(urth) Hard SF

[David Stockhoff]

That is, the "medium" of physics-driven fiction is not the message, 
which is the case with true hard SF. Wolfe works hard to reconcile myth 
with physical plausibility to make a story "work." You can see the 
tension between them, but he never abandons one for the other.

On 11/28/2012 12:04 PM, DAVID STOCKHOFF wrote:
> I agree with him too. But Urth is still not "hard SF."
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>     *From:* Daniel Petersen <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com>
>     *To:* The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
>     *Sent:* Wednesday, November 28, 2012 11:03 AM
>     *Subject:* Re: (urth) Hard SF
>
>     I'd tend to agree with Lee here. -DOJP
>
>     On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 3:51 PM, 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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