Wolfe covers

Jeff Wilson · 03 Jan 2011, 06:21 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:21:02 -0600
Subject: (urth) Wolfe covers
In-Reply-To: <73761.80709.qm at web114719.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
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Message-ID: <4D216ACE.8030603 at io.com>

On 1/2/2011 11:00 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> *From:* Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com>
> **On 1/2/2011 8:52 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote:
>  >> *From:* Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com <mailto:jwilson at io.com>>
>  > **
>  > On 1/2/2011 5:25 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote:
>
> [cover painting]
>
>> >> > http://www.amazon.com/Book-New-Sun-Gene-Wolfe/dp/1568658079
>  >> >>
>  >> >> > and Severian is framed by a huge full moon,
>  >> >>
>  >> >> (Which is insufficiently green. And where's the red sunlight?)
>  >> >
>  >> >?? The red sunlight is rather prominent at the lower left.
>  >>
>  >> That's sunlight? Maybe I have no idea what the cover is supposed to
>  >> show, beside Severian and Lune.
>  >>
>  >> > If you mean
>  >> > the grazing reflection from Lune, it's accurate if you agree with my
>  >> > hypothesis that it's glassed over like the Botanic Gardens.
>  >>
>  >> It certainly seems reasonable, but the glass shouldn't interfere with
>  >> the green that Severian mentions seeing, and a glassed sphere would just
>  >> have one highlight from the sun, I think.
>  >
>  > Not a single glass sphere, lots of domes.
>
> Even more reasonable. But in any case, Lune has to look green.

No reason it can't; the greenery in the Botanic Gardens looks green 
through its glass as well.

>  > The color is accurate; the
>  > same sun shines on green Lune, green Gyoll, and the greenery in the
>  > Botanical Gardens, even while it looks red when viewed directly.
>
> Maybe it's my partial color blindness. Just out of curiosity, what color
> is Lune in that picture? It looks mostly pale blue to me.
>
> Bigger version:
>
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/1568658079/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_all
>
> (I can see the red better there, though it's still not working for me.)

There is a lot blue among the green splotches, but that's to be expected 
in a new moon near sunset / waning moon at sunrise, the worst seeing 
conditions for color viewing. The moon is largely lit by reflected 
Urthlight, plus any local overhead lighting in the domes, seen through 
the greatest thickness of atmosphere and the greatest amount of smog and 
haze, with the least amount of direct sunlight short of an eclipse.

The huge moon is an interesting take; it's almost five times larger than 
the sun in subtended angle, implying a cozy 17,000 leagues distance. Of 
course, I'm of the opinion that absent-minded old Rudesinde is mistaken 
about it being closer, it's actually moving further off as always.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana
< http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >

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