An Evil Guest - Big Questions, Major SPOILERS

John Watkins · 21 Sep 2008, 22:23 · from 2008-September.txt.gz

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From: john.watkins04 at gmail.com (John Watkins)
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:23:31 -0400
Subject: (urth) An Evil Guest - Big Questions, Major SPOILERS
In-Reply-To: <44fb53d10809211459n5df648aj477c9f2696845460 at mail.gmail.com>
References: <44fb53d10809211459n5df648aj477c9f2696845460 at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <93d4039f0809211523h664ef8f9j4e0bb5c636c6206c at mail.gmail.com>

Spoilers--I also finished this morning.

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I can't answer all of that, but "Arthur Thomas Franklin" is a
government agency--presumably slang for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms--the ATF (now officially Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives, but still ATF).

A "defective" child is probably just a child born with a genetic
defect or other inborn condition.  I took it as a reference to the
current practice of aborting Down Syndrome fetuses rather than a hint
as to an elaborate regime of genetic engineering.


On Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 5:59 PM, Matthew Keeley
<matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I just finished An Evil Guest, and I have quite a few questions (as is par
> for the course with Wolfe). Really liked the book though - I liked Pirate
> Freedom, but I thought this was much superior. And I think it provided more
> room for speculation too.
> My major questions follow below the spoiler space...
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> The Wolders - Are those the bat creatures? How are the laws of physics
> different on Woldercan? Does this relate to hopper technology? And alchemy
> too? Time travel? What exactly IS Gideon Chase? Where did RC (presumably his
> father Robert) get that watch? The Silent Woman? The living mountain? Arthur
> Thomas Franklin? Three names... like Howard Philips Lovecraft? What sort of
> incantatory purpose did Dating the Volcano God serve?
> Did Cassie really DO anything - she sometimes seems more spectator than
> actor How does William Reis know the name "Ry'leh?" Did the Navy win?
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> Other comments:
> Forty-seven states? Also, the bit about "post-parturition abortion" was the
> most explicitly political I've seen Wolfe get in a long time. What, by the
> way, is a "defective" child? Perhaps one whose genetic engineering didn't
> work out? There's a reference to anticloning laws in the last chapter, so
> presumably the future US can perform some genetic engineering.
> Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the book,
> -Matt
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