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Messages - Alia

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46
Chapter 16:

Quote
"Mimara," a voice calls. "What's the matter, girl?" It's Somandutta, the one man here that she trusts, and only then because he is no man.

She already realizes that Soma is a skin-spy?  It doesn't seem like it and yet this line...

I took it to mean that to Mimara Soma is a boy among men.

47
at the end of chapter 13 in the middle of Porsparians "spit spell" Sorweel recalls a moment when he burn his slave by accident with a "tear" (im guessing he means a chorae).
Quote
But something,some religious witness perhaps, held him back. He remembered the incident with the tear, When Porsparian had burned his palm, and a hollowing anxiousness seized him. He felt lika a thing of paper, creased and rolled and folded into the shape of a man. Any gust, it seemed, could make a kite of him, toss him to the arches of heaven. What new madness was this?


So Porsparian is some type of sorcerer maybe with a mark and is the shell of a man pretty much. 

No, it was the other way round. Porsparian's tear (quite literal, not chorae) burned Sorweel in Chapter 7:

Quote
"Yatwer," he [Porsparian] whispered, his eyes brimming with tears. Drawing Sorweel's palm between them, he leaned forward and kissed the soft-skinned basin.
Fire climbed the young King's skin. He tried to yank his hand back, but the old man held him with the strength of newly cast stocks. He rolled his age-creased face above Sorweel's palm, as if drowsing to some unheard melody. A single tear tapped the spot where his lips had touched...
It seemed to burn and cut all at once, like something molten falling through snow.
[...]
For watch after watch, Sorweel lay rigid in his cot, holding his own hand, pressing the impossible blister on his palm.

48
Literature / Re: Yearly Targets (2016) - Totals and Specifics
« on: March 21, 2016, 07:20:21 pm »
Finished reading Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar. Written almost 50 years ago and set in 2010, the book contains a fascinating futuristic vision. Brunner did not predict Internet and almost ubiquitous mobiles (but then again, nobody did) but he did predict total information overload that everyone faces nowadays. He also got some other things very well, like random acts of violence and racial unrest in the US - and he even predicted that Poland would be part of the EU. In late 1960s. And then there is the structure of the book, which mixes two main story lines tracking two main characters with episodes devoted to other people and the world in general. Chapters are very short and dynamic, there are some interesting narrative tricks - in short, highly recommended.

I've started on a book that will not be translated into English. It's a fantasy/horror story written by my high school friend (who published her first short stories in a magazine before she was 18 - and I was one of the people who encouraged her to send the stories in the first place) and it's set in my home town, which gives me additional fun, as I recognize some places very well. It's much shorter than Brunner so maybe it won't take that long to read, especially as Easter break is coming.

49
The Almanac: TAE Edition / Re: The Slog TJE - Chapters 1-3 [Spoilers]
« on: March 09, 2016, 01:21:54 pm »
Regarding the traveler's identity, I don't think he's anything more than the secondary character he appears to be. A red herring if he was intentionally meant to sow the question of who he is. Mostly I think he's just a convenient vehicle for the scene and, authorially, an easy way of introducing us to changes in the setting since the end of TTT.

As I've already written somewhere on this forum, I think traveller is Sarl. First of all, his voice is the only one described in the book (several times) as "gravelly". Secondly, Ironsoul's only companion in prologue is a cowled figure (Cleric). Later Sarl tells Achamian that he's been with Kosoter for many years, but of course he can be lying.

50
General Earwa / Re: TSA related art and stuff. (VI)
« on: February 13, 2016, 02:04:05 pm »
I love the lower row. Although, the marketing would probably say "They won't sell!". They do it all the time.

51
Literature / Re: Yearly Targets (2016) - Totals and Specifics
« on: February 13, 2016, 01:40:04 pm »
Currently reading Zelazny Guns of Avalon the 2nd book in the Corwin cycle. I just find Zelazny effortless and so enjoyable. Hard to place my finger on what exactly he does right but he just does it, whatever it is!

Yeah, had the same feelings when I did a re-read last year. Maybe it's his putting a whole book with a (sorta) completed plot in just 200-300 pages, not 600+, as it is typical nowadays? As a result, the whole is more packed with action. And then of course, he's famous for his wham lines that make you go: "Wow, you wicked author, how did you do it?"
However, I had several problems with the Merlin cycle. Some things were simply OTT for me, and there were some problems that I noticed only on re-read.

52
Literature / Re: Yearly Targets (2016) - Totals and Specifics
« on: February 06, 2016, 06:52:20 pm »
Finished reading Harari's Sapiens. A really interesting book, recommended to me by an archeologist friend. It really covers the history of humankind, from its beginnings to present and (tenatively) future, dealing with various topics including agrarian, indurstrial and scientific revolution, religions and ideologies, politics and economy, as well as things such as whether human happiness has increased over time. And even though it covers controversial topics, its tone remains cold, detached - the author presents different theories and different sides of the coin, but mostly without judgment. Definitely worth reading.

53
I think you should read Gibson's Peripheral. The world in the book (or worlds, as it is) is pretty much created around that question (especially the part set in the new London).

54
Literature / Re: Yearly Targets (2016) - Totals and Specifics
« on: January 14, 2016, 04:23:43 pm »
I would like to read 10-15 books this year, but it all depends on my work schedule. Until the end of May at least, I will be reading mostly on the underground and at staff meetings, so not much progress there. Then in the summer, maybe a bit more (like last year, when I read the whole Amber). Last year I read 25, but then again, Amber books are rather short by modern standards.
Specific targets:
Yuval Harari Sapiens: a Brief History of Humanity (non-fiction, antropological, started it in January, so far fascinating)
Brunner Stand on Zanzibar (there are some classics I sadly missed)
Glukhovsky Futu.re and maybe Metro 2035 (His Metro series was translated into English, I'm not sure about this one)
Danielewski House of Leaves (in Polish translation, sometimes I'm lazy, it's due to appear in April)
And some works in Polish, not translated, among them certainly a new novel by my high-school friend, due to appear in March.

55
General Earwa / Re: Biblical allusions in TSA
« on: January 10, 2016, 03:51:31 pm »
So, a small fact that I accidentaly happened upon today. John 3,23 - John the Baptist is working in a place called Aenon: http://biblehub.com/topical/a/aenon.htm. However, in some transcriptions it's not Aenon but Ainon.

56
Literature / Re: Book deals and purchases
« on: January 08, 2016, 03:39:37 pm »
In Polish we had a hardcover edition of Dune illustrated by Wojciech Siudmak, the cover looks like this: http://www.literatura.gildia.pl/tworcy/frank_herbert/diuna,okladka. Very surreal but interesting.

You had previously linked Neuropata from there, I believe, Alia?

Possibly - "gildia" is a site devoted to s-f/fantasy that has short infos on all new releases, so it's usually easy to find links to covers there.

57
Literature / Re: Book deals and purchases
« on: January 06, 2016, 08:49:30 pm »
In Polish we had a hardcover edition of Dune illustrated by Wojciech Siudmak, the cover looks like this: http://www.literatura.gildia.pl/tworcy/frank_herbert/diuna,okladka. Very surreal but interesting.

58
Literature / Re: What you want to read this year - Totals and specifics
« on: December 27, 2015, 07:57:46 pm »
Managed to finish Lynch's The Republic of Thieves before the end of the year - those last two days off really helped, as I read last third of the book then.
It's a good read but I had two problems with it. Firstly, I've forgotten quite a lot from books 1 and 2 before I got to reading this one, which caused some problems. Secondly, with a good book, I often feel too much for the characters and the things Locke did in this one, well, were quite embarassing sometimes. But still a good read.
And then I read on his website that the next book in the series has been postponed to sometime in 2016. Not again, sigh.

59
General Earwa / Re: Sorcery (II)
« on: December 19, 2015, 09:36:32 am »
But OTOH while they are forbidden to get married, they freely take lovers. I would rather think more along the lines of celibacy introduced in the RC church - it's a move to stop the rise of sorcerous dynasties.

60
The White-Luck Warrior / Re: Mimara
« on: December 19, 2015, 09:33:46 am »
i can't remember if we covered this--maybe Mimara's baby is Kellhus' child?  she could be deceived about this since a dunyain baby reportedly takes more than 9 months to hatch and Kellhus could have whelmed her

Yeah, I believe it's already been mentioned somewhere on the forum.

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