncreature (representing a sperm? I'll have to go back and check the\ndescription) coming on board the vessel. The shadow being is kept in\nsome type of stasis field, not called that but referred to as a \"yolk;\"\nthis \"yolk\" only appears when the shadow being is brought on board.\n\nAnd I haven't even mentioned the color imagery which is obviously of\ngreat significance (see the title) but maybe this is enough to get some\ndiscussion going.\n\nBTW, the story is also found in _Endangered Species_. The other story\nin The Ascent of Wonder is \"Procreation\" but I'll leave that for another\ntime as this has gotten long enough already.\n\nRon Crown\ncrownrw at slu.edu" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jim Jordan", "address": "jbjordan at gnt.net" }, "date": "1997-07-03T21:30:06+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) All the Hues of Hell", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "A bit more:\n\n\tSkip is from skipper, which he should be, but isn't, because the robots are.\n\tKUL 23011. I don't have a complete Greek dictionary, but like \"aris,\" we\nshould see if \"kul\" means anything.\n\t23011 might mean 666, like this: 2x3=6, x1=6, x1=6. I would not suggest\nthis except for the use of 666 in \"Fifth Head.\" In a story about hell and\nantichrist, we might expect Wolfe to use 666, as he did in \"Fifth Head.\"\n\nNutria" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jim Jordan", "address": "jbjordan at gnt.net" }, "date": "1997-07-03T21:13:56+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) All the Hues of Hell", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\tI'll bite.\n\tFor one thing, the pregnant woman is named Marilyn, for Mary. \n\tFor another, it seems that humanity is now ruled by machines (the Director\nand Kyle, for instance). That's bad.\n\tMoreover, it is clear that Kyle (largely a machine) wants Marilyn. Did he\nkill Skip? The implications are that he did. Skip, or his ghost, says that\nKyle wants the shadow man; he and the Director do. \n\tIs Skip right that the shadow man is a demon? There are hints that he is.\nThe shadow man has horns, which mystify robot Kyle.\n\tWhen the shadow man dies, Marilyn feels her baby move. Clearly, the shadow\nman has moved into her womb. Antichrist is soon to be born. Compare the\n*Fifth Head of Cerberus* original novella (part one of the triptych).\n\tThe machine rulers of humanity have no perception of good and evil, or God\nand demon. They simply worship all life, regardless of its place in the\nscheme of things. Unwittingly, they have now introduced antichrist into the\nworld.\n\tThe bird, Polyaris, realizes this. Poly means many, but Aris I did not\nuncover. \n\tColor imagery: The bright colors of Polyaris are true nature colors; the\nshadow is invisible. It may be seen (rightly) as a series of hellish hues\n(Skip), or appear as an angel of light (Kyle and Marilyn). \n\tI'd take the title as the clue: This really is hell.\n\nNutria" } ] } ] }