latro: mother's mother and misc (Swanwick, etc).

maa32 · 05 Sep 2003, 05:40 · from urth-v0309.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) latro: mother's mother and misc (Swanwick, etc).
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2003 22:40:32 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0309-4025 at digest.urth.net>
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I think I mentioned the whole "mother's mother" thing with Latro in the dre=
am=20
palace of lions on the list a few months ago.  My best guess at the time wa=
s=20
that Sphinx had become associated with Gaea (and if we read the text in tha=
t=20
chapter, she has!) and there are other goddess assimilations going on - whe=
re=20
Hera is kind of contiguous with her mother, etc.  So I believed, and still=20
believe, that Latro is Pleistorus or Ares - it certainly makes sense of tha=
t=20
scene and the scene in which Zalmoxis and Latro "fight", and where the high=20
priest of the Thebans (I believe - haven't looked at the books since last M=
ay)=20
calls Latro Pleistorus to his face.  And of the fact that Pleistorus has go=
ne=20
AWOL for a long time ... where did he go?  Why, he's fled by=20
transubstantiating into a mortal!

OK ... nobody likes the Latro is Ares thread, nor do they like the Green is=20
Urth one.  I can live with that.

I had some time off recently and got to read a whole bunch of stuff.  Someo=
ne=20
mentioned Swanwick on the list a while ago, so I read some of him.  I didn'=
t=20
care for the novels too much.  Except Stations of the Tide - are his=20
surrogates a rip on Wolfe's eidolons?  The technology wasn't very clear to =
me.
 And why was it important that Gregorian be stopped anyway, if the planet w=
as=20
going to flood no matter what?  Jack Faust started off pretty good, but the=
n=20
it kind of morphed into a bit too much of a standard cautionary tale at the=20
end.  The other novels didn't do it for me (haven't read Iron Dragons Daugh=
ter=20
yet, though).  Any thoughts on Stations of the Tide as an imitation of Wolf=
e,=20
with science and magic mixing, weird surrogates who can live on after the=20
original dies, but usually are re-incorporated, and characters named "Undin=
e"=20
and "Pelagia", with a big flooded world ...

Also got to partially wend my way through Free Live Free again (haven't=20
finished it a second time yet).  What's the deal with the typewriter=20
mumbo-jumbo that Serpentina types out?  Is that some sort of code or what? =20
It's in Chapter 8 (Adam Alcar Dageram, etc.)  Maybe it's made clear later -=
 if=20
so, sorry - I'm sure I'll finish the whole thing again eventually.

Just some randomness.
Take care, all.
Marc Aramini

--=20

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