THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
02/15/13 -- Vol. 31, No. 33, Whole Number 1741
Ken: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Barbie: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
How You Look at It (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The Verbinator (comments by Lee Beaumont)
Comments on CARNIVAL OF SOULS (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Arya Stark--An Inquiry (comments by Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
DEGREES KELVIN by David Lindley (book review
by Greg Frederick)
All the Love (letter of comment by Dan Kimmel)
It's Hard to Predict.... (letter of comment
by Gregory Benford)
Elegant Formulae (letter of comment by Gregory Benford)
This Week's Reading (The Cranbury Bookworm) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: How You Look at It (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
A shoe is just a prosthetic callus. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: The Verbinator (comments by Lee Beaumont)
[Long-time member Lee Beaumont has created an Internet tool to aid
writers. It is an original and I have not seen anything quite like
it. Those curious may want to play around with the Verbinator. I
will let him describe it. -mrl]
Don't hesitate, verbinate!
Are you looking for that perfect verb to go along with the noun you
have so carefully chosen? Perhaps the verbinator can help. While
a thesaurus lists words with similar meanings, the verbinator is
based on a different relationship; it lists verbs used to animate
the noun. Based on more than 7 million noun-verb pairs extracted
from the American National Corpus, it suggests verbs found in the
same sentence as the index noun. These are listed in order of
decreasing conditional probability p(noun | verb). The results are
a bit quirky for several reasons. The ANC transcriptions and
annotations are not entirely accurate, the ANC includes real-life
language samples, the verbs may pertain to the noun as the subject
or object in the sentence, and lengthy sentences may have several
nouns and verbs not closely related. In any case I hope you have
fun and gain some inspiration from the verbinator. [-lrb]
Try out the verbinator:
http://www.verbinator.com/
For a more complete explanation of tool click on "about" low on the
Verbinator page. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Comments on CARNIVAL OF SOULS (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
These are notes I made for an on-line discussion of the film
CARNIVAL OF SOULS.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055830/combined
This very low-budget but atmospheric film has become a horror film
classic.
The film can be found in it entirety on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exUFpSFblaw
Excerpt from my Utah and Four Corners Trip log:
=================
After we were done walking around the city, we had three hours
before our flight. We could have sat around the airport or driven
out I-80 and seen the Great Salt Lake. We did the latter. We
passed by this large, weird building on the edge of the lake. I
pointed it out to Evelyn and said that is where the dead dance
after dark. Evelyn chuckled. Then it struck me that CARNIVAL OF
SOULS *was* filmed on the Great Salt Lake. "That's the place!" I
told Evelyn.
Okay, let me tell you what this is all about. December 31, 1966,
New Years Eve, I was alone. My parents were probably out at a
party. At something like 1 AM there was a film coming on called
CARNIVAL OF SOULS. Never heard of it. But, what the heck, it was
an intriguing title. What I saw was just about the best horror
film I ever have seen. It was made on what had to be a super-low
budget, black-and-white, no gore, no special effects beyond stage
makeup, but what a creepy film! It owes a lot to "Twilight Zone"
and to the traditions of the silent horror film. So for years I
would ask other film fans what they thought of it. The response
was uniform~...~"never heard of it." Eventually I started running
into people who had heard of it and most who like horror films
think this one is pretty good. Much of it was filmed in Lawrence,
Kansas, but part was filmed in this baroque, crumbling dance hall
on the Great Salt Lake.
We went inside, 90% sure that this was the place in the film. Now
it is called Saltair. What we found out is that there have been
three baroque buildings on this site. The building in the film
burned down in 1970 and was rebuilt not quite so ornately in 1983.
=================
Notes made watching the film:
That was my introduction to Saltair and previously to CARNIVAL OF
SOULS.
What is amazing about the film CARNIVAL OF SOULS is that the cheap
budget works so much in its favor. There is little unreal to get
between the actors and the viewer. Other films have used their low
budget to seem more real including NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, NIGHT
TIDE, and some of the films done in the "found footage" style
(though definitely not CLOVERFIELD).
The neighbor, Mr. Lindon, who looks really creepy, was actually a
drama professor from University of Houston.
To further save on budget the film uses exclusively music from one
organ. Much the same thing was done on one piano for THE COLOSSUS
OF NEW YORK.
The film borrows heavily from the radio play "The Hitchhiker" by
Lucille Fletcher. The play was very successfully done on the radio
twice by Orson Welles, once in 1941 and again in 1946. Only the
second of these recordings survive. It was also done on the radio
series "Suspense" in 1942. Then it was remade on TV's "The
Twilight Zone." The main character--male on the radio, Inger
Stevens on "Twilight Zone"--is driving across country after having
just survived a car accident. Over and over again he/she passes
the same mysterious Hitchhiker. If you have seen CARNIVAL OF SOULS
you know where this is going. The film also borrows from stories
like GHOST in which someone dead cannot get the living to see him.
(As a side note author Lucille Fletcher was the wife of Bernard
Herrmann who scored among much, much else, our previous discussion
film THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD.)
I see some problems with the script. Nobody seems to be amazed or
to question that Mary is under water for hours and survives. It is
hard to imagine the minister of Mary's new church would fire her
over just playing eerie music.
It is curious that when the living people cannot see Mary she never
tries touching one to see what happens. Evelyn point out that the
other customer at the ticket window must be seeing Mary since he
avoids bumping into her when both are at the same window.
It is not explained why a chirping bird is both times what brings
her back from being undetectable. But that is an interesting
touch. It is sort of nature brings her back into the living world.
Wes Craven remade this film. I thought it was terrible and he does
not seem to understand what made the first version good. More
likely he just wanted to make a color film with an active copyright
to trade off the popularity of the older film.
The film seems either in public domain or its copyright is just not
defended. That is both bad and good. It is a pity that the
creative filmmakers are not getting anything back when this film
shows up in a cheap multipack, but at least it is getting seen.
Read more about Hitchhiker and hear two of the productions at:
http://www.escape-suspense.com/2007/03/suspense_the_hi.html
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Arya Stark--An Inquiry (comments by Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
[SPOILERS all over the place here! Note that the DVD set of
Season Two will be released February 19.]
One aspect of GAME OF THRONES is that due to its massive size, it
is simply impossible to summarize or easily describe the plot.
Perhaps the best short encapsulation is that it recapitulates part
of the rise of Western Civilization and Eastern Civilization in an
alternate universe where magic, especially blood magic and death
magic, really work. However, it is possible to focus on one
character and try to lay out a clearer picture.
As one reads A GAME OF THRONES [a.k.a. "GOT"] (the first volume of
"A Song of Fire and Ice") you quickly realize that the main
characters in the first volume are not going to make it to volume
seven at the rate they are dying. However, it is also obvious that
characters who are children in the first volume will grow up and
become major players by volume seven. One of these children is
Arya Stark, a girl of nine at the start of the saga, the third of
five of Eddard Stark's children. Eddard, the Lord of Winterfell,
becomes the Hand of the King in the first volume, a decision that
leads to his execution as a traitor by the end of the first volume.
By the end of the third volume his oldest son, Robb, has been
killed by his enemies after a brief run as "The King in the North,"
his oldest daughter, Sansa, has vanished, and the younger sons Bran
and Rickon are believed to be dead. Jon, his bastard son, has
become the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but as such has
foresworn any interest in Winterfell. And Arya has simply vanished,
although a false Arya is being paraded around by some enemies of
the Starks in hopes of eventually being able to claim the castle
via marriage. Winterfell lies in ruins, and many, if not most, of
Eddard's retainers are dead.
The Starks have a secret, however, which they don't fully
understand themselves. At the very beginning of GOT, Eddard comes
upon a dead female direwolf, with exactly six surviving pups. The
pups are adopted by the children, and over time some are killed
(Robb's, Sansa's) but the other children develop a bond with the
wolves of which by the end of volume three only Bran is fully aware
of--they can literally wear the skin of the wolf, with their minds
riding in the body of the wolf. This connection can be, as Bran
finds, addicting and even dangerous. The full import of this
relationship, which apparently was the original key vision that
Martin had when he started thinking about the story that became
GOT, is yet to be fully explained, but will no doubt figure large
in the remaining two volumes. Certainly, it helps to explain how
the Starks remained "Kings in the North" for many hundreds of
years.
I present this only as background to Arya Stark. She may well have
a special heritage that has given her super-human abilities, but as
yet these abilities have had only a minor influence on her life.
Instead, as one of two survivors of the massacre of the Stark
retainers in volume one associated with Eddard's execution (the
other being Sansa), Arya is given a rugged road to walk. One
almost hopes that someday her story might be told in a single
volume, or a single movie, but this would inevitably reduce the
richness of the experience, which depends in large part on the
interaction of all the characters in a complex world. Arya has
been recognized by various commentators as one of the more
interesting characters in GOT. For example, see "No One Dances the
Water Dance" by Henry Jacoby in GAME OF THRONES AND PHILOSOPHY:
LOGIC CUTS DEEPER THAN SWORDS, which investigates Zen ideas in the
context of Arya's life.
Rather than recapitulate Arya's journey, I will instead focus on
four lists, and through these four lists, attempt to provide some
sense of the kind of path she is walking:
* The list of those she has killed, either personally or
indirectly.
* Each night she says a prayer to help her remember the names of
those she wants to kill. Who are these folks and how did they get
on her list?
* The list of those who have mentored her, both formally and
informally, and in some cases without intending to, while acting as
her captors.
* The list of names she is known by at different points in the saga
By the end of volume four (FEAST OF CROWS) Arya is well started on
her training as one of the "Faceless Men", the GOT equivalent of
the Assassins crossed with the Ninjas with a dollop of real magic.
The "Faceless Men" are one of the most original creations in GOT,
and come with an elaborate philosophy that somewhat resembles Zen
Buddhism melded with Thugee. However, by the time Arya walks into
the temple of the Faceless Men for the first time, she has already
been forged by circumstance into someone who has killed many times.
She also has become proficient at changing her name and appearance,
blending into the background so that even her worst enemies do not
recognize her. The theme of a young innocent, raised to be a player
in the game of thrones, but thrown on hard times, occurs a number
of times in GOT. Daenarys and Sansa are both examples in addition
to Arya, as are Bran Stark and Jon Snow. Each has their own tale
to tell, but let's get back to Arya.
The list of those Arya killed, both directly and indirectly:
* The Stable Boy--forever unnamed, he is Arya's first kill. He
comes upon her during the massacre in volume one associated with
Eddard's arrest. Alas, she has just found Needle, her sword, and
ends up impaling The Stable Boy as he attempts to seize her to turn
over to the Queen.
* Lannister Bannerman #1: While on the trip to the Wall, the
impressed Night's Watch men are surrounded in a holdfast by a troop
of Lannister Bannermen led by Sir Amory Lorch. Arya cuts off the
fingers of a man as he comes over the wall; we can only assume he
fell to his death.
* Lannister Bannerman #2: Arya trusts Needle toward his face, and
he falls from the wall, presumably to his death.
* Lannister Bannerman #3-N: There were hundreds of Lannister
troops assaulting the holdfast; working with the impressed orphans
and criminals to defend the wall, Arya may have killed many of the
Lannister Bannerman, mainly by causing them to fall off the wall.
* Lannister Bannerman #N+1: After the Lannister troops breech the
holdfast, fighting continues inside while a few of the orphans try
to escape; at one point Arya picks up a loose ax and kills a
Lannister with a low blow.
* Chiswyck: A thug of Ser Gregor Clegane, Chiswyck is death #1
given to Ayra by Jaqen H'ghaar, the assassin of the Faceless Men,
in payment of his life debt to her.
* Weese: Arya's brutal boss at Castle Harrenhal, Weese is death #2
given to Arya by Jaqen H'ghaar.
* Ser Amory Lorch Henchemen #1-#8: When the "Weasel Soup" is
delivered to the dungeons at Harranhal by Jaquen, Arya, and two of
Jaquen's associates, eight guards are killed in various ways.
Jaquen marks Arya with some of the blood, saying, "A girl should be
bloody too. This is her work."
* Ser Amory Lorch Henchmen #9-#N: After the eight guards are
killed, the Northmen escape the dungeons en masse, and take over
Harranhal, killing many Lannister troups. These deaths are all
indirectly the responsibility of Arya.
* Ser Amory Lorch: After the fall of Harranhal, Lorch is captured
and dies in the bear pits.
* Roose Bolton Henchman #1: After finding out that Bolton intends
to leave Nan (Arya) to the tender mercies of Vargo Holt and the
Bloody Mummers when he leaves Harranhal, she decides to escape with
Gendry and Hot Pie. She is able to steal three horses, but in
order to escape she kills a gate guard. She drops the coin Jaqen
gave her, after telling the guard that it is a silver gift from
Lord Bolton. As the guard bends over, she slits his throat.
* The Tickler, Gregor Clegane's torturer: While the Tickler is
fighting Sandor Clegane, Arya stabs him in the back.
* Tickler/Polliver's squire: Arya mortally wounds him with his own
knife, and then at Sandor Clegane's insistence provides "mercy"
with Needle.
* Dareon, a minstrel, who is also a Night's Watch deserter--while
in training as an acolyte at the House of Black and White, Arya
encounters Dareon, who was sent south from the Wall by Jon Snow,
Arya's half-brother on a mission with Samwell. Dareon has deserted
and wandered to Bravos. Acting as an agent of House Stark, and
fulfilling her dead father's law, she kills Dareon with a knife,
dumping his body in a canal and stealing his boots. This kill is
unauthorized by the House of Black and White, and gets Arya into
some difficulty with the Kindly Man.
* The Ship Insurance Merchant: This individual is Arya's first
official assassination as an acolyte of the Faceless Men. He is
an old man with two guards who follow him everywhere. The reason
for the assassination is never made known to Arya, but hints
suggest that the Merchant failed to make good on a contract,
stiffing the widows of the drowned sailors. Compelled by the
ideals of the Faceless Men to kill only the target, Arya devises a
clever plan to slip a customer of the Merchant a poisoned coin,
which results in the Merchant's death when he counts the money.
This is also the first time that Arya wears one of the magical
"faces" used by the Faceless Men to conceal their identities.
The list of names in her nightly prayer:
* Weese--the brutal understeward of the Wailing Tower Arya works
for once delivered to Castle Harrenhal by Ser Gregor. Weese is
death #2 given to Arya by Jaqen H'ghaar, the assassin of the
Faceless Men, in payment of his life debt to her. Weese is killed
by a "dog" who apparently has torn out his throat.
* Ser Gregor (Clegane), also known as "The Mountain Who Rides." A
giant of a man, Ser Gregor is a cruel sadist whose thugs killed
many of Arya's orphan associates from her time with the Night's
Watch.
* Dunsen, one of Ser Gregor's thugs who, among other things, took
Gendry's helm. Gendry, a secret bastard son of the former king,
was probably Arya's best friend among the Night's Watch.
* Polliver, one of Ser Gregor's thugs, who, among other things,
took Needle from Arya. By the end of volume three, "A Storm of
Swords" Polliver is dead (killed by Sandor Clegane) and Arya has
recovered Needle.
* Chiswyck, another of Ser Gregor's thugs, who, among other things,
is a rapist who likes to tell elaborate stories and has a friendly
manner but underneath the surface is cold hearted. Chiswyck is
killed by Arya through the instrumentality of Jaqen H'ghaar, whose
religion causes him to grant Arya three deaths in return for the
three lives she saved, including his own. Chiswyck is death #1,
and he "falls" to his death while "drunk."
* Raff the Sweetling, one of Ser Gregor's thugs, who among other
things, killed Lommy, one of the Night's Watch orphans traveling
with Arya.
* The Tickler, Ser Gregor's torturer. Arya kills him near the end
of volume 3, stabbing him in the back with his throwing knife
during a battle at an inn.
* Sandor Clegane, known as "The Hound," Ser Gergor's brother, of
hideous face, due to an injury inflicted by the crazed Ser Gregor.
The Hound killed a butcher's boy who played with Arya on her trip
from Winterfell to King's Landing in volume one. Arya leaves a
badly wounded Sandor on the road near the end of volume 3; his
final fate remains unknown.
* Ser Amory Lorch, who was responsible for killing Yoren, and many
of Arya's orphan associates. After the fall of Harranahl, which
was due to Arya's actions, Lorch is captured and forced to fight in
the bear pits. He does not survive.
* Ser Ilyn Payne--a fearsome knight whose tongue has been cut out,
Ser Ilyn acts as the royal headsman, and in such capacity used
Eddard's own sword, Ice, to cut off Eddard's head. Ser Ilyn is
still alive at the end of volume five.
* Ser Meryn Trant--the knight that killed Syrio Forel, Arya's
"dancing master."
* King Joffery, Cersei's oldest son--the product of a secret
incestuous relationship, Joffery is a cruel and sadistic teenager
who believes that all that is required to rule is to instill fear.
Joffery insists that Eddard be executed although he has agreed to
confess and join the Night's Watch, but killing Arya's father is
only one of long list of wrongs committed by Joffrey. Joffrey ends
up poisoned by agents of a rival king.
* Queen Cersei (Lannister)--Cersei's plotting led directly to
Eddard's arrest, although she apparently did not intend his
execution, as well as the deaths of many of Eddard's retainers and
Arya's friends. Cersei is still living at the end of volume five.
The list of those who mentored Arya:
* Eddard Stark--the list has to start with her father, who set an
example of what an honorable Lord ought to be. Eddard was a mighty
warrior, in his prime one of the better swordsman in Westeros.
More than that, he was a man of honor. For example, he had no
headsman--if he sentenced someone to death, he did the deed
himself, not because he enjoyed it but because he did not want to
order anyone to do what he would not do himself.
* Jon Snow (Stark's bastard son)--I list him here because early in
volume one, Jon gives Arya her first sword, Needle. Also, Jon
gives her a first lesson in sword fighting, namely--hit them with
the pointy end. This lesson later saves her life.
* Syrio Forel, First Sword to the Sealord of Braavos--Eddard hires
Forel as Arya's "dancing master" supposedly to teach her dancing,
but in reality, sword fighting. Forel is clearly an expert
fighter, and teaches Arya much more than mere cutting--he practices
an entire system of fighting based on fluid motion, balance, and
speed. Arya's training includes balancing on one foot (an old
martial arts standby, as I know from personal experience) and
chasing cats to develop speed. Syrio also teaches Arya how to
"see" while avoiding appearances and assumptions. Forel dies
fighting with a wooden sword to allow Arya to escape the massacre
in volume one, but first takes down five lightly armored men before
falling to a heavily armored knight.
* Yoren, of the Night's Watch--Yoren has been sent on a recruiting
mission to pick up orphans and criminals to impress into the
Night's Watch. He spots Arya watching Eddard's execution, and
spirits her away before she gets herself killed in an act of
foolish heroics. Yoren forces her to pass as a boy as they travel
north, and teaches her what harsh discipline really means when she
injures some boys who are harassing her. A rough fellow, Yoren is
an experienced fighter who eventually dies while fighting a much
larger group along with the recruits. Arya surely noted Yoren's
dedication to his mission, and his courage in undertaking a
difficult task on his own. Perhaps more importantly, passing as a
boy teaches Arya something of the discipline needed to live a false
identity.
* Jaqen H'ghaar--an assassin of the faceless men, captured and
impressed into the Night's Watch. Arya saves his life, and two
others, and in return, he agrees to kill three people she
designates. He also gives her the coin that she uses to identify
herself at the temple where the Faceless Men are trained. Jaqen is
a master assassin, and can change his appearance at will. Although
he never trains Arya, their association opens Arya's eyes to some
of the world's mysteries and sets her on the path to becoming one
of the Faceless Men. At one point Arya thinks "Jaqen made me brave
again. He made me a ghost instead of a mouse." [1] She uses her
last death to blackmail Jaqen into freeing a group of captive
Northmen, which leads to the fall of Harranhal.
* Gregor Clegane ("The Mountain") and his band of brutal thugs.
During her captivity under the stewardship of the sadistic giant
Gregor Clegane, Arya learns to survive without being brave, to
accept a completely hopeless situation while waiting for some
chance of escape, and to exist in the midst of the worst sort of
cruelty. Via observation of the Tickler's interrogations, Arya
receives a practical education in the methods and typical results
of torture. Also, it is here, helpless to do anything positive,
that Arya hones her hatred of those who have wronged her and her
family, and begins her daily prayer for the death of her enemies.
* Lord Roose Bolton, of the Dreadfort: When as a result of Arya's
actions, Harranahl falls to Bolton's forces, he makes her his
cupbearer, and gives her the name "Nan" since she claims her birth
name is Nymeria. This, is, of course, a lie. Nymeria was her
direwolf that she drove off to prevent it from being killed by the
Hound. Bolton is cruel and ruthless, but quite clever and careful.
No doubt Arya learned many lessons while his cupbearer, since he
wrongly assumes that she is illiterate and has no interest in his
conversations.
* Anguy the Archer--an outlaw Arya meets after fleeing Harranhal.
At the time, Anguy is the fastest man she has met yet, and teaches
her by example how far she has to go to be truly fast. She also
envies his skill with the bow, and forms a determination to learn
that weapon.
* Sandor Clegane, also known as the Hound-- down on his luck and
penniless, Clegane kidnapps Arya from Lord Beric Dondarrion (the
"lighting lord") with the notion of ransoming her to restore his
fortune. He has the idea of traveling to the Twins to find Arya's
relatives, but arrives just in time for the "Red Wedding" where
King Robb (Arya's elder brother) is killed, and the two barely
escape with their lives. Arya starts as Clegane's prisoner, but
after the disaster at the Twins, she travels with him in part
because she has nowhere to do. In time he trusts her enough to
give her a dagger they acquire from a dieing survivor of the Red
Wedding. Sandor Clegane is a ruthless fighter, and from him she
learns a good deal of how to handle difficult situations
encountered on the road, especially if you don't particularly care
who gets hurt. The road trip ends when Clegane and Arya encounter
Polliver, the Tickler, and another Mountain squire in a lonely inn.
In the battle royale that follows, Arya wounds the squire with his
own knife, Clegane kills Polliver, after which Arya kills the
Tickler from the rear as he fights Clegane. Arya recovers Needle,
her sword, from the dead Polliver, and is asked by Clegane to give
the squire "mercy," which she does. Sandor Clegane is badly
wounded, and a bit later Arya leaves him by the roadside to die,
not quite understanding why she is unable to kill him.
* The Kindly Man AKA the priest in black and white --Arya's main
teacher at the House of Black and White--the temple of the Faceless
Men. This nameless priest of the Faceless Men oversees Arya's
formal training as an assassin.
* The Waif--an associate of the Kindly Man who also trains Arya at
the House of Black and White. The Waif appears to be very young,
but has a frozen age due to a poisoning accident. She is actually
36. The Waif is the mistress of poisons, and passes on her skills
to Arya. The Waif teaches her the tongue of Braavos, and together
for long hours they play the Lying Game, as Arya learns the skill
of reading faces.
* Brusco the fishmonger--as part of her training as a Faceless Man,
Arya is assigned to work several days a week for Brusco. Each time
she returns to the House of Black and White she must tell the
Kindly Man three things she has learned that are new, and true.
This exercise develops her skills of observation, as well as her
ability to see beneath appearances. In addition, Arya learns much
wandering the wharves of Bravos, and meets people like Red Roggo
and Cossomo the Conjurer.
* Red Roggo--a Bravosi bravo who taught Arya (Cat) the use of the
finger knife, and the art of slitting a purse.
* Cossomo the Conjurer--wandering magician of the wharves of Bravos
from whom Arya (Cat) learned sleight of hand magic
The list of Arya Stark's names:
* Arya Horseface--cruel name she is called by other children at
Winterfell.
* Lumpyhead-- cruel name she is called by Lonny Greenhands while
traveling with Yoren toward the Wall.
* Arry--Yoren's name for Arya when she travels with him and other
Night Watch recruits. She is posing as a young boy and Yoren has
cut off her hair.
* Weasel--the name Arya took after it became known that Arry was a
girl and while she worked for the understeward at Harrenhal.
* The Ghost in Harrenhal--Arya calls herself this after deaths she
is ultimately responsible for are blamed on "the Ghost in
Harrenhal." No one ever discovers that she is, in some real sense,
"the Ghost."
* Nan --the name she takes as Lord Roose Bolton's cupbearer after
he occupies Harranhal.
* Squab--name given her by a band of outlaws she encounters after
leaving Harranhal. She used used this name for a relatively
brief period before being exposed as Arya Stark.
* Salty--name given her by the crew of the "Titan's Daughter"
during the voyage to Braavos, the home of the Faceless Men.
* No One--all acolytes of the Faceless Men are taught that they
must completely give up who they have been so that they may serve
their god by becoming anyone that they need to become to complete
an assassination.
* Cat of Canals--as part of her training with the Faceless Men,
Arya is assigned to a fishmonger named Brusco. In this role, she
learns to speak the Braavosi tongue well, and develops the skills
of observation. This is Arya's first experience in formally
developing a complete false identity.
* Blind Beth/Stick--part of the training of the Faceless Men
requires the acolyte to quaff a drink that induces blindness.
While blind, Arya learned, Dare Devil fashion, to rely on her other
senses. Among many things, Arya learns to play the Lying Game
based only on voice tone. She continues to gather three new facts
each day, but now relying on the senses other than sight. To defend
herself, as Blind Beth Arya carried three knives secreted about her
person. She also uses a walking stick to assist in finding her way.
Periodically an unknown assailant attacks her in the temple with a
stick. The training ends and the blindness is removed when she
discovers that the assailant is the Kindly Man, and is able to
block his blows. It is during this period that Arya realizes that
she can see out of the eyes of nearby cats, a secret which allows
her to defeat the Kindly Man.
It's safe to say that sometime in volumes six and seven Arya will
reject being "No One," dig Needle out of its hiding place, and
return to being Arya Stark, at least for a while, and her nightly
prayer will get a lot shorter--or perhaps not. As a fully trained
assassin of the Faceless Men coupled with the complete realization
of her skin changing powers, and reunited with her direwolf
Nymeria, Arya will almost certainly become a key player in the Game
of Thrones, should she wish to do so. Whatever happens, after her
vengeance is complete, rather like Buffy, Arya will need to decide
whether she is just a weapon of the Faceless Men, just a princess
of House Stark, just a skin-changer, or something more. Martin is
ever unpredictable, but I am sure the tale will be interesting.
1 A CLASH OF KINGS, pg. 681.
[-dls]
==================================================================
TOPIC: DEGREES KELVIN by David Lindley (book review by Greg
Frederick)
The book titled DEGREES KELVIN by David Lindley is a biography of a
scientist who most people of the 21st Century probably would not
know much about. His actually name was William Thompson but after
various honors and titles he became known as Lord Kelvin later in
his life. He was extremely well known and celebrated in his time,
which was mostly in the 19th Century. In fact, it would be quite
correct to call him truly a man of the 19th Century. When he
visited the University of Rochester in New York State in 1902 near
the end of his life students and even townspeople jammed a hall to
see this great scientist. They were cheering him and the hall was
bursting with excitement. He was a remarkable scientist who over
his lifetime contributed to the newly developing fields of study in
heat transfer, electromagnetic theory and thermodynamics.
When not much was known about heat, light, electricity, and
magnetism he helped to lead the way. As a boy of sixteen years of
age he published a scientific paper in England (in 1841) that
basically stated that a well known professor in Scotland was wrong;
the professor was critical of a book about heat transfer (using
Fourier series) written by Joseph Fourier. Fourier was correct and
William knew that. The very young William Thompson realized that
the Scottish professor did not really understand the new
mathematics of Fourier series but William did.
William Thompson excelled at mathematics and its application to
scientific problems. He contributed not only to the development of
scientific theory but also advanced engineering academics and he
patented numerous devices to advance the technology of the era. He
invented devices to improve the new telegraph system especially the
first underwater telegraph cables that traveled across the Atlantic
Ocean. He invented a tide predicting machine (a type of mechanical
calculator), a device which was the fore runner of the today's ink
jet printer, and compasses which could be used on the increasingly
metal ships of the time. He devised a new method of deep-sea
sounding (to measure the depth of water a ship passes over).
Thomson more than any other person involved in electrical phenomena
in the 1800's introduced accurate methods and many new instruments
for measuring electricity. He also created new standards based on
solid scientific principles to use when measuring electrical
properties. Therefore, though he is not well known today he helped
to create the modern world we dwell in. He met and worked with
many of the pioneers in science and technology of the 1800's like
Faraday, Maxwell, Tesla, Edison, Westinghouse, and Lord Rayleigh.
Possibly why he is not so well known today is because he refused to
believe some of the newer theories and ideas of the late 1800's and
early 20th Century. He doubted the existence of atoms, he disliked
Charles Darwin's ideas about evolution, he did not think that
radioactivity was actually the transmutation of elements, and he
stubbornly kept looking for the ether, which he thought was filling
Outer Space. Also, he greatly underestimated the age of the Earth
and the Sun and refused to change his estimate even as new evidence
came about to disprove his estimate. So, the new scientists of the
early 20th Century considered him to be a representative member of
the inflexible, complacent old school of mechanistic thought. When
he died in 1907; he was slowly and mostly forgotten about in the
public sector except for the Kelvin temperature scale.
This is a good book that sheds light on how modern technology and
science came about. [-gf]
==================================================================
TOPIC: All the Love (letter of comment by Dan Kimmel)
Dan Kimmel writes regarding the 02/08/13 issue of the MT VOID:
I was quite taken by all the love I got in the recent MT VOID.
Mark allowed that we often disagree but that he enjoys my reviews
because reading people who echo his own view won't teach him
anything. Dale Skran noted he was moved by my review of HANSEL AND
GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS to check it out and wasn't disappointed.
Thank you, Mark and Dale, for your kind words.
Mark interjects:
Let me amend that slightly. I can learn from someone who agrees
with me, but it is more likely I will learn from someone who
disagrees with me. That should be obvious. I can learn from
someone who likes the same film I do, but who has insights on the
film I had not thought of. On the other hand I have nothing to
learn from someone who responds to a review with, "You like that
film???? It sucks and so do you." [-mrl]
Dan continues:
My philosophy as a film critic has been that people should be able
to read my reviews and disagree with me yet still get the
information they need to know if they should go see the film. I'm
opinionated. It's my job. But anyone who sees a given movie is
entitled to their own opinion, even if it disagrees with mine.
That's why Mark and I are friends even though we often disagree.
Having differing opinions does not mean that the person who
disagrees with you is "wrong" simply that they see things
differently.
Somehow I think there's a lesson there for the current members of
Congress, but I'll let someone else try to figure it out. :-)
[-dk]
==================================================================
TOPIC: It's Hard to Predict ... (letter of comment by Gregory
Benford)
In response to Dale's comments on predictions in the 02/01/13 issue
of the MT VOID, Gregory Benford writes:
I liked Dale's comments so posted it on my blog, with my replies.
I tossed off those predictions & only one I regret was the
expansive view of our expansion into the solar system. I knew that
was wrong in my heart, from having served on many NASA study
groups, held grants, seen so much fine work go for nothing. Things
may change now that markets and rewards come into play. My brother
& I finished an anthology of fiction and science about
interplanetary expansion, STARSHIP CENTURY, focusing on this. Let's
hope.
[I've tagged who says what to make this look like a playscript.
Benford's blog can be found at
http://www.gregorybenford.com/blog/. -ecl]]
DALE: The title is a quotation from Niels Bohr.
DALE: "Writers of the Future" had created a time capsule of
predictions by SF writers made in 1987, and now, twenty-five years
later, have posted them on the web. I briefly discuss some of the
set of predictions, with an emphasis on analyzing why they went
wrong--or right. I won't address all of them since, frankly, some
are just plain silly or are obviously intended as a joke or parody.
DALE: The first set of predictions is from Gregory Benford, a well-
known hard SF writer that I generally like. Benford has provided a
neat and easy to follow list, so here goes:
DALE: World population is nearly 8 billion: It turns out to be a
mere 7 billion; the reason for the shortfall is that in the olden
days of 1987 the extent to which increasing global wealth would
depress birth rates was not well understood. Benford's prediction
was a very reasonable one--it just turned out to be wrong.
GREGORY: Mea culpa!
DALE: Benford next throws out a snide little line about how "Most
Americans are barely literate--just like today." Although this
statement is clearly intended to be witty, it turns out to be true.
There seems little doubt that the increasing usage of computers and
the playing of video games has decreased the general level of
literacy, but, as Benford reminds us, it was never that high
anyway!
GREGORY: Sad to be somewhat right on this one.
DALE: As far as I know, Berkeley does not have a theme park
dedicated to the 1960s as Benford predicted. This does not seem
like it was a seriously intended prediction.
GREGORY: Right--I meant it as a marker for a nostalgia for the 60s,
which we certainly had. Indeed, most divisions are at base
disagreements about whether the 60s and early 70s were a peak or a
pit.
DALE: Benford walks off the deep end, holding hands with just about
every futurist who wrote anything about space in the 1980s,
predicting a base on the moon and an expedition to Mars, along with
vague evidence of intelligent life off the Earth. None of these
things have come to pass. Generally predictions of progress in
space made before about 1940 tend to be very pessimistic compared
to what actually happened between 1940 and 1970, while predictions
written from 1960-1990 tend to be wildly optimistic about space
exploration. Perhaps the simplistic way to understand this
phenomenon is that the earlier group of writers failed to grasp how
the Cold War would drive the space race, and the later futurists
failed to grasp that the Cold War would end, and with it, the space
race.
GREGORY: Alas, yes. But now entrepreneurs are changing that
quickly. In a few months I'll have a long story about this in a new
anthology, STARSHIP CENTURY.
DALE: "I will be old, but not dead"--Benford won on this one all
around!
GREGORY: And glad to be here!
[-gb]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Elegant Formulae (letter of comment by Gregory Benford)
In response to Mark's response on whether mathematics has a
personality in the 02/08/13 issue of the MT VOID, Gregory Benford
writes:
I agree,
e^(i*pi)+1
is the most elegant formula of all.
With the Fadiman books I'd like to mention Rucker's MATHENAUTS.
For a math fan, here's my one contribution to the actual math logic
genre, attached. [The paper Benford attached can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/void-newcombs-paradox.] [-gb]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I had no sooner written an article for Steven Silver's 'zine,
ARGENTUS, on my favorite bookstore, extolling the Cranbury
Bookworm, when the Bookworm announced that after 38 years it was
moving to a much smaller shop. The original location was an old
Victorian house, owned by a relative (or friend--it was not clear
to me). The owner now has to sell and so the Bookworm has to move.
Luckily the Bookworm was able to find a location a block down the
street, but it is much smaller, and not nearly as charming.
For the record, here's what I had written:
And now in New Jersey our favorite is the Cranbury Bookworm
(in Cranbury, not surprisingly). In part this is through
lack of choice--almost every other used bookstore in the area
has closed. But it is also because the Cranbury Bookworm has
all the same characteristics as many of those other
bookstores. It is in an old Victorian house, and is full of
cheap books, with a huge, if disorganized, science fiction
section. Most mass-market paperbacks are fifty cents or a
dollar; most trade paperbacks are a dollar or two. The back
porch books are a quarter each or six for a dollar and are
whatever they think won't sell at their normal "elevated"
prices. :-) Back there I have found relatively recent travel
guides, various foreign-language books, VHS tapes, and so on.
(On our most recent visit, I noticed that a lot of "Star Trek"
novels have been demoted to the porch.)
And as if the prices are not cheap enough already, they seem
to have two or three charity half-price sales a year (you need
to make a minimal donation of food, or coats, or whatever else
they're collecting).
(My favorite purchase from there would be a set of the early
1930s "Encyclopedia Britannica" for $35. This is from when it
had long articles about obscure history.)
And even earlier Si Courtenage had said:
Just outside Princeton, there's a small town (whose name I've
forgotten) that a friend once took me to visit. On the main
street through the town, there's a large three-storey, white-
boarded house with a porch and garden, a little ramshackle but
otherwise unexceptional. But inside, the house as a
completely different character--it's an Aladdin's library of
books. From basement to attic, every inch of wall, every
available table and much of the floor is covered with books.
It's impossible to describe the atmosphere of musty seediness,
of volumes lying sadly neglected, tired and shelf-worn, in the
gloomy basement under the creaky floor, of the stacks piled up
the main staircase, of prize books locked in glass cabinets,
and of rooms where the light seems to seep through the windows
with the speed of slowly-turned pages. It's like a kind of
treasure house, full of common copper coins and fancy inflated
banknotes. I came out feeling a little book-happy,
bibliothecally-overdosed."
[The basement was actually closed about twenty years ago due to
safety concerns with its uneven floor and low rafters.]
So last weekend the Bookworm had its "moving sale". Its already
low prices were slashed to the ridiculous level: mass-market
paperbacks a dime each, trade paperbacks a quarter, hardbacks $2.
I decided to take this opportunity to upgrade the condition of some
of our older books and grab classics with multiple copies for our
science fiction discussion group. So I ended up with about a
hundred paperbacks. I also bought a couple of dozen other books
that looked interesting, meaning we left with four heavy bags of
books for under $30. Sorting and comparing them to our copies will
take a while, but that will be something to keep me occupied until
their opening day in the new location March 1. (The reading is
another story. I estimate that what with reading for the Sidewise
Award, reading for discussion groups, reading what I already had,
and reading what I just bought, I'm all set for the next year.
The owners were saying to someone that there was a line of people
waiting to get in when they opened the first day of the sale, but
surprisingly the shelves did not look as if locusts had been
through (except for the drama section, for some reason, which was
practically bare). It is true that dealers regularly scour the
Bookworm, so I suppose what was still there was not appealing to
them. But we found (for example) two D-series Ace doubles we did
not have, a couple of Groff Conklin anthologies, a Joe Lansdale
graphic collection, and several mystery novels certainly worth a
dime each.
So when March 1 rolls around, we expect to be visiting the *new*
Cranbury Bookworm, and hope that wherever it locates, it lasts a
long time. [-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
For years a secret shame destroyed my peace --
I'd not read Eliot, Auden or MacNeice
But then I had a thought that brought me hope --
Neither had Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope.
--Justin Richardson