Comments on: The Jump 225 Jumbo Mega-Bonanza Summer Giveaway, Week 4

By: Yaron

Yaron — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:42:20 +0000

Ah, I see. That’s perfectly alright then. You are a man of very many talents. And I can certainly see you being (at least some of) all the writers in the anthology.

Though you being Mervyn Peake does give the first paragraph of the Titus Alone introduction a certain… interesting dimension. Crumbling mind, and all.

By: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:49:29 +0000

Yaron: What you fail to realize is that “Mervyn Peake” and all of the other names in the Solaris anthology are simply pseudonyms of mine. I wrote everything. And designed the covers. And did the typesetting.

By: Yaron

Yaron — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:27:17 +0000

Hi David, just wanted to say that the package arrived.
Thanks again!

The production values of the giveaway pack were entirely inconsistent, though. Two books came signed by the author, but another one came signed only by the person writing the introduction, and another one just by the person who wrote a single story in a large collection. A serious lack of attention to details here.

By: Mick

Mick — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:30:33 +0000

I think the Matrix was created by Sauron.

By: Yaron

Yaron — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:34:02 +0000

Hmm… Can’t argue with that. Being inside the Matrix will certainly take care of all the silly questions about how the magic system, or the force, work. And, well, there’s no way to tell you’re inside the Matrix from the inside.

By: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:16:00 +0000

Yeah, but who says the fight occurs out of the VR environment? C’mon, we all know that Gandalf and Obi-Wan are both slaves to the Matrix.

By: Yaron

Yaron — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:12:27 +0000

Morpheus?! The one who is a completely regular, if highly annoying, guy once you plug him out of his VR environment?
Well, I suppose a first round with him might be alright, just to make sure there’s plenty of blood and gore spread all over the arena making everything slippery…

By: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:57:47 +0000

I could have thrown Albus Dumbledore into the mix too. And Morpheus. And perhaps Duncan Idaho…?

By: Yaron

Yaron — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:35:00 +0000

Mick, of course they could. Consider, as a non-exclusive list of options:

1. You only need one of them to stray, not both, as the other may join the deathmatch to stop him.
2. Someone can trick one, or both, of them into thinking the other one (s) have strayed and switched sides. Given that they don’t know each other, it wouldn’t be difficult to present either one as a dangerous evil person (Heck, Obi-Wan is evil, the same as anyone who uses mental compulsion to force the minds of other sentient beings into agreeing with him and serving him).
3. Someone may force them to do it, with a threat they have no other obvious way of neutralizing.
4. Someone may use any of various forms of mind control to make them believe a death match with the other is necessary.
5. They can be drugged with materials that increase aggressiveness, or increase paranoia, potentially with some hallucinogenic effects.
6. The questions wasn’t whether they will fight, it was what would happen if they fought. Maybe it’s not a fight between Gandalf and Obi-Wan, but a fight between two other people who have identical skill sets with Gandalf and Obi-Wan?
7. Or even an advanced computer simulation of a fight between Gandalf and Obi-Wan; Like the kind you could easily run in a Star-Trek style holographic chamber?
8. Or just a gedankenexperiment? Like, for example, it really is?

There are many many options. Don’t fight it. Play along.

By: Mick Summer

Mick Summer — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:19:43 +0000

Gandalf and Obi-Wan would not get into a deathmatch at all, it would require Gandalf to choose the path of madness and Kenobi to step over to the dark side. This setup won’t go to waste, fortunately–the rift that adjoins these universes could make a new epic.