Troynovant Surprises:
flashes & blinks in the aura of improbable
Reviews,
Essays,
Memoirs,
& Comments
Here we glimpse a few surprising flashes of information that lie hidden in items at Troynovant. These may be only asides or minor themes, but perhaps will cause an occasional wink, blink, or unexpected nod of recognition. For discussion of the narrative failing we call the curse of surprise, see reviews of the Null-A series and the Weapon Shop series.
Nostalgia for Christmas, in a science fiction story written by the only woman member of the Bolshevik Central Committee in Lenin's government. => "Soon (In 48 Years' Time)"
How a science fiction author might generate two entirely different stories from a single idea. => "Bullet With His Name"
Fortified Neolithic villages assaulted by archery attack, overrun, and burnt. => War Before Civilization
"That a tremendous, wild conflict, emerging from dark crudity and cruelty, precedes the Homeric era, that Homer stands as victor at the end of this long comfortless period — this is one of my most certain convictions." => "Homer's Contest"
What similar architectural structures are featured in an Eisenstein Communist masterpiece and a Laurel and Hardy comic masterpiece? => The Music Box
How and why to mail a light bulb without a package. => The Eugene Post Office
Advantages and disadvantages of grinding bones into flour (presuming one's neighbors are very hungry). => I'll Grind His Bones to Make My Bread: An Unscientific Enquiry into a Failed Experiment in Quasi-Cannibalism
How should one react to telepathy at a formal dance? => Dance Cards: Dating Ahead at a Ball
Can a trip to Hell be fun? => Inferno
Mathematicians plan the future, but can they determine it? => Psychohistorical Crisis
Beyond the Renaissance Faire — can you live a fragment of the Gothic Revival in your neighborhood park? => Living in the Current Middle Ages: Discover The Society for Creative Anachronism
On the collapsing distinction between personal morality and public policy. => There Ought Not to Be a Law
Rebels and heroes speaking in tongues; the finest science fiction we have ever seen on screen. => Firefly dvd series
[Windsor Park.]
Sir John Falstaff:
And these are not fairies? By the Lord, I was three or four times in the thought they were not fairies, and yet the guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness of the foppery into a received belief — in despite of the teeth of all rhyme and reason — that they were fairies. See now how wit may be made a Jack-a-Lent when 'tis upon ill employment!
William Shakespeare
The Merry Wives of Windsor, 5,5, 117-123
Actually there are a lot more surprises here.
We even surprise ourselves sometimes.
About our structure for this Troy-town maze of cultural stratigraphy — at Troynovant a piece is a review of book or story, of film or reel or soundie, if largely about a particular title; while a brief nod or counterpoint to a notable article or curiosity is a comment; a folly mines a vein of humor; a memoir is a firsthand reminiscence; a compilation gathers illuminating quotations; otherwise generally an essay.
Personae: an alternate Contents via emanant Olympians.
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