AEG clones...send them in

Dave Tallman · 19 Dec 2008, 04:51 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: davetallman at msn.com (Dave Tallman)
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:51:26 -0700
Subject: (urth) AEG clones...send them in
In-Reply-To: <494B0A5E.70104 at mindspring.com>
References: <494B0A5E.70104 at mindspring.com>
Message-ID: <494B284E.6080300 at gmail.com>

Henry Eissler wrote:
>     You were the one that pointed out that Gideon may have infused her 
> with the spirit of the banshee - the Washer at the Ford.  I think the 
> Cassie part of Cassie came close to dying on the Volcano God's island, 
> but that last line at the end shows that she's not gone- she's the one 
> that liked to call him "Wally."
>     As to why Dr. Chase would have wanted to put the spirit of a 
> mountain god's wife into her... who knows.
>   
I don't think Cassie was infused with a different spirit. Chase speaks 
of energizing her innate star potential (p. 41). I pretty much gave up 
on the "Washer at the Ford" theory after I found another reference that 
fit better. Here it is, as I wrote it up for WolfeWiki:

    * "A mountain whose wife washed clothes?" (pp. 41-42, 83) is a
      reference to Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
      <http://craphound.com/someone/Cory_Doctorow_-_Someone_Comes_to_Town_Someone_Leaves_Town.htm>
      by Cory Doctorow. The protagonist Alan's father was a mountain and
      his mother was a washing machine. Credit for discovering this
      belongs to Marc Aramini. It's a perfect match:

   1. The mountain quakes when it's angry.
   2. There are gnomes and golems in its caves.
   3. The setting is near Toronto, Canada. (The protagonist goes to
      Willowdale, a suburb of Toronto, at one point).
   4. The nearest large mountain to Toronto is Blue Mountain. There is a
      trek to the summit which takes about 2.5 hours on foot.

I now see a better banshee connection with the winged creatures one 
chapter title calls "Death's Visitors." Each time they to speak to 
Cassie it is right after a violent death (Norma Peiper, Florence McNair, 
and  Bill Reis). They call Cassie "our cub" (p. 235), so she is a 
banshee by adoption, at least.

    * The winged "Death's Visitors" (pp. 182, 234-236, 284) are probably
      harpies
      <http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/demons/harpies.htm>, winged
      Greek death-spirits also associated with storms. Banshees are also
      a form of harpies.

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