Tracking Song and vizcacha, and misc.

Dave Lebling · 18 Jun 2007, 00:03 · from 2007-June.txt.gz

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From: dlebling at hyraxes.com (Dave Lebling)
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 20:03:20 -0400
Subject: (urth) Tracking Song and vizcacha, and misc.
In-Reply-To: <39ed084f0706171209q542096d9hdd1d1e849927acee at mail.gmail.com>
References: <39ed084f0706171209q542096d9hdd1d1e849927acee at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4675CBC8.8040500 at hyraxes.com>

Matthew Groves wrote:
> vizcacha wrote:
>> Thanks, Matthew. It's "Lebling," by the way, not "Liebling."
> Woops, sorry about that. Take "Liebling" as a sign of my affection. What
> sort of thing is a vizcacha, by the way?
Vizcacha is usually (but not always) spelled "viscacha," and it's a 
small rabbit-like rodent native to South America; it's closely related 
to the chinchilla. Given the far future South American setting of New 
Sun and the South American culture of Long Sun (which prompted all the 
animal and plant nicknames), I thought it fit.

Here's the Wikipedia article, with a decent photo: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vizcacha
>
>> The epigraph has multiple meanings.
> Well, that wouldn't be a first. So there is another layer there, or 
> several
> layers in one, as you observe. And you thing this all takes place on an
> asteroid? That would not be a first either. Can you expand on that at 
> all?
> It is obviously extremely small, but do asteroids have moons?
Some asteroids do indeed have moons. Check the archives for discussion 
of the size of the setting for "Tracking Song." The Great Sleigh 
circumnavigates it in two weeks (by my memory here), going at a rather 
sedate speed. I suppose it could be a moon, but I think asteroids with 
moons are more common than moons with moons.

Dave Lebling, aka vizcacha

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