brief comment

Mark Millman · 07 Apr 2002, 05:04 · from urth-v0204.mbox · original

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From: Mark Millman <millman at heimdallr.dyndns.org>
Subject: Re: (urth) brief comment
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2002 00:04:30 -0500 (EST)
Message-ID: <urth-v0204-547 at digest.urth.net>
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Marc,

I'm afraid that your uncritical acceptance
of the 30,000-league figure for Green's
distance from Blue may be a bit dangerous;
after all, Wolfe's characters make mistakes,
conceal the truth, and lie outright all the
time.  This figure is given at second hand,
produced by a culture that's had only one
generation of planetside life--the estimate
may be influenced by scales within the
Whorl, where the skylands are only twice as
far away as the Long Sun, and city lights
in those regions are evidently visible at
night.

Likewise Juganu's comment, "We are every-
where":  we don't know whether it's a self-
aggrandizing boast, a calculated statement
meant to dishearten his listeners, or an
unthinking assumption.  Is Juganu even
aware of Urth before Horn enlists his help
to travel there?

Mark Millman
(Nacre)

On Sat, 6 Apr 2002, maa32 wrote:

> Roy, no big deal, but there IS
> a scene when he actually is
> looking at the moon and com-
> menting:
>
> "Green came up, bigger
> and brighter than we
> ever see it on Blue.
> Or want to, either."
> (pg 714 in SFBC BOTSS,
> chapter 17)
>
> He is talking about Lune here.
> We are saying the same thing.
> I'm kind of intrigued by the
> recent idea that Lune could
> have near urth gravity.  But
> doesn't the fact that at 30,000
> leagues Green is still not as
> big as Lune indicate that Green
> can't be much bigger?  I mean,
> Lune would have to be really
> damned close if Green really
> were larger at all, and it
> can't be THAT close.
>
> Marc Aramini

--=20

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