JGallman liked it better the second time; he read it more
 closely and found more this time; but he doesn't believe
 in the Shrike or Time Travel. He liked it enough to buy
 and read _Fall_.

DWhitney

//////

7, 7, 5, 6, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7
average 5.9

DWhitney sponsored it, but was disappointed.
She used _FW_ in class, and thought it was wonderful,
especially as a springboard for discussion.
DW felt like it was book written in two pieces;
first half had energy and vision; second half was
"well, let's finish it and mail it off".

Feels to her that it was written 5 or 6 years
ago, sat in a drawer, and finished it off.

DW says he feels human nature is to be aggressive
and competitive and to kill. The theme seems to be
that the only way to achieve peace is to change
human nature.

DW agrees with JG about soldierboys to be a metaphor
for fighting in Vietnam; she saw jacking as a metaphor
for intimacy of fighting groups of Vietnam.
Including, when one gets killed, all get injured,
possibly crippled.

DW felt that he started with a 1st person
novel and put in 3rd person stuff.

The book is all about people making connections, etc.

Interesting alternate narrative structure, but a failure
because so many characters are brought in to do critical
plot stuff at the end.

//

JG grew very fond of the book; it got him through
difficult travel times.

It isn't about real peace; an engineered peace that
changes the nature of people. Just a cop-out.
Characters are not very believable;

Soldierboys seemed to him to be a metaphor for the
fighters in Vietnam.

It seems to him that if they have nanotech, they
shoudln't bother with 'Soldierboys'.

//

Nobody likes Amelia. Peter absolutely couldn't forgive
her for her "affair". He greatly disliked her

Peter disagrees with the idea that Soldierboys are
silly in a universe with nano; he feels that the
Soldierboys are great for e.g. the kidnapping. 
Better at doing precision stuff.

Peter cites Sturgeon's _More than Human_ about
getting together and finding a way beyond conflict.
And asks, Does this seem plausible?

PK thought the graphicness of the female assassin
was offensive, possibly showing sadism on the
part of the author.

PK feels that he wanted to do an omniscient 3rd
person book and put in 1st person later.

PK question: If we got decreased egos, would we
get universal peace?

//////

JG & GJER agree: You can't have the good without the bad.

////

Where was the split point? Reaching the monastery?
Going to Mexico?

//////

_Fire Upon the Deep_

March 18(?)
//////

March 6: The Doug & Gregory show?
