[H]

This was something I was wondering as well (he says he practices other Arcana in TWP and Saccarees spells dissipate against his wards), but I was planning on saving it for the AMA tomorrow to help bolster the comment count :O.

You know, I spent literally years trying to understand how Aurang could know both Aporetic and the Gnosis on the strength of that "other Arcana" comment, only to realize I critically misunderstood what he said.  I am pretty sure now what he means is that it is easy to walk through Wards when the person who cast them is busy casting other magic.  In other words, Akka's Wards are not very effective while he is training Kellhus.

I do still wonder if someone could know both the Aporetics and the Gnosis though.

[ThoughtsOfThelli]

(Just my luck, I am gone for 4 days and Cû'jara-Cinmoi himself descends to the forum to answer questions...)

Anyway, I would like to join everyone in thanking Scott for these amazing series. I've only been a fan for less than a year, but it has been a throughly enjoyable experience so far.

I have a few questions as well (I had more, but these are the ones I haven't seen answered yet):
-Was Mimara's 6-month long pregnancy deliberate?
-Will we ever find out what Aulisi's fate was?

[Dunkelheit]

This is straightforward in the text.  Earwa is a world where everything has already happened, forward and backward in time.  So the fact that the Gods can't see the Ark or the Consult implies that they succeed at some point in the future.  It's the same reason why the Gods can't see Kelmomas.

Except the way the gods intercede to alter the flow of history (and fail) implies that is only true in the Outside. Same with the way that prophecy effects the past. It's a real brain-bender and is not that straightforward to many of us.

I agree with Jurble. Everything has already happened forward and back in time, including the actions of the gods. Yatwer makes the first White Luck thinking it has 100% chance of succeeding, once it fails she and the future she sees changes so she pick Sorweel to finish the job. But she has already picked out Sorweel before the first one fails! So even if she couldn't foresee the future where the first White Luck fails, it was still doomed to fail, otherwise the updated version of Yatwer (the one that knows the White Luck failed) wouldn't have picked Sorweel. So it seems like there is one future bound to happen, even if the gods can't see it.

See? Super straight forward. (jk)

[Callan S.]

It wouldn't be a Bakker thread if it didn't gnarl its way off in a direction random and kinda making sense at the same time!! Plus more posts popped up while I typed this, so...

As for your analogy you're ignoring a vital difference.  Yes, I do go to a grocery store and pay for my groceries.  If I took them without paying, that's theft.  The difference here is that no physical copy is actually taken.  Suppose we developed the technology to just replicate food like in Star Trek.  Would that be stealing?  That's a closer analogy than stealing food at a supermarket.

A physical copy is indeed taken? Digitizing isn't supernatural.

And star trek doesn't explain if people it's setting have to pay for the energy of replication, or if they have some kind of socialist (or something like that) system that would actual support an author and his/her family, rather than leave them to the winds of the open market.

Assuming star trek has some kind of 'look after each other' system, you seem to be treating it that being able to copy books means we have that benefit of the star trek world as well? As if social care goes hand in hand with technology? It sounds like a faith in technology.


ThoughtsofThelli,

You managed to plot out the number of months of the pregnancy? The detective skills of some fantasy readers is amazing

[ThoughtsOfThelli]

ThoughtsofThelli,

You managed to plot out the number of months of the pregnancy? The detective skills of some fantasy readers is amazing

Back when I first read the series, I was curious about when Mimara would give birth (also as a way to try to figure out how much time TUC would span). I noticed that the chapter in which she had sex with Achamian took place in early spring of 4132. Come TUC, she gave birth in early autumn of 4132, so she was only pregnant for around 6 months (and I don't think it's a matter of seasons being longer in Eärwa, because looking back at PON Serwë was pregnant from spring to winter of 4111).

[bridgeburner]

Would The Judging Eye be able to see Kelmomas? If he is invisible to the gods, and the Judging Eye is (I think?) a manifestation of the gods or one god or the god of gods, then would he be invisible to it?

[Madness]

I created a new thread for the content derailing this thread, Midlist Authors & Online Piracy.

I'll probably even join in on the conversation if it continues therein. I've always enjoyed sounding Bakker on a variety of subjects but the growing back and forth really takes away from fans who simply want to take the opportunity to ask questions.

Cheers.

[codebread]

Thanks, Madness.

If it's not too late to ask anything with the AMA being tomorrow and all...

How would you define death in the context of TSA's universe? It's something that I've been curious about considering the physics we've seen. Perhaps this is a question with an obvious answer, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it. We know that Heaven and Hell (for lack of better words) exist, as well as "Oblivion". We know that when a person "dies" in the physical sense their soul moves on to another place and continues to experience things, good or bad. Is death the act of your soul moving to one of these places (i.e leaving your body permanently), or is death simply related only to a creature's physical form, regardless of where the soul goes (i.e what happened to Malowebi)? Is there a form of soul "death" (moving to Oblivion, perhaps)?

Would Malowebi still be considered "alive" because he has a consciousness (his soul?) tied to the world?

[MisterGuyMan]

(click to show/hide)

The sheer number of media consumers worldwide is exploding, so of course there's an overall gain. In Western music markets, revenue remains around 60% of its 2000 mark. Even looking at the EU data correlating higher illegal downloading with higher purchasing you very quickly run into differential granularity problems: the fact is, the 'long tail' as they call it, is getting skinnier and skinnier, and the long tail is where the genuine novelty incubates. The skinnier it gets, the less incubation time it has, the more likely it is to die off, the more monotonous and mechanical the mainstream becomes. (Since concert/touring income is almost entirely restricted to the manufacturers of pap, and only applicable to musicians to boot, it is an argumentative canard).

Like all instances of free-riding, the viability depends on honest brokers. Since you seem to recognize this now (abandoning the assertion that IP is an artificial instrument of oppression), then the question is one of why you aren't decrying illegal downloading? At what point do you think illegal downloading will negatively impact sales. When it reaches 50%? 60%? 70%? 80%? Do you only plan to defend it so far?

To the extent you provide apparently articulate rationales for illegal downloading you are, most definitely, part of the problem. I thank you for buying my books, but as someone who regularly encounters 'I'll keep reading, but I ain't paying a cent,' comments because of some perceived moral failing on my part, I would kindly ask that you stop encouraging people to perpetuate my poverty. Do you really think product placement and merchandising are commensurate with projects like mine? What other 'business model' do you have in mind? Government handouts? The last I checked my books contravened pretty much every 'literary scruple' an arts bureaucrat can be expected to muster.

I am genuinely 'out there.' The only way fools like me get to make a difference is by toughing it out in the long tail. The problem I face, even though my sell-through percentages are in the high 80 percentile range, is that publishers are becoming less and less inclined to 'develop' midlist authors, and more and more inclined to grope for lightning in a bottle. Why pay an artist to hone their craft when you need only troll for magical amateurs? The less books I sell, the more expendable I become. As soon as I vanish from bookstore shelves, my single biggest point of exposure to new readers vanishes also, as well as any chance of receiving mainstream attention. Then odds are, it's off to the experimenter's graveyard. The genre community finds me pretentious, too 'academic.' The academic community finds me vulgar, too 'genre.' My publishers are the only institutional leg I have to stand on... of course I find your chiseling insulting. That which robs me makes me richer.

In one breath you say illegal downloading generates IP income, and in the next you say it's time to find something other than IP income. Then you say I'm advocating higher levels of household debt. Ooof. If we don't let people steal X, then we risk the economy collapsing. And X = 'content' as opposed to 'chairs' or 'diapers' or 'allergy medication' why?

Talk about rationalization.

I'm still currently trying to see how feasible it would be to attend Zauduyanicon or BakkerCon! on as I prefer to call it.  I'm hoping this disagreement won't prevent you from signing my books.

[I edited out the paragraphs here since they pertain to our private Piracy argument and posted the complete reply in Madness' new thread.]

With respect, and this is a self serving request, I ask that you reconsider your stance on alternate sources of revenue if this issue really concerns you.  I'm trying to bridge our disagreement into a productive request.  There were a handful of people here already showing interest in action figures.  The custom Kellhus figure I mentioned earlier will probably cost me over $500 to make and that's largely because you pay a premium for custom work if there's no official stuff to buy.  I would support you via patron if you ever decided to go that route.  Wilshire was upgrading your books into these awesome leatherbound and I said I would only sign up for a set  if you would agree to sign them as a semi official first edition collector set.  Your fans are dying to support you if you let us.

Consider this an olive branch.  I feel l have supported my position enough [refer to Madness' new thread if you wish] so you can at least see where I stand even though I know we will continue to disagree.  I firmly believe consumers generally want to and continue to prove even today that they do prefer to support creators.

[Dunkelheit]

Would The Judging Eye be able to see Kelmomas? If he is invisible to the gods, and the Judging Eye is (I think?) a manifestation of the gods or one god or the god of gods, then would he be invisible to it?

The is a scene in TUC where it does. It sees the whirlwind.

[bridgeburner]

Would The Judging Eye be able to see Kelmomas? If he is invisible to the gods, and the Judging Eye is (I think?) a manifestation of the gods or one god or the god of gods, then would he be invisible to it?

The is a scene in TUC where it does. It sees the whirlwind.

I'm trying to find this scene. I went back and re-read the scene where Mimara first appears at the Umbilicus and there is a scene (though it's from Kel's POV) and it mentions that she seems not to see him at first, seems to look through him, and then she slowly smiles as if he suddenly appears (maybe the Judging Eye closing?). So I think that answers my question. If you happen to find the scene where she sees the whirlwind when looking at him I'd be interested. Thanks.

[Redeagl]

The AMA is finished, but I am still hungry. I hope Bakker will return to serve some Meat. In this case; Can you confirm or deny that Likaro will appear on-screen ( well,on-page in this case)  in TNG?

[Sausuna]

Would The Judging Eye be able to see Kelmomas? If he is invisible to the gods, and the Judging Eye is (I think?) a manifestation of the gods or one god or the god of gods, then would he be invisible to it?

The is a scene in TUC where it does. It sees the whirlwind.

I'm trying to find this scene. I went back and re-read the scene where Mimara first appears at the Umbilicus and there is a scene (though it's from Kel's POV) and it mentions that she seems not to see him at first, seems to look through him, and then she slowly smiles as if he suddenly appears (maybe the Judging Eye closing?). So I think that answers my question. If you happen to find the scene where she sees the whirlwind when looking at him I'd be interested. Thanks.

I think this might be a reference to when she sees the No-God after he descends from the Ark under an illusion. She's the only one who can seemingly see through said illusion.

[EkyannusIII]

Meat can be hard on the digestion, I know. I have a little salad I can offer, for those suffering more extreme bowel cramps.

Was Maithanet damned?

[EkyannusIII]

Meat can be hard on the digestion, I know. I have a little salad I can offer, for those suffering more extreme bowel cramps.

Some attachments FYI