GUT's and so on

Mo Holkar · 06 Sep 2010, 08:47 · from 2010-September.txt.gz

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From: lists at ukg.co.uk (Mo Holkar)
Date: Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:47:13 +0100
Subject: (urth) GUT's and so on
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W59AD3AE1C4AB58C06631F8CF8F0 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W59AD3AE1C4AB58C06631F8CF8F0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <120826.84632.qm at smtp824.mail.ird.yahoo.com>

At 20:42 05/09/2010, you wrote:
>Africa is okay but the other possible homelands leave me very 
>suspicious about the true
>Earthly origins of Shadow Children.

In Classical times Africa was seen as a land of mythic wonders, hence 
"ex Africa semper aliquid novi". So I think this fits into the 
fantastical pattern of the other suggested homelands.

I take all this to be flagging the Shadow Children up as analogous to 
the various fay myths that humans have cherished on Earth. Perhaps 
Wolfe is hinting at a galaxy-wide settlement of fay-analogues before 
humans came along -- like in Poul Anderson's 'The Queen of Air and 
Darkness', if I'm remembering that correctly.

>Poictesme is a fictional province of France in the work of a 
>somewhat obscure fantasy writer, James Branch Cabell.

Sad to reflect that Cabell is now fairly described as "somewhat 
obscure". He was hugely influential on a wide range of SF & F 
authors, and I think much of his work is still very worthwhile and 
interesting. Lots of it can be read on Project Gutenberg, as it's out 
of copyright -- I recommend starting with Jurgen: 
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8771

Mo

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