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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It's nice to see Mieville receive a certain amount
of criticism on the list. In UK circles he seems to be universally admired and
overpraised. Just because he can churn out a thousand page novel in a few
days, complete numerous degrees and PhDs, stand for Parliament, get arrested and
spend time in jail, while all the time being amazingly handsome and stylish with
his black suits and shaved head, serve him... woops, getting carried away
on the jealosy front there.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>All the same, it is reassuring to find that he can
get some things spectacularly wrong. It is quite obvious in a couple of places
that physical material handling has never crossed his path.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In PSS there is a set-piece scene where the entire
city is running a cable (from memory, several feet cross-section) across the
city to conduct magical energy... blah, blah, blah. This is moved by
getting almost the entire cast to pull on one end, taking it across rivers,
through streets, over ruined buildings, etc.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There speaks a man who has never tried pulling a
3mm electrical cable over a few metres. Imagine the tangles and twists, and the
sheer weight of a thing like that. And they are joining various types of
conductive material together. How? With massive cable joiners, or do they just
twist the ends together?</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And in The Scar, I loved the concept of the chain
with which they lassooed the Kraken-creature under-water. Where did the
metal come from for several chains that long. Does he not understand the sheer
weight and unmanoeverability of a small chain, but links of the size he
describes... how are they made, or shaped to form links, or welded together? If
you put something like that in water, it goes down, and it stays
down.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Maybe he would explain these things by saying that
physical laws are different in this magical world, or that I am just nit-picking
over trivia. But both these things brought me to a stop while I was reading, and
I think a competent editor should have picked up stuff like this.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I do think he is a good and entertaining writer,
but maybe he should consider that more is not better, and a little more time
revising and editing would be well spent.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Allan</FONT></DIV>
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