Steven Sarafian
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Having read "The Prisoner of Limnos" several times, I was startled when a friend from the U.P. mentioned yesterday a cruel local practice among youth there of tossing food to seagulls, which they caught on the fly, and then tossing an Alka Seltzer tablet, which MADE THE GULL EXPLODE. (I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this story--it may be so or it may be rural myth.) Had you heard of this?
Lois McMaster Bujold
I had not heard this urban (or rural) myth, no. (I've no doubt that some people would do such a thing, were it possible; much less sure of the chemistry involved.) In my story, it was an extension of the ill-fate of the rat encountered on Pen and Des's escape from the bottle dungeon back in "Penric's Mission", and a hint that this chaos magic could be truly dangerous if out of control, as potentially lethal as gravity. Or even dangerous when under control.
Ta, L.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
KR
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Knowing that you’ve done both traditional publishing and quasi-self-publishing, what has your experience of (and motivation for) each of those been like? As I work on my first novel, I sometimes worry about giving up a given setting as a playground if I go trad pub; I don’t want to lose the ability to freely write and share other things in that setting or premise. Is that a valid concern?
Steven Sarafian
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I have just returned from my second trip to the Will F. Jenkins (Murray Leinster) Collection at Syracuse University. It felt very scholarly to restore, from the manuscript, a line omitted from a '50s novel, lost to some sort of typesetting accident and replaced by a confusing line from an earlier chapter. Do you have any favorite Leinster stories, especially any not among his very most famous?
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