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Apocryphal
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(Quote) LOL - actually, I explored that for a time, too, before finding a meaning for Sennet. The latter portion of this book definitely evokes game pieces being moved about.
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LEXICON (Quote) Medoc: easily inferred, a wine-growing region north of Bordeaux. Not one I'd heard of before. (Quote) Lechwes and waterbucks: also easily inferred - these are both African antelopes. (Quote) Xenagie & Dimarchi: Almost all the …
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I purchased the follow-up volume when I picked up the first, so I'm willing to give it a go sometime. If it were me writing, I suppose I'd either continue to follow Hiero, maybe taking him further inside the Unclean (where he can really be outside …
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I strongly believe it's not just a happy coincidence. But I'm really curious about how closely Lanier stuck to Cambell's structure. Despite the fact that I listened to The Hero With a Thousand Faces earlier this year, I just couldn't say - I didn't …
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Astutely observed. The book predates RPGs, but is listed by Gary Gygax as one of his inspirations, and quite possibly this a source for that idea. The mental aspects might be one inspiration for D&D psionics. If I was going to gamify this, I'd …
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Aldo's ascribed motivation as people who wanted to rebuild society by recapturing old technology was realistic. However, the actual unclean we met didn't really seem bear any resemblance to the people Aldo described. The people we actually met were …
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Here again, it's a yes and no, I think. The climate is warmer - palms and palmettos are described everywhere, even north of Lake Superior. That seems reasonable. If there was a nuclear war 5000 years ago, one presumes a nuclear winter might have se…
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I didn't really remark on the strong Christian beliefs, so you might have to elaborate on this one. Overall, I found the mental aspect of the book to be pretty interesting, and especially the different waves on which it might work, rather like radio…
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As I mentioned in Q1, the Metz, the Eleveners, and the Bear People seemed the most credible to me. The tendency to simply write off the Unclean as 'evil villains' was too simplistic for my taste. Aldo ascribes a motive to them that doesn't come acro…
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Yes and no. It was compelling in many ways, and quite unlike anything I've read. For reasons I cant explain, it puts me in mind of Harry Harrison's West of Eden, which was an early club pick. I feel the landscape were pretty effective. He didn't re…
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Thinking back to the episode at the alter, did Agia not slip the Claw, unnoticed, into Severian's pocket? My thinking is that she either planned to reclaim it from Severian's dead body when he lost the duel, or that she hoped all along that it would…
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Agia, at times, seemed like an ally, or professed to be an ally. But as they travelled through the garden, she became increasingly annoyed when Severian interacted with other people, and tried to rush him along. It seemed to me at the time that she …
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(Quote) I'm actually feeling de-mystified by these three. After the last four, I though these were pleasantly straight forward and finally some strings are being drawn together. The note is a little mysterious, but it confirms the idea that she's be…
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Welcome, @BenM , and good luck. We do a monthly book most months, though we don't currently have one lined up for May. And we're currently also doing a slow read of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun which will last until Christmas, reading about 20 …
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Glad to see at least 4 of us are in on this book.
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If Bob & Marie are phantoms from the 20th C., then Severian and Agia would seem to be their tokoloshes - phantoms of their own past actions now visiting them in the future. There seems to be a lot of meaning buried here, but it's hard to extract…
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If only it was also a welcome change from the D&D default!
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(Quote) Interesting question - I suspect they are an Easter egg, rather than something integral to the plot. But that said, I can't help but feel that knowing them makes the plot that much easier to parse, so thanks to @RichardAbbott once again for …
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ANNOTATION - Chapters 21-24 Gowdalie: An Australian Aboriginal fishing spear Oreodont: Extinct four-toed ruminating hog Hesperon: Creataceous diving bird (Image) (Quote) Uakari: A rather spooky looking New World monkey (see above) Margay: Small…
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I didn't remember (or notice) that the claw had the power of resurrection, so I didn't make this connection when reading this chapter, but knowing it improves my reading greatly. I suspected Dorcas was Cas, but thought that was too coincidental. The…
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Specere = To Look Speculum = A mirror, a tool for looking at yourself Speculative Fiction = Fiction that holds a mirror to society (or at least allows the authors to admire themselves?)
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ANNOTATION - chapters 19 and 20 (Quote) Champian - a plain, or large expanse of flat land. Confirmation here that the Pelerines cathedral is indeed a big tent. (Quote) Eponym: Those who have given their names to something (a tribe, or a town). In…
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@RichardAbbott Good point re: Christ vs being an alien, though the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
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ANNOTATION - chapter 18 (Quote) Hypogeum means literally 'underground'. The high Hypogeon is what - the Dungeon Master? (Quote) Onagers: Asiatic wild ass, similar to a donkey, and notoriously hard to tame, with a very hard kick. The romans named a…
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He does say he's telling the story of his 'predecessor' which fairly confirms he will become Autarch. He also begins by saying "It has been a long time (twice I have heard the guard changed outside my study door" since I wrote the lines yo…
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ANNOTATION - chapter 17 (Quote) Pavonine: Peacock-like. (Quote) Vicuna: A thin-necked cameloid of the Andes, related to a llama. (Quote) Psychopomp: Literally 'guide of souls' in Greek. An angel or spirit that guides the soul of a recently depart…
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(Quote) More evidence for the old maxim, LOL. I was surprised nobody commented on the death of Gene Wolfe in the other thread when @NeilNjae pointed it out. I don't think we've ever had an author die in the middle of our discussion before, though I…
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I was going to say - sounds like a Hammond Innes novel! I've reviewed a few, here, but have read many more over the years, including The Blue Ice (my fave of the batch), The Wreck of the Mary Deare, The Land God Gave to Cain, The Doomed Oasis, and …
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Thanks, Richard. I started reading this... The setting is quite distinctive, and the style is somewhat as well. It's not quite like anything I've read before, so I'm finding it quite interesting.
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@NeilNjae Thanks for bringing this to our attention - another great passes. I myself don't know Wolfe's work well enough, but my re-reading of The Shadow of the Torture has given me a new appreciation for his writing. I actually have quite a few of …