(urth) Hard SF

[Lee Berman]

>David Stockhoff: We're not talking about hard SF here.

Just for the sake of discussion, I'll disagree. Perhaps Wolfe isn't diamond-hard
but I'd give him ruby- or sapphire- on the MOhs scale. I think he makes a 
sincere attempt in most of his work, as the quote below illustrates.

Where fantasy writers are content to give us shape changers without explanation,
Wolfe provides us with a sponge cellular analogy for Tzadkiel and flexible bones 
and muscles, make-up and hypnotic abilities for Inhumi.

If the Inhumi really fly through space I'd want more than the skimpy evidence we
are provided (and less evidence for their lying nature).

>Nick Gevers: Speaking as an engineer, how might the godling be constructed so as to 
>walk as a giant on land, where the undines [submarine giantesses] cannot? 
 
>Gene Wolfe: There are a number of ways you could go. First, get rid of the notion that 
>the godling is going to be proportioned like a human being. Changes in size always mean 
>changes in build. (Dr. Crane touches on that.) A man fifty feet tall, proportioned like 
>you or me, would sink into the ground a lot -- had you thought of that? Take a look at 
>the really big dinosaurs. Bone density could be increased, and the legs and pelvis made 
>more massive, and so on