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clash_bowley
About
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- clash_bowley
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Comments
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Sounds solid to me!
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I have adapted Apocryphal's second idea: "The other playable aspect, I think, is to have the PCs be an alien team who arrive on earth to try and save their fellows on their decaying planet. They may or may not agree on the methods. Some may fal…
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I remember being totally drawn in - Bowie was spectacular as Newton - but utterly confused. How was Newton going to take enough water back in a space ship to make a difference for a planet? What the hell happened to Farnsworth and company? Why did t…
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Barner - that is exactly what I think is so compelling about the Bruegel painting - how life didn't even break stride for the boy falling from the sky. No one cared. It didn't touch them. That is the reality. It's all too big to care. Too many thing…
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Thomas Newton was a compelling character, though I couldn't identify with him and his problems. I felt sorry for him, but he remained alien. Bryce and Betty Jo were much better insertions for me. I could see things from their viewpoints much more cl…
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There were great changes in technology triggered by Newton, though they were not the changes that actually happened. They are intriguing in a "what would it have been like if technology went in these directions instead?" way, but what real…
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Whoa! I did not hear of this! Most excellent!
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(Quote) A two month read makes this sound much more attractive for me. I like the idea but the length is daunting.
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(Quote) Damn! Never noticed that! :D
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Made me think of Cities In Flight as well!
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I got no sense of place or time or anything. It the Grimdark Ages and it all must be bitter and sophisticated.
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Somebody should write a novel about Axl and Beatrice some day.
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It isn't fantasy. It isn't historical fiction. It's intellectual wankery and snobbish pretension.
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Like most current literature, it felt like it was written to address and play with themes and devices to explore those themes. The story was incidental and more a framework for hanging the themes and techniques for display that an actual story. It w…
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Most if not all sports have a very interesting and specific jargon.
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(Quote) I have been hard at work catching up on reading The Man Who Fell To Earth to lead my discussion... Dammit! Did it again! Wrong book!
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(Quote) Ha! True! I was thinking 'sexual partnerships' for 'family', and that is not at all true! Guilty!
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(Quote) There is some truth to this! This is why Toronto is used when filming many movies and TV shows as a stand-in for Cleveland or other generic big cities, Then again, when you see New York or Boston or Pittsburgh or Denver portrayed in fictiona…
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(Quote) An interesting point - most hymns are written in the first person. They tend to give a certain experiential feel to the song. which is great until people start confusing what you write with what you are... People who write first person stori…
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(Quote) That I can't dispute! What one likes is purely subjective. Because I like these digressions doesn't mean they are a good thing! :D
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(Quote) Yes, exactly!
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I was thinking about possibly running a Synarche game. The main problem would be rightminding, but my games are all about flexibility and tools, and I could do that within the larger structure without much tinkering.
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I enjoy good aliens. Niven and Cherryh are two of the best IMO, but Bear's aliens were very interesting. I am looking forward to reading Machine.
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Clades in the book are not clades in the biological sense, which set me back a bit, but clades of animals often resemble each other in looks and behavior, and I think this is why she uses the term. Otherwise I saw no alternate family structures amon…
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I agree, there is little flavor of place. One of very few niggles I had with this book. It was like a cross country trip novel where they always stay at a Red Roof Inn.
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I enjoyed it. most of the times you can understand it immediately from context. If not, you can pick up bits and put them together as you find them. It's a fun thing and I wish more authors would do it as well as Bear does.
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I write most of my songs in the first person, so it was fine. Liked it!
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I enjoyed those discussions. It's an interesting society and there are some fascinating digressions. Then, I prefer Herodotus to Thucydites. I enjoyed thinking on these questions, and such questions form the basis for my own gaming. So it took me a …
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I really enjoyed this novel. It was well written, and had good ideas. It was also well researched. As for the current argument, 'artisanal' just means 'of or pertaining to an artisan' or in other words 'hand made' - which, until books actually are e…