Posted by Peter H on July 17, 2002 at 18:25:03 from 213.122.164.47 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: My thoughts on maps posted by Dan Lind on July 16, 2002 at -1:14:01:
'I believe TARBOARD activists are a sleepy lot this summer'
We can soon change that, Dan.
Actually, I think the 'someone in a TARS publication' you referred to was me. In the 1991 Mixed Moss I suggested that AR had 'parachuted' the Amazons into the story because he was worried that the pace was flagging. This accounts for the artificiality of the reading of the telegrams in Ch 11, when the Amazons are explaining the creaky mechanics of their arrival. I've always thought that AR should have persevered with the Swallows, the Mastodon and the Eels - that's enough characters for one book, surely. But I do like SW for its atmosphere - no one has, for me, captured the eerie feeling of tidal mudflats in this way. Anyone who can write about mud in an exciting way just has to be a genius.
(Note to Prue Eckett - some criticism of AR above! Make the most of it.)