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William H. Graham III · 19 Sep 1997, 12:15 · from urth-v0004.mbox · original

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From: "William H. Graham III" <William.H.Graham.III at cdc.com>
Subject: (urth)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 12:15:49  (Central Daylight Time)
Message-ID: <urth-v0004-0315 at digest.urth.net>
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[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other work=
s]

John,

re: Hero as Werewolf,

<<so the year toll is on the order of hundreds to thousands>>

I think the murder rate is lower than you suppose:
=3D091. Garou tells us that he is bragging when he tells his victim how man=
y =3D
kills he performs.
=3D092. He is better-fed than the other humans (due to his superior skill- =
he=3D
 is the hero after all), so me must assume that others =3D09kill even less =
th=3D
an he does. (The girl is described as "too thin" remember).

Still, that's too many dead, and the Masters do <<not>> tolerate this- they=
=3D
 have deployed very expensive and elaborate traps to find the old-style hum=
=3D
ans... and they work.

<<there's that odd post-death capability>>

I have turned the "ability after death" point over and over and the best ra=
=3D
tionalization I can come up with is this:  they really aren't dead:  It is =
=3D
true that they <<always>> die shortly after their necks are broken, so Garo=
=3D
u tells them they are dead a la "dead man walking" mentality.  This extraor=
=3D
dinary ability to survive after such an injury is due to the genetic mutati=
=3D
ons they have undergone.  (Well, it's at least as easy to sell the explanat=
=3D
ion that way as telekinesis is...  ;-)  )

As far as the girl not talking, I took that, combined with the fact that Ga=
=3D
rou dresses her in a veil in order to hide her empty stare, as signs of sim=
=3D
ple mental breakdown.  This is understandable given her condition: =3D20

"Gee, I'm a pretty teenager who should be hanging out with my friends, yakk=
=3D
ing on the phone, and bitching about homework, but instead I have to be a f=
=3D
rigging cannibal to survive, I'm hunted like a damn animal, I witness murde=
=3D
r after brutal murder... I think I'll turn the ol' noodle off now!"

<<The surviving children of the old queen live by consuming the new childre=
=3D
n.>>

The old-style humans resort to cannibalism because it's the <<only>> food a=
=3D
vailable.=3D20

This rant grows too long to make John suffer through.  Please see my next p=
=3D
ost regarding the food situation.

I thought this story could have been more about the girl (help me out oh "y=
=3D
e who have the text" is it 'Jenny'?)

The story, I think, would have taken on a much more tragic tone if we had b=
=3D
een told that her father died after she left, but before Garou got snared. =
=3D
 As it stands, we do not know if Garou will be able to hunt (yes certainly =
=3D
with much difficulty at best), or if he will rely on the girl. =3D20

The latter would spell doom from them both I think.  And if the girl agrees=
=3D
, she could simply go back to her father...

-WHG3

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