<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
On 10/19/2011 3:59 PM, Stephen Hoy wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:1319054343.23997.YahooMailNeo@web84414.mail.ac2.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
<div id="yiv246248420">
<div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255); font-size: 10pt; font-family:
arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<div id="yiv246248420">
<div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color:
rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 10pt;"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783050">
<div id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292748"
style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
"><span class="yiv246248420Apple-style-span"
style="font-family: Arial; ">David Stockhoff
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net"><dstockhoff@verizon.net></a> wrote:</span><br>
</div>
<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292754"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292752
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783056">
<div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'times
new roman', 'new york', times, serif; "
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292757
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783058"
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292781">>
> > At the formal dinner, his family
reunites. All three have trouble recognizing one
another (except when they don't). Two are known
to be not entirely who they think they are.
Surely the third is also not entirely who he is.<br>
> > <br>
> > I do wonder how any of the Blue family
can recognize each other to any degree because
they're all replacements/overlays. Still,
somehow Chelle recognized her replacement mother
at the airport while failing to recognize Skip.
Clearly an important clue.<br>
> </div>
<div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'times
new roman', 'new york', times, serif; "
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292757
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783060"
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292781">> Some
notes about the beginning. First, it seems to
begin with a dream, but the dream (Skip's memory
of contracting with Chelle, looking in a mirror,
recoiling) is followed by a reality that appears
to be identical (he worries about Chelle, he
looks in the mirror, recoils).<br>
> Second, Skip gets his own "yellow copy." He
wonders if it's work-related, then tells himself
he knows what it is, then tells himself it's
something else. It turns out to be a message
concerning Chelle. Pretty much all the narration
here is immediately negated or contradicted.
What was the other thing it could have been?<br>
<br>
I agree about the dream-like start--a re-read of
Chapter One feels like Skip is recovering from a
recent mind-plant. Note also the details toward
chapter's end, from the window conversion
paragraph thru the tea garden paragraph--the
open window and budding roses suggest an
expansion of consciousness. </div>
<div style="font-family:times new roman, new york,
times, serif;font-size:12pt;"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292757
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783060
yui_3_2_0_16_131905173899764"
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292781"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: times new roman,new
york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292757
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783060
yui_3_2_0_16_131905173899764"
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292781">Wolfe
doesn't openly discuss the effects of
superposing one mind onto another without first
performing a wipe, but that seems to be what
we're both considering. I think Skip has an
overlay of some sort, possibly an agent's
persona designated to watch over Chelle.<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Yes. And that would explain a few things: (1) if the agent rider (or
observer?) is very young, that would explain both Skip's quick
reactions and his horror at Skip's age. Mist may be a clue. (2) That
lets Mr White be the same kind of composite persona. Hard to say who
is riding whom. (3) Skip's ready production of an alibi for Chelle's
mom (I still find it suspicious). (4) Possibly, just possibly, the
memory of rallying the nearly-unarmed Ellen Woodward and others when
the agent rode someone else. Is the agent a kind of mental Sky
Marshal? Odd that this "agent" seems experienced at hijacking-type
situations; when Skip emerges from the mists, he hasn't even thought
of his cruise idea yet. Maybe hijackings have become common, but
then why no Marines on the ship?<br>
<br>
And Chelle appears not to be valuable anyway, at least not in the
way some characters seem to think.<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:1319054343.23997.YahooMailNeo@web84414.mail.ac2.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial,
helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt">
<div id="yiv246248420">
<div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255); font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica,
sans-serif; ">
<div id="yiv246248420">
<div>
<div style="color:rgb(0, 0,
0);background-color:rgb(255, 255,
255);font-size:10pt;"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783050">
<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial,
helvetica, sans-serif; "
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292754"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292752
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783056">
<div style="font-family:times new roman, new york,
times, serif;font-size:12pt;"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292757
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783060
yui_3_2_0_16_131905173899764"
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292781"><br>
> Odds/ends:<br>
<br>
> (1) Skip's hands are described as "wrinkled
and old" in his dream. Is this merely his
exaggerated worry that Chelle will find him too
old? He's only in his late forties.<br>
> (2) the sentence "Five hundred." (This
after something "seizes" Skip at the mirror and
before he "shudders.") Years? Hours? Surely not
noras.</div>
<div style="font-family:times new roman, new york,
times, serif;font-size:12pt;"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292757
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783060
yui_3_2_0_16_131905173899764"
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292781"><br>
Here's a thought...a year may not be a solar
year. </div>
<div style="font-family:times new roman, new york,
times, serif;font-size:12pt;"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292757
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783060
yui_3_2_0_16_131905173899764"
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292781"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:times new roman, new york,
times, serif;font-size:12pt;"
class="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292757
yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131898020783060
yui_3_2_0_16_131905173899764"
id="yiv246248420yui_3_2_0_16_131896004292781">What
if a year is actually ten hundred-days? Is there
anything in Home Fires that might contradict
this metrification? Twenty-two years of
hundred-time equals about sixty of ours, which
would help explain Chelle's failure to id Skip
right off the ship, as well as Skip's early
self-perception as "wrinkled and old." Also, it
helps explain the confusion of Martha Ott, the
disoriented elderly woman at the end of the book
who sips tea with Chelle at Carrera's Cafe. On
the down side, it's not a world-building premise
I'd expect an author to obscure. <br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
There was some discussion of time a few months ago (see "Home Fires
and calendar reform"). The year seems to be 400 days, with 100-day
quarters and (I guess) 33-day months. So 500 days would be more than
a year. I just returned the book to the library---how long is Chelle
supposed to be on leave? Anyway, the agent's assignment to Skip
could be that long.<br>
<br>
Now, if you allow massive rounding (odd in a metric time system, but
maybe common among people who haven't adapted to it yet), "200 days,
about half a year" could mean almost 250 days, so a year might be
500 days. BTW, I think you're off by a decimal: 22 x 100 = 2200;
2200/365 = 6 of our years or 5.5 400-day years. Or did I
misunderstand you?<br>
<br>
Another approach: if tours of duty are similar to our own, i.e., 6
months to 2 to 4 years, maybe that's a place to start. Given
interstellar distances, 2 years may be the minimum time Chelle was
away. Would 1000 days be a typical tour, or 500 + star travel? How
many years would pass on Earth?<br>
</body>
</html>