Wolfe at Dragon*Con (AEG)

Roy C. Lackey · 12 Sep 2009, 02:24 · from 2009-September.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:24:23 -0500
Subject: (urth) Wolfe at Dragon*Con (AEG)
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Message-ID: <002301ca3350$283f0760$bad24a0c@rclackey>

James Wynn wrote:

>I truly appreciate
> you taking time to take pot-shots at my theory but 1) I don't have much of
a
> theory yet to shoot at, and 2) keep your bead on the theory/hypothesis and
> not at me.

You would do well to heed your own advice. In my first response to you, I
simply gave my objections to your theory of identity switching. You
responded with your comment about me "freely conclusion jumping". I have let
most of your other . . . comments pass since then.

In your first post in this AEG-tagged thread, you wrote: "So when Wolfe said
this in the panel on Fictional Characters, a series of tumblers fell into
place in my head. It was Bill Reise disguised as Gideon Chase who left for
Woldercon at the end of AEG."

That sounds like conclusion jumping to me. And you offer no means, plausible
or otherwise, by which Reis might have disguised himself as Gideon and
gotten away with it.

> The text based refutations you've offered are not as compelling as you
seem
> to think they are.

Well, I will agree that I find them compelling.

[snip]
> > Ambassador
> > to Woldercan is a high-profile position in a digital age. There would
have
> > been pictures and video in the media, both of which would have
penetrated
> > a
> > magical disguise. Ambassadorships don't happen in a vacuum. Reis would
> > have
> > to have been a fool to even try such a ruse.
>
> This is a ridiculous assertion.

There you go again.

> When is the last time you saw media coverage
> of the ambassador to England leaving for his post? Mind, the universe of
> AEG  is not our own.

Since you quoted from the second page of the book earlier today, I assume
you read it. Right on that fraking page, the president showed Gideon a
talking picture, one that, from the words spoken, was evidently just such a
media picture as I have postulated. The occasion was Ambassador Reis' return
to Earth from Woldercan.

Another reason for the media to be covering the story of a new ambassador is
the fact that the person who was ambassador at the start of the story would
heve to be recalled and replaced by Gideon. The replacement of a sitting
ambassador is unusual and would be sufficient occasion for media coverage.

> > More to the point, Reis would have had no need to seek Gideon's post as
> > ambassador. He was more than wealthy enough to go to Woldercan on his
own
> > dime, even if he had any reason to go there, just as Cassie did.
>
> Why do you assume that's the reason he would have assumed Gideon's
identity?

I really don't care why Reis might have assumed Gideon's identity: I'm
saying that it didn't happen, that Reis did not go to Woldercan disguised as
Ambassador Gideon Chase. I have already given my text-based objections to
any such disguise being workable.

> The US government wasn't going to let him leave without revealing his
> secret. The aliens of Takanga seemed to have a beef with him. He might
have
> used his manufactured gold to get to Woldercon, but eventually it would
have
> shown up as radioactive and the government would have followed him there.

Reis had ample wealth to get to Woldercan without resorting to bad gold, as
evidenced by the diamonds he gave Cassie, the sale of which gave her the
money for the big hopper. He wasn't stupid. Besides, he was presumed dead,
which he was, and his body missing, as was the case for many of the
thousands who died in the storm.

-Roy

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