Recent Entries

reviews of the series

I just finished Perhaps The Stars. I would like to read reviews of and responses to the whole series; do you have any favorites to link to, including posts you have written?

happy St.Turibius's day!

since the last link roundup, a few things spotted on Dr.Palmer's twitter account and the subreddit:

someone made a video for her song "somebody will"
she's on episode 16 of James and Ashley Stay at Home (52 minutes)
she has a patreon which will hopefully fund a podcast she's planning with Jo Walton
she wrote a piece called Why I Teach Machiavelli Through His Letters
in the last roundup i mentioned that she'd been on the in lieu of fun podcast (75 mins). she's been on again twice since then: another 75 mins and 76 mins
and people on the subreddit are starting a re-read of books 1-3 in preparation for the release of book 4. the schedule is here, and the reading for this week is here.

another update on ada palmer

things that've popped up elseweb since our last installment:

in the previous update i linked up a 2¾ hour podcast she did. well, she went back for another 3 hours with the same dude. lots more good stuff in this one too.
she put up a blog post on self-care and healthy work habits for the pandemic which links to two documents she wrote for the university of chicago:
- healthy work habits and self-care guide for the pandemic crisis
- adapting a syllabus for the crisis
which will be increasingly useful as your job more closely approximates "social sciences academic", but the self-care one especially has a lot of very good general advice too.
two other podcasts she's done recently:
- in lieu of fun 1¼ hours
- getting smart 50 minutes
and in the 2020/21 academic year she's running a science fiction RPG for U Chicago students

that should be enough to keep you busy for a little while

some recent info from ada palmer, including excerpts from the next book

if you're not following her ex urbe blog, you may have missed several things she's put up in the last few days:

as part of jo walton's decameron project, she has two excerpts from perhaps the stars which apparently won't be out until july 2021
she wrote an essay on genre fiction and censorship uncanny magazine
she did an amazing 2¾ hour podcast on the singularity podcast that's amazingly informative. (who knew that canteloupe had an effect on the french revolution?)
she transcribed some comments from herself and jo walton on writing and point of view that show up at the end of her post.
and then in another post, she wrote a long explainer (with some overlap with the podcast) about whether covid will lead to a new age, like the black death lead to the renaissance. short answer: there are several things wrong with that suggestion. long answer: it sounds like she may actually have (inadvertently?) mostly-written a book about this, of which this essay is a précis?

Sniper dolls -- not unique to Sniper, obviously...?

So I just had the thought: the technology/industry for creating Sniper's dolls (i.e. synthetic duplicates) has got to be much more widely available than is explicitly mentioned in the books. Even if Sniper, Inc. (or whatever organization it uses to manufacture the dolls) has some unique tricks and advances, the basic technology certainly isn't limited to copying that one individual. But if it isn't ... who else might be (or be using) copies?

The most obvious candidate, of course, is Kraye.

Mapping between Madame's and Rocky Horror

So, Madame is obviously Frank-en-Furter. And Jedd is the creation. I think the rocker on the motorcycle is Perry. The aliens are the Utopian hostages (especially considering the ending of TWTB). The girl in the sparkly top hat is ... hm. Oh -- she's Heloise. Obviously. Given that the visitors (Brad & Janet) are Carlyle and Thisbe -- which is which? Considering which of the pair spends more time being "shocked, shocked" -- that implies Thisbe is Janet. Oh, and the Narrator is Mycroft, of course.

Further mappings?

This was prompted by https://justiceoftoriel.tumblr.com/post/173547100477/trying-to-get-to-sleep-last-night-my-brain-was

Did Madame plan Mycroft?

This could mean a number of different things: Mycroft's original upbringing, the destructions of their birth'bash, the survival of Saladin, or the Mardi murders.

Thoughts, quotes, speculations?

(no subject)

Concept: Sniper ends up on Beta Colony in the Vorkosigan universe.

Other Hive names

There's a list of other previously existing Hives mentioned in TWTB Chapter 10, that I thought worth quoting here:

the Humanists were born from the Olympians and One Big Party, the Cousins absorbed Rainbow Bridge and Schools Without Borders, Europe swallowed Volemonde and IBN

I wonder what they might have referred to. The Olympians and One Big Party have been mentioned elsewhere, but I don't think the others were.

(edit: TWTB Chapter 2, mentions another Hive, "Auxilio" which merged with Gordian sometime around 2330. (page 23))

TWTB Chapter 10 -- Clarification of the 2nd Law

The passage where Kosala and the Greenpeace Director are discussing the proposal to try and exclude nature preserves from the war always makes me choke up when I read it. Both the effort to do it -- to preserve what, once lost, is lost forever (although new and different things will still occur), and Kosala's concerned response that it would create borders where there were not borders before. It isn't exactly true -- the Reservations have existed, and the (completely unmentioned, but presumably existing) areas still damaged by the Church War -- but it's the feared loss of the ideal of a borderless world that makes me choke up.

Such a well written thing. Your comments or other thoughts very welcomed.

Differences between the text and the audio books

I've only noticed two big differences between the text and the audio book, both associated with the tables of Seven Ten lists -- likely because it isn't possible to get across the same point purely in audio as is done with a visual table.

I'll likely update this post with transcripts of what the audio books do, as well as the original text -- but I'd love to hear any comments from others about the topic!

TLTL Chapter 11 -- Enter Sniper

There is so much foreshadowing in Cato's part in this chapter. Sniper (true to form) is so enjoying hiding in plain sight.

You must finish, doctor! You will! There's nowhere to turn back to. You've already shattered the laws of man, of king and country, medicine, conscience, humanity. There's no forgiveness now, nothing waiting for you but the gallows or the asylum. You have only one choice! Push on, doctor! Shatter the next laws, too, the laws of Nature! Then, with the powers of life and death at your command, and your glorious creation at your side, you will lord it over your enemies like a god! Throw the switch!

So much implied there about the further course of the books. And having Cato "rescued" by the Junior Scientist Squad -- it's so perfect.

Comments, or even just bare notes stating: "I read this!" greatly welcomed.

TLTL Chapter 19 -- intro of Chagatai

I'm re-experiencing the books via the audio books for the first time, and have just made it to Chapter 19.

Such a massive collection of misdirection and forshadowing! And there are lots of bits of it that still aren't clear what point (if any) they have, but they are delightful just on their own. The whole discussion of the kitchen tree, and smelltracks (so many clues left there, not that we notice them).

And is the ba'sib Mycroft rescued a significant character, and if not, why were they mentioned?

Are there other bits from that chapter that struck you? Mention them in the comments!

Dr. Palmer is doing an AMA on reddit, and has a youtube channel

Ada Palmer is doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) interview on reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/7pqdoo/hey_its_sci_fi_author_ada_palmer_here_to_talk/ and has a youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ8ypvclf7YlVTOph69lRWA - thought you folks might want to know!

New convention featuring Ada Palmer

Kickstarter for Scintillation

It's preorder for a small literary con organized by Jo Walton. Who wants to go to Montreal next year?

in case you can't wait

the first chapter of The Will To Battle is up on the tor/forge blog:
http://www.torforgeblog.com/2017/10/19/excerpt-the-will-to-battle-by-ada-palmer/

three more pages of Terra Ignota!

as per dr. palmer's tweet, she's got a three-page story in this collection. it's set a while before too like the lightning.

five links about ada palmer/terra ignota make a post?

those of you who follow dr.palmer on twitter will have seen some of these:

there's a subreddit for too like the lightning-related stuff at /r/TerraIgnota
in case you've not yet heard, she won the john w. campbell award for best new writer. here's her transcription of her speech as well as some discussion (by her) of her invisible disability.
she did an interview on a site which now has a giveaway contest for TLTL and SS
the economist interviewed her for a piece about gelato. (if you've already read her blog post about gelato, there's not a lot new here.)
she wrote a three part series on how gender is presented in the terra ignota books.

enjoy!

how Too Like The Lightning got published

i suspect that most of you follow Dr.Palmer's ex urbe blog, but if you don't already, today she put up this essay about how Too Like The Lightning got published. read and enjoy!

What would your Utopian coat look like?

According to my daughter, the coats are implied to show something about your ideal world but also show something about your special interests.

Apollo's looked like the world after the first year of a war ("...it's a little strange that this never struck anyone as suspicious?"). Mushi's coat showed ants. Others show futuristic cities.