The Chronicles and the Internet
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The Chronicles and the Internet
G'day everybody. I am halfway through 'Fatal Revenant' and realised last night that the Internet is not referred to in 'The Runes of the Earth.' Surely it would have been a very useful resource for Linden and Jeremiah? After all, the Universe is digital. Beginning with a zero. Could someone here please pass this message on to Mr Donaldson? He might want to know . . . .
What Goes Around Comes Around.
- amanibhavam
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I believe SRD addresses a similar concern in the GI when somebody asked about the absence of mobile phones in ROTE. He answered that he deliberately wanted to create a timeless feel for the novel so he omitted such modern devices.
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SRD's answer works for me.
But I agree that it's something interesting to think about. If SRD had gone the "total" Tolkien route and written a story that took place completely within a hermetically sealed fantasy universe, he wouldn't have had to deal with the headache of maintaining continuity between worlds. It might still have been a good story, too, had it gone the total Middle-Earth way. Thankfully, SRD went his own way and created something that differed from Tolkien yet honored the old master. The idea of a person from the "real world" being translocated to a "fantasy" world is not a new thing, but maybe it's the sophistication of SRD's approach to this idea - how deeply he has thought about the "mechanics" and implications of it - that makes the Chronicles so remarkable.
I'm glad that SRD has gone to so much trouble - just for the sake of telling a good story. Even if that means his construct may break down under the microscopic probing of obssessed readers like us. I guess that is the irony here: we endlessly poke and prod SRD's fictional world for inconsistencies precisely because we admire how well it holds up under such scrutiny. The fear is that we become so intent upon seeking out the flaws (or perceived flaws) that we ruin the simple pleasure of just enjoying the story. It's my fear, anyway. I've certainly been guilty of it too. It's Dorothy ripping away the curtain to reveal the Wizard; or Chronicles readers crashing the door down and catching Donaldson at his typewriter.
(Now has visions of Thomas Covenant ripping away Lord Foul's mask to reveal SRD. "Aha, you bastard! It was you all along!")
But I agree that it's something interesting to think about. If SRD had gone the "total" Tolkien route and written a story that took place completely within a hermetically sealed fantasy universe, he wouldn't have had to deal with the headache of maintaining continuity between worlds. It might still have been a good story, too, had it gone the total Middle-Earth way. Thankfully, SRD went his own way and created something that differed from Tolkien yet honored the old master. The idea of a person from the "real world" being translocated to a "fantasy" world is not a new thing, but maybe it's the sophistication of SRD's approach to this idea - how deeply he has thought about the "mechanics" and implications of it - that makes the Chronicles so remarkable.
I'm glad that SRD has gone to so much trouble - just for the sake of telling a good story. Even if that means his construct may break down under the microscopic probing of obssessed readers like us. I guess that is the irony here: we endlessly poke and prod SRD's fictional world for inconsistencies precisely because we admire how well it holds up under such scrutiny. The fear is that we become so intent upon seeking out the flaws (or perceived flaws) that we ruin the simple pleasure of just enjoying the story. It's my fear, anyway. I've certainly been guilty of it too. It's Dorothy ripping away the curtain to reveal the Wizard; or Chronicles readers crashing the door down and catching Donaldson at his typewriter.
(Now has visions of Thomas Covenant ripping away Lord Foul's mask to reveal SRD. "Aha, you bastard! It was you all along!")
- DukkhaWaynhim
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Well, if you think of the Illearth Stone as the leprosy of the earth, caused by the Despite inherent within himself, then Lord Foul really is just the personification of the habit of Despair that the mortal-bound can fall into. But SRD *promised* that there would be no Mr. Witherspoons at the end of Last Chronicles... so maybe we're looking at yet another metaphor wrapped in a simile posing as an analogy. Ah crap, I hate Englishical comparisons. Food comparisons are so much better... so, rather, with each bite of that literary 7-Layer Burrito, we enjoy a different flavor in particular, though it is the whole burrito that we truly admire.
dw
dw
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Thanks a lot, dw. Now I'm hungry.
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--There WAS a cell phone in Runes...Lytton had one on his belt.
When would the Internet even come up?
Linden decided to fire off a quick email to all her friends that she might be dissapearing for while, but they'll find her bodyt in the woods?
When would the Internet even come up?
Linden decided to fire off a quick email to all her friends that she might be dissapearing for while, but they'll find her bodyt in the woods?
I thought you were a ripe grape
a cabernet sauvignon
a bottle in the cellar
the kind you keep for a really long time
a cabernet sauvignon
a bottle in the cellar
the kind you keep for a really long time
Nice spotting, and going to have to agree with you. The internets were not even relevant to anyone's situation. Unless Linden was doing medical research, perhaps? Which - since SRD knows his shit - the author did not bother writing about. It was simply irrelevant to the story.drew wrote:--There WAS a cell phone in Runes...Lytton had one on his belt.
When would the Internet even come up?
Linden decided to fire off a quick email to all her friends that she might be dissapearing for while, but they'll find her bodyt in the woods?
A copious vocabulary is no substitute for intelligence.
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- brotherbenji
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I agree...there's no need for mobiles or interweb in these stories...unless she took a laptop to the land and got a mysterious wi-fi signal and was able to communicate to some ethereal server under Doom's Retreat to dredge up all of flowers web searches (Posies and Me!, "Life and all things nice and Fluffy") to embarress(damn word can never spell it!) him into submission...
...who knows where that story would go?
Anyhoo...
...who knows where that story would go?
Anyhoo...
Well, you know how many people walk around w/ their bluetooths glued to their ears all the time... Linden could've easily had hers on, hoping for any information, while she headed into the woods at Haven Farm.
"The Chosen's raiment is even more strange than we remember."
"The Chosen's raiment is even more strange than we remember."
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I wonder what powers a blackberry would have in the Land?Relayer wrote:Well, you know how many people walk around w/ their bluetooths glued to their ears all the time... Linden could've easily had hers on, hoping for any information, while she headed into the woods at Haven Farm.
"The Chosen's raiment is even more strange than we remember."
FOUL: Oh, crap. Is that a Blackberry?
LINDEN: Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?
FOUL: You win. I give up. Here's your kid.
LINDEN: Wait, aren't we going to fight or something?
FOUL: Nope, no point. You've got a Blackberry. Jeesh. So long. See ya.
B&
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Yeah, they look like aliens to me.Relayer wrote:Well, you know how many people walk around w/ their bluetooths glued to their ears all the time...
"The Cheat is GROUNDED! We had that lightswitch installed for you so you could turn the lights on and off, not so you could throw lightswitch raves!"
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- I'm always all right.
- Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?
- You're all irresponsible fools!
- The Doctor: But we're very experienced irresponsible fools.
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"The Cheat is GROUNDED! We had that lightswitch installed for you so you could turn the lights on and off, not so you could throw lightswitch raves!"
***************************************
- I'm always all right.
- Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?
- You're all irresponsible fools!
- The Doctor: But we're very experienced irresponsible fools.
__________________________
THOOLAH member since 2005
EZBoard Survivor
***************************************
- I'm always all right.
- Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?
- You're all irresponsible fools!
- The Doctor: But we're very experienced irresponsible fools.
__________________________
THOOLAH member since 2005
EZBoard Survivor