Help offset server costs by donating. This is totally optional. Any overages will go to library fines or new books.
RichardAbbott
About
- Username
- RichardAbbott
- Joined
- Visits
- 6,226
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member, Administrator, Moderator
- Games I like
- Sundry, mostly board
- Books I like
- Science fiction, fantasy, some historical fiction
Comments
-
Yes I agree with this. The tales felt a lot more like shorthand notes than stories. However, it did make me wonder about the process of transmission of these stories. A few years back I read up on oral traditions, mainly focusing on Alfred Lord's bo…
-
Maybe add that cleverness and plot resolution are often accomplished by female characters despite operating within superficially strict social constraints? Also, disguises are a Big Thing and often used by Goodies and Baddies alike.
-
I'm with @Apocryphal on this in that I would like to finish the book. However, I also think you're right @NeilNjae about diminishing returns. How about we stick to the planned schedule as regards sections? This takes us, I think, up to the end of th…
-
I should also have said that it made me wonder how many of the "talking creatures" stories of our own culture owe a debt to this - Wind in the Willows, Heather Hill, Narnia etc? Or is it just such an obvious thing that pretty much everyone…
-
Another story I enjoyed. It has lots of echoes with other tales we know, but was told in a vigorous and inviting manner. Yes, I thought of Moses and Sargon in relation to the babies. The Sargon one is closer in some respects - the mother was a high…
-
Hi all, quick reminder that as discussion of Sun of Suns has died down, this month's choice is Titan, by John Varley, as selected by @clash_bowley
-
It would be interesting to to see if at least some of these points get addressed in later ones - I'm thinking maybe there's a parallel with Larry Niven and the alterations he made to the Ringworld as a result of reader feedback and analysis, such as…
-
Kind of like an iceberg - lots more is never explicitly seen than exists. But I totally agree that right now I am speculating that this back-story stuff may have been in Karl Schroeder's mind, and for whatever reason not put down on paper. Kind of &…
-
(Quote) I was thinking a bit about this while out for a walk today, like you do, and - just playing devil's advocate here for a bit - had some thoughts about these points... (Quote) The ancient Egyptians had a similar problem - unless they could im…
-
I guess for me this felt like a kind of weird ending to the story. I didn't mind the palace-in-a-night business - why not, with a genie on your side? But it was never really clear what the vizier was trying to achieve by claiming it was all done by …
-
(Quote) I'm guessing that the later books in the series will go into the wider setting a bit more. Presuming that whoever-is-on-the-outside is now aware of Aubri's failure to complete the mission, it would be logical to have another go via a differe…
-
(Quote) The main character surely has to be called Swing Low... :)
-
(Quote) There was some discussion of the guys that both Slipstream and Aerie perceive is the real enemy, viz "the cold dictatorship of that notorious bureaucracy". So whatever minor cultural differences there are between the first two name…
-
(Quote) That's a nice connection which hadn't occurred to me
-
(Quote) Except, no doubt, to a discerning few :)
-
(Quote) I had no idea there were so many zero gee air filled settings around! Must be a popular trope
-
(Quote) I almost read Smoke Ring years ago while I was having a Niven fest but never got round to it... perhaps I should look it up again!
-
Discussion starters for Sun of Suns now posted...
-
I did track down some comments by someone comparing Nights and Alice who felt that in addition to direct links, there were structural ones of composition, eg the use of nested narratives within an overall frame, and the use of fantastic elements to …
-
I forgot to say last night, the repeated theme of threatened beheading reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, with is repeated "off with her [their] head [s]". I looked around a bit to find out if people had traced Lewis Carroll's use of Arab…
-
More enjoyment, and more confirmation that the Christmas panto version here in Grasmere followed the story more closely than the Disney version! Who'd have thought it? I was struck (again) by how little Aladdin thinks to make use of the lamp for mo…
-
Right I'll do discussion starters next weekend (March 1st/2nd)
-
(Quote) Sorry to hear that
-
(Quote) I'm only planning on us discussing book 1 but if you want to go ahead and tell us all about it, that would be fun :)
-
How are people getting on with Sun of Suns? Shall I post discussion starters this weekend or next (ie last w/e in Feb or first in March?)
-
(Quote) And the album Aladdin Sane has the track Jean Genie :)
-
I found this story quite fascinating, because of both its similarities to and differences from the Aladdin stories I know - mostly of course the Disney version with Robin Williams but other pantomime versions too. By strange coincidence, the amateur…
-
Monthly stuff for Titan added now
-
My dead tree copy is on its way even as we speak...
-
I've just had a quick look and it seems that Titan is available in audio or paperback formats (or hardback) but not kindle. At least in the UK. I'm happy with that but just checking that we all are.