Richard Baker wrote:
>
> Reggie said:
>
> > Or did LeGuin first talk about an FTL communication system called an
> > ansible, and Card just used it instead of creating one of his own?
>
> Yes, this one. The ansible was the FTL communicator in her Hainish
> books. I've only read _The Left Hand of Darkness_ and _The
> Dispossessed_ from that series but both were very good. (It's often
> said that LeGuin chose "ansible" because it's an anagram of "lesbian"
> and that Card may not have been aware of this.)
>
> Rich, who isn't sure what the significance of that common observation
> might be.
That's one I hadn't heard before. I have a book containing essays and
speeches of hers, and while the ansible was mentioned in one of them,
that anagram thing hadn't come up. Of course, I don't remember what her
audience was, and what she was trying to say didn't have anything to do
with sexual preferences or anything, so you couldn't prove anything just
by what I have there. (The book is _The Language of the Night_ edited
by Susan Wood, if anyone has easy access to a copy and wants to dig for
it. Or if anyone just wants to read it, having been informed of its
existence....)
Julia
looking forward to being able to unpack books starting in about a week
