I too had gotten the idea Troy was of African heritage. I'd have thought the fact at least as worthy of mention in his description as his anomalous (for the Land) shades, unless someone's theory IIRC that the Haruchai look like Africans holds any water. Skimming thru TIW, in the chapter where Covena...

Caer Bombadil - WOuldn't It Be Good is great. but some dipshit covered it and just ruined it. buy only the original. :) Really? Never heard a cover of it, doesn't seem to get airplay so it must be horrible indeed. Did a quick Google: Soulwax? Cascada? And, BTW, I really grooved to Duran Duran. &quo...

Hooked on a Feeling and Seasons in the Sun. WORST. SONGS. EVER. Ol' TJ does seem to top just about everybody's list in that regard. IIRC several yrs ago when someone pub'd a book listing outstandingly cheesy, crappy, or universally despised pop music, they named it after the chorus of SitS. I trust...

As for Howard, I know I heard the rest of that album, because I bought it. But I don't remember any of the other songs. Too bad, because Things Can Only Get Better kicks ass. That was one of my faves, too. It was about the only truly upbeat, optimistic New Wave song I can think of. (I read the lyri...

Anyone know what's up with Ranjit Bhatnagar's Urth/Whorl mailing list? I was once a member before the merger & transition, & I'd been fitfully lurking & considering rejoining. However, since about the beginning of March, the "new" post-9-2004 archive appears to be offline; atte...

I had thought they might be related in some way to Viles & have a similar origin, being incorporeal like them. The little episode where Linden encounters Viles actually reinforced this impression. Could the Ravers be Viles or the offspring or creations of Viles, that somehow, eons ago, under the...

I saw the discreps too, but decided it had to be CW because of the eyes & the gnarled tree he stands in front of, not to mention the fact he's _in_ FR. I did always picture the silver pupilless eyes as brighter, tho. Reminds me of one of the funniest of JRRT's letters published by H Carpenter, w...

... .... Or perhaps a Combination on Jaime and the Hound, will take him on. Perhaps due to the dream Bran had early in AGOT, where he saw a Hound and a Golden man, fighting a gaint in stone armour. [/spoiler] Good one! However, I finally found that passage, & it just indicated that in Bran's vi...

I thought the miracle of Apu-Punchao involved the intervention of Tzadkiel and/or the Hierodules on Severian's behalf. IIRC there were a number of hints that the Claw of the Conciliator manipulated time; i.e. it was a sort of compact "time machine". When it healed or raised the dead, it re...

I read Canticle when I was in high school, & found it thought -provoking. It might have been one of the first real postapocalyptic novels I read. Sort of like Mad Max with a Church and monasteries instead of cars! I'm gratified that Gene Wolfe and The Book of the New Sun got recognized, at #11 n...

Saw this 2 or 3 yrs ago & discussed on another board. I'd tried to see what combos got me tagged as, say, Larry Niven or Gene Wolfe. Then I discovered there was a set of possible answers: (the following was copied from the page code) /* The SF writers are each represented by one letter, as follo...

The conflict between divine destiny or "predestination" and free will is critically important in Tolkien's Arda cycle. He made it clear that Eru intended His children be moral free agents and not forced by Himself nor any of the Ainur. Coercion and attempts to rule Eruhini by terror was th...

Someone wrote a deservedly devastating critique of Ralph Bakshi's ill-fated 1970's attempt at LOTR, now posted at the "Flying Moose of Nargothrond" site. Among many other cogent points, they observed that Bakshi's Elves were all distinguished by being drawn considerably brighter, by severa...

Thomas Covenant, going about his life before getting Summoned: Nik Kershaw, "Wouldn't It Be Good" The Ravers' theme: Bryan Adams, "Somebody" "I need Some Body (Hey what about you?)" "Everybody needs Some Body"... Hile Troy watches Elena ride away with Covenant...

Well, this past Saturday I was in the "old part" of a nearby little town, the one I was raised in. I was going to get a sammich at the cafe & go to work but I decided to check out the quite excellent use bookdealer across the street as it had been awhile since last I darkened their doo...

I was going to cite Frodo's "The Shire was saved, but not for me" line in the book, but I see Adept Havelock beat me to it. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so tha...

I just finished AF4C a few days ago. Given what was revealed about the authority of the High Septon and the old militant orders supressed by the early Targareyns and foolishly revived by Cersei, I guess my speculations in the March 1st post turn out not to be too far off the mark! Apparently the &qu...

I pointed out in the Gene Wolfe thread (formerly the lead sticky thread in the late lamented Gene Wolfe forum :( ) that GW & JRRT had corresponded at about the time GW was starting out as a writer. Unfort, none of JRRT's correspondence to GW apparently made the cut into Carpenter's & C. Tolk...

Shall I come out & say it? I'm rather anticipating an eventual pairing: Jaime + Brienne. But only the Seven know what they'll have to go thru first. Yeah, Cersei has nobody but herself to blame for her troubles. If the old High Septon still reigned, that pious "sparrow" wouldn't be in ...

At least the girl did not vanish too. Could something important hinge on a question of "booty" - ? ;) In ASoS, not just once, but at least twice , GRRM had Catalyn note that Jeyne Westerling had "good hips". Yet the girl brought before Jaime near the end of AF4C was described as...