Charlie,
Here is TPE 9, for your records.
JDG
>Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2000 23:45:36 -0400
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>From: "John D. Giorgis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: TPE 9: Discus Jestus
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>Hmmm..... anybody have any clue about the title to this chapter?
>
>This chapter was interesting as Brin seems to suddenly change writing
>styles here- going from the single narration of the first half of this book
>and of _Sundiver_ to the multiple narrations that he will feature in most
>of his future works. Indeed, this chapter reads very much like a clip out
>of _Startide Rising_. I guess this isn't surprising since I consider
>Brin to be one of the best climax writers around, and he uses the various
>viewpoints here to keep the intensity at a fever pitch.
>
>This chapter also reveals a lot of backplot. We find out what has
>happende to Stivyung Sigel and his wife. We learn the full story behind
>the L'Toff prince's visit we witnessed earlier. We get deeper hints about
>exactly what are "the Old Beliefs" and that the Coylians likely have come
>from somewhere else, only to lose the ability "to make."
>
>We also get two more lashings with Brin's heavy satire of adventure novels
> One of them, on page 184, is explicitly noted as such by Dennis. He
>arrives with the Princess into a safe hideaway, just before the climax, and
>ends up getting stuck with Chair for the night right after he gets the
>Princess into bed. Then, at the end of the daring escape, instead of
>kissing the girl, Dennis "gets very sick." Dennis is nothing if not an
>anti-hero.
>
>Finally, a very interesting quote on page 205: "wasn't *Earth a strange
>place when you came right down to it? Cause and effect seemed so
>straightforward there, yet entropy always seemed to be conspiring to get
>you! Dennis hardly knew three or four engineer sback home who didn't
>secretly, in their hearts, devoutly believe in gremlins, in glitches, and
>in Murphy's Law." Ultimately, Brin's novels always make us look back at
>ourselves.
>
>Notes:
>-pg 185 describes the pixolet as being "pink" as opposed to being green on
>the cover.
>-pg 186 the pixolets are not truly sentient. I guess they are just
>bursting with "potential."
>-pg 209 the Coylians have paper money, and also place side bets
>-I must wonder what life is like in the future if a physicist can grow up
>with both experience in carpentry, and being skilled with a sling. Well,
>whatever it takes to make the story.
>-Anybody think the Hoss'l has discovered gunpowder?
>-Much has been made of the similarity of "the watcher character." I'd
>also propose a similarity of "the marginal engineer character." I can't
>help but feel that young Gath reminds me of Emerson on Hannes. Any others?
>
>Language:
>-pg 198 "Before the blecker threw us down to savagery." This is the second
>appearance of the word "blecker." On page 55 Tomosh tells a scary story
>about "Bleckers" and other fabled bogeymen. Interesting that Bleckers was
>capitalized earlier, but not here, where it is used with a definite
>article. That is probably a typo. Anyhow, anybody think that a guy with
>the last name of "Blecker" stole Brin's lunch money when he was kid????? ;-)
>-pg 194 has a refrence to the "fastness of the L'Toff." Fastness?
>_______________________________________________
> John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
> "Now is not the Time for Third Chances,
> It is a Time for New Beginnings."
> - George W. Bush 8/3/00
>******************VOTE BUSH / CHENEY 2000 *******************
>
>
_______________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
