Florence R.
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Have you ever considered writing a Five Worlds piece from the viewpoint of the gods?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Interesting idea, though I'm afraid the 5's minds are much too large to encompass. They're not like the Greek or Norse or even Chinese gods, humans writ large; they are genuinely ineffable, alien even though profoundly part of the world. The visions characters occasionally have of them are human-sized-and-seeming just because that's all the human mind can encompass, like a millimeter leak from a municipal water tower. (Or more accurately as a millimeter leak as experienced from inside a submarine.) Which is also why every vision is subtly different, each shaped by the shape of the mind receiving it. Of all the visions that have turned up in the stories so far, Cazaril's of the Daughter at the end of Chalion came the closest to seeing a god entire, and that nearly broke him, and certainly effected permanent changes in and upon him. A little bit joyously mad thereafter, and inclined to emitting William-Blake-level poetry at random times. (Saint Umegat would make a whole 'nother study.)
Ta, L
Interesting idea, though I'm afraid the 5's minds are much too large to encompass. They're not like the Greek or Norse or even Chinese gods, humans writ large; they are genuinely ineffable, alien even though profoundly part of the world. The visions characters occasionally have of them are human-sized-and-seeming just because that's all the human mind can encompass, like a millimeter leak from a municipal water tower. (Or more accurately as a millimeter leak as experienced from inside a submarine.) Which is also why every vision is subtly different, each shaped by the shape of the mind receiving it. Of all the visions that have turned up in the stories so far, Cazaril's of the Daughter at the end of Chalion came the closest to seeing a god entire, and that nearly broke him, and certainly effected permanent changes in and upon him. A little bit joyously mad thereafter, and inclined to emitting William-Blake-level poetry at random times. (Saint Umegat would make a whole 'nother study.)
Ta, L
More Answered Questions
Gwendolyn Patton
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I noted a similarity between Barrayar and the Alta colony in Michael McCollum's Antares series -- a colony cut off from the rest of human space when a stellar event shifted their wormhole jump connection. He had evidence of alien invasion when the wormhole reopened, where you had Cetagandans after the Time of Isolation. Had you ever read that series?
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Jan 01, 2022 06:33AM · flag
Well, there's the term "demi-god", but that more usually refers to half-breeds, though sometimes jumped-up humans. "Culture hero" is another my ...more
Jan 18, 2022 08:13AM · flag