Aphelion

(I didn't realize we needed to copy these posts ourselves.)<br><br>A slightly-too-proud explorer gets a two-year lesson in humility and what his enemies really are capable of.<br><br>Darned interesting setting again, Greg. It certainly felt very lonely to me, although I would have liked to see more description. Especially, I didn't get a good picture of the camp--the hut was stony, but was it concrete or built out of the stones from the planet, like Jern's grave? <br><br>I was intrigued by the crystal spheres that formed around Vinse Declusiac and the baby. They shattered and grew anew. Very different, interesting, and I was hungry for more about them.<br><br>I was interested by the tentacle trees as well. If the tentacle trees could not stomach them, why did they go for Jern's body? They are explained as sensory organs, but there is no mention of them except in this one tiny location. I found that odd, if that's what they indeed were.<br><br>I liked the strong nationalism in the characterizations--the blind, unfounded sense of superiority in Newen. However, I don't know how a person could be aloof and distant from the only other person to talk to for two years. I believe that even the best hermits can keep up their isolation only because they know they can choose to see people if they really wanted to--most marooned sailors end their own lives.<br><br>The snake is mentioned several times. Newen's necklace, the title... I assume Declusiac is the Snake, but it could also have been Newen's homeland, his world's desire for dominance. I would have liked to know why its symbol was the snake--did its leaders know they were acting in evil, "snakelike" ways?<br><br>The conflict vs. resolution seemed a little weak to me. Newen needs off the planet. He does get off, but makes no real choice to do so. Declusiac tosses him in the ship and pushes the 'go' button. All Newen does is endure. What happens to him is interesting, don't get me wrong, but I didn't get much sense that his ordeal had changed him much, either. He appeared to be the same character, just haggard and tired. (Maybe it was there and I missed it.)<br><br>If one doesn't subscribe to character conflict-resolution theory, this is a pretty good yarn about a marooned explorer and what happened to him, and I'm just loony. However, I am one of those theorists, and I thought the drama could have been more human and emotionally deeper by forcing Newen to make choices.<br><br>Nate

...Contra Jaime, I didn't mind the title so much despite a tendency toward being a bit too clever; it struck me that the title might've been referring to the same person... But maybe that's just me looking for connections. ...
Dan E.

<br><br>Damn, I read the story two or three times, and never thought of that. The snake is a symbol of New Zealander religion and culture, of which Newen is the prime example; Newen is literally the bald man, of course; and his continual whining and ranting about the superiority of New Zealanders over Ingos is -- well, infantile. Darn clever, these Edelmans.<br><br>Robert M.

... I think it was the initial description of Newen standing in the swamp, his legs like gnarled tree trunks. Kinda made me think Newen was an Ent or a troll, but it was just Greg being poetic. The appearing/disappearing bubble ships at the end were 'magical', too, in the Clarkeian sense of 'any sufficiently advanced technology ...'<br><br>Robert M.