Hard SF

Antonin Scriabin · 28 Nov 2012, 15:57 · from 2012-November.txt.gz

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From: kierkegaurdian at gmail.com (Antonin Scriabin)
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:57:56 -0500
Subject: (urth) Hard SF
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W51C23DE417511A76E93303CF5D0 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W51C23DE417511A76E93303CF5D0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <CAM0v-i6a1ETBvs_M7XCx1fP4DwuzjMW4Eqb_kbWCRV3ZeVq8ZQ at mail.gmail.com>

Do we have any idea just how close Blue and Green get during conjunction?
I seem to remember that from Blue, Green is more of a spec than a moon, but
perhaps they are close enough, or have unusually expansive atmospheres,
such that during conjunction their atmospheres merge and allow the Inhumi
to fly from one to another.  If they are this close though, they would most
definitely fall under the sway of one another's gravitational field, which
doesn't seem to be the case.


On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 10:51 AM, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> >David Stockhoff: We're not talking about hard SF here.
>
> Just for the sake of discussion, I'll disagree. Perhaps Wolfe isn't
> diamond-hard
> but I'd give him ruby- or sapphire- on the MOhs scale. I think he makes a
> sincere attempt in most of his work, as the quote below illustrates.
>
> Where fantasy writers are content to give us shape changers without
> explanation,
> Wolfe provides us with a sponge cellular analogy for Tzadkiel and flexible
> bones
> and muscles, make-up and hypnotic abilities for Inhumi.
>
> If the Inhumi really fly through space I'd want more than the skimpy
> evidence we
> are provided (and less evidence for their lying nature).
>
> >Nick Gevers: Speaking as an engineer, how might the godling be
> constructed so as to
> >walk as a giant on land, where the undines [submarine giantesses] cannot?
>
> >Gene Wolfe: There are a number of ways you could go. First, get rid of
> the notion that
> >the godling is going to be proportioned like a human being. Changes in
> size always mean
> >changes in build. (Dr. Crane touches on that.) A man fifty feet tall,
> proportioned like
> >you or me, would sink into the ground a lot -- had you thought of that?
> Take a look at
> >the really big dinosaurs. Bone density could be increased, and the legs
> and pelvis made
> >more massive, and so on
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