(urth) Change of Pace / Peace

[Larry Miller]

  The shows creator was Daniel Knauf who also writes comic books (or
did) and I wouldnt be surprised if he knew about Wolfes work.  Neil
Gaiman is always dropping Wolfes name in interviews.  BTW Ronald Moore
who developed the Battlestar Galactica remake also wrote for Carnivale
and has said he was an avid SF reader as a teen.  The only literary
influences I know that Knauf mentioned myself is Something Wicked This
Way Comes and the Grapes of Wrath.  If your interested in further
elaboration of Carnivales mythology search around online for the
"Pitch Document" which is a series bible of sorts.  Do you recall the
episode where Ben Hawkins is sent to clean out the baggage trailer?
Briefly shown on camera is a fetus in a liquid filled jar that opens
its eyes.  That always reminded me of the mandragora. That may also be
a nod to Wolfes work.

On 12/16/11, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't know if many of you watched the short-lived but well-executed HBO
> miniseries, *Carnivale*.  Basically, it was a pseudo-end times supernatural
> mystery / thriller set during the Great Depression (dust-bowl Midwest),
> alternating between the stories of a young "Avatar" of good (a man
> traveling with a circus / carnival) and an "Avatar" of evil, a preacher in
> (I think) California who gains a large following.  Anyways, I noticed some
> parallels between it and *Peace*, during the portion in which a character
> in the book (I can't remember if it is the narrator himself or a
> story-within-a-story) apprentices with the man turning to stone.  The young
> man goes, for some reason, to visit a neighboring carnival, where he finds
> a mother-daughter "burlesque dancer" team (just like in the TV show) and a
> character named Scudder (the last name of the Avatar of good's father in
> the TV show).  "Scudder" is far from a common name; I can't think the
> similarity is coincidental!  The carnival scenes in *Peace* also take place
> in a Depression area Midwest town.  I seem to remember a few other
> interesting similarities between *Peace* (which was written 28 years
> earlier) and *Carnivale* that I will try and remember.  Anyone notice this
> / know if the HBO writers were fans of or influenced by Wolfe's work?
>