(urth) Hard SF
David Stockhoff
dstockhoff at verizon.net
Wed Nov 28 14:51:17 PST 2012
Well, the cited Jahlee reference has them burning up on reentry if they
are dead. So the commingled atmosphere theory is not part of the story.
On 11/28/2012 5:48 PM, Daniel Petersen wrote:
> Yep, that's what I was worried about, but I have no scientific
> training so I didn't know if there were some exquisitely rare
> scenarios where this might be just barely plausible. (It's such a
> breathtakingly awe-inspiring thought: worthy of a fantasy at least -
> if no one has written such a thing, someone needs to!) But come to
> think of it: doesn't the passage say rather explicitly that they fly
> through /space/? (Does anyone have a page number reference for this?)
>
> -DOJP
>
> On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 4:21 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com
> <mailto:danldo at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Not really -- they both seem to have about one G of surface
> gravity, so getting close enough that their atmospheres
> meaningfully touched would involve massive tidal effects up to and
> including immense tsunami and disastrous earthquakes.
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 8:04 AM, Daniel Petersen
> <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com
> <mailto:danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> That's a wonderful thought, Antonin! Is this feasible? (Both
> generally and in the text?)
>
> -DOJP
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Antonin Scriabin
> <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com <mailto:kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>>
> wrote:
>
> Do we have any idea just how close Blue and Green get
> during conjunction? I seem to remember that from Blue,
> Green is more of a spec than a moon, but perhaps they are
> close enough, or have unusually expansive atmospheres,
> such that during conjunction their atmospheres merge and
> allow the Inhumi to fly from one to another. If they are
> this close though, they would most definitely fall under
> the sway of one another's gravitational field, which
> doesn't seem to be the case.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 10:51 AM, Lee Berman
> <severiansola at hotmail.com
> <mailto:severiansola at hotmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
> >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
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> --
> Daniel Otto Jack Petersen
>
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> --
> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
>
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