{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/395", "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": "whorl", "thread": { "id": 395, "subject": "Answers Already!", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "1997-07-11T00:05:00+00:00", "last": "1997-07-11T20:13:10+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "m.driussi", "address": "m.driussi at genie.com" }, "date": "1997-07-11T00:05:00+00:00", "subject": "(whorl) Answers Already!", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Hey Everybody,\n\nThe bad news first--this was the last question train. Gene Wolfe\ndoesn't want to answer any more.\n\nBut he =did= answer the last questions . . .\n\n16. Please thank Kieran Mullen for me for what he said about my\nwriting. I don't believe it, which is a good thing. If I did, I'd\nbe insufferable.\n\n He asked whether Silk had \"extraordinary abilities.\" To\nquibble, it depends on what you mean by _extraordinary._ He has none\ncomparable to Mucor's, although his are much more valuable. He is a\nborn leader, with great energy and intelligence, and superior motor\nskills.\n\n17. \"Who jumped or fell from the top of the airship, and why?\"\nHorn, possessed by the mischievous, amoral Mucor, because Silk's\nconversation and behavior had suggested it.\n\n18. \"Describe . . . a voided cross and a gammadion.\" A gammadion is\nany figure composed of gamma-shaped pieces. The most common\ngammadions are the swastika and the voided cross. (The swastika is\nancient, by the way, and is found in both East Indian and American\nIndian art.) To make a voided cross, arrange four gammas, not\ntouching, so that the points point toward a common center.\n\n19. \"What is the etymology of _Mamelta?_\" St. Mamelta was a\nPersian, but her name looks Greek to me. (It was common, of course,\nfor the Greeks to pin Greek names upon non-Greeks.) Assuming that\nthe name is Greek, my best guess is that it means \"Not Careless.\"\n\n20. \"Mint states that she had to give up many things, `five of them\nvery great,' to become a sibyl. Can you tell us what those five\nthings were?\" I can try, knowing I will be accused of banality. In\nno particular order: freedom, marriage, the right to own property,\nthe companionship and support of her family, and motherhood.\n\n21. Musk training the \"hawk,\" Silk's prayers, etc. (It's an eagle.)\n Horn's information on the first came from \"the kite builder,\" who\nasked that his name not be used. Silk's prayers (etc.) were written\nby Horn and Nettle, who had heard him pray many times. Please reread\nEXODUS, p. 371.\n\n \"How trustworthy a narrator is Horn?\" Horn and Nettle are doing\ntheir best to tell you what happened, what probably happened, and\nwhat must have happened, in dramatic form. They are human beings,\nhowever, and make mistakes. (We all do, especially me.) Their\naccount is subjective, necessarily, as all accounts are.\n\n \"Who is the narrator of the very last chapter . . . ?\" I think\nyou mean the Afterward. It was written by Hoof, Hide, and their\nwives -- but mostly by Hide.\n\n22. \"Why did Auk . . . kidnap Hyacinth, and why . . . did he let her\ngo?\" Because Tartaros had told him to bring a woman. He released\nher as he recovered from his brain injury, was able to think more\nclearly, and realized that Hyacinth was not the woman he should\nbring. (Putting it another way, he released her because Tartaros\ntold him to. These answers are not as disparate as they may appear.)\n\n23. \"What was Quetzal's motive in wanting a thriving human colony on\nGreen?\" You will have to read _The Book of the Short Sun._\n\n24. \"Why does the monitor . . . overrule their . . . choice of\nGreen?\" Because the choice had been Quetzal's and the monitor,\nseeing his body, realized that he had not been a human being. (You\nalready knew the answer, and gave it yourself. Why ask me?)\n\n25. \"Does Green/Blue have anything to do with THE FIFTH HEAD OF\nCERBERUS?\" No.\n\n26. \"Who was Hyacinth's mother?\" I don't know how to answer that.\nShe was not a character you have known in some other connection, if\nthat's what you mean. Shewas the wife of Hyacinth's father, and the\nmother of her sisters and brothers.\n\n27. \"Is Pike's ghost really Quetzal?\" No.\n\n28. \"Mint\" for _Marble_ and \"Marble\" for _Mint._ You're right, and\nthey are my mistakes. I try hard to stop such things from getting\ninto print. Often I fail. If I told you how bad I feel about these,\nyou would accuse me of grandstanding.\n\n[The End.]\n\n=mantis=" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jim Jordan", "address": "jbjordan at gnt.net" }, "date": "1997-07-11T20:13:10+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) Answers Already!", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Comments:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "27. \"Is Pike's ghost really Quetzal?\" No." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\tWe know that Gene believes ghosts are real. I think we would be best\nadvised to say that Pike's ghost is ... a ghost.\n\tNow, I suspect that Gene conceives of a ghost as a soul in purgatory. This\nmay shed light on his other ghostlie tales...." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "28. \"Mint\" for _Marble_ and \"Marble\" for _Mint._ You're right, and\nthey are my mistakes. I try hard to stop such things from getting\ninto print. Often I fail. If I told you how bad I feel about these,\nyou would accuse me of grandstanding." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\tMantis, give us the question again. I want to correct my copies...\n\nNutria" } ] } ] }