Gone to Abaddon by McCamy Taylor

[Lester Curtis]

I've never been much into this kind of fantasy, with elves and fairies and such, but this was a very affecting story, and I enjoyed it. I guess the opening line pulled me in; I don't see hooks that good very often these days (except on my kitty).

I spotted a few typos, but aside from that I have no complaints. Very nicely done.

[Megawatts]

Stories with elves and fairies and gremlins can really open up creative juices. And this one used fantasy character to set a story not unlike immigrants with different cultures settling in a new country.

The story conveys emotions and feelings about life lived as a non-human surrounded by humans living in a Victorian society, England. Some parts reminded me of the novel God is an Englishman.

The elemental transformation of an Elvish--something like an elf I believe-- was interesting. Some to water and others to fire, and maybe others to another state. The question of spontaneous combustions is integrated and answered somewhat within this story. A nice foreshadowing directing our minds towards science which is introduced and used later.

What’s interesting is the ending: Science is used to save an Elvish. The ice-box, the brother-in-law-- a chemist--and the end result in which Uncle Aden became stable with the help of iron derivatives, is a twist that one would not have expected in the beginning of the story.

I had trouble with Uncle Aden’s gender during parts of the story. I thought him a girl at some points, but the word Uncle always popped up. At times I thought he had feminine characteristics or might even be a transvestite elivsh. Yet when I re-read the passages about prostitution I became convinced that Aden was a female! Or possibly an elivsh can change its gender! I don’t know about this and would like the opinion of another’s critique on this matter. Probably just me missing or adding what’s not there which can happen when one reads for symbolism or too much depth. We all can read much more into a story than the author intended, and I often fall into that mind-set.



Liked it

[Lester Curtis]

I had trouble with Uncle Aden’s gender during parts of the story.

I had forgotten to mention it, but that bothered me, too . . . that feminine character impression was very strong, but I can't exactly say why. I think it would have been the same even without the mention of prostitution. Maybe that 'mothering' behavior/attitude.

[Lester Curtis]

McCamy,

Don't forget oxygen demand. How will you get enough oxygen from the miniscule amount avialable in simple water to support a human-like (or better) brain?

Think of microgams O2/ml ratio available in normal seawater and what your ratio must be to make this happen. Or else: Perhaps top breathers? Like maybe dolpins and orcas?

Just something to consider.

Bill Wolfe

Stranger things have happened, Bill -- especially in the seas. Take the octopi, for example -- amazingly clever little beasties, especially seeing that they only live for about a year. Also, their hemoglobin is copper-based, instead of iron-based. The result being that, even though they're quite strong, they have very little stamina.

[Lester Curtis]

Now think about what kind of energy it takes to run the only truly sentient brain we know. . .

I think I saw it given somewhere as about ten watts.

That still doesn't mean much to me. For a long time, nobody could understand how crows and ravens could be so smart (one crow named Betty has been known to exhibit tool-making behavior, modifying an existing object to a specific application). After all, they looked at birds' brains and said, "There's nothing there." They just had to look more closely and realize that the structure was different.

I'll grant that there might need to be some minimum number of neurons required before a light goes on, but structure is important too -- and it can take forms we don't yet recognize. Also, I don't doubt that other factors come into play that we haven't figured out yet either.

[Robert_Moriyama]

If the life form in question is composed of materials that become more conductive under certain conditions (low temperatures -- say in a liquid methane ocean?), one would expect that it would require less energy to transmit neural signals (at least the electrical component) due to reduced resistance. (On the other hand, low temperatures also imply slower movement of particles, so the chemical component of neural activity would be, well, slower...)

But remember Deep Thought, the Hitchhiker's Guide supercomputer, that took thousands of years to come up with the answer to the ultimate question (although it took another supercomputer -- the planet Earth, complete with all its life forms -- to figure out what that question was). The speed at which thought takes place is not the only (and perhaps not the most important) measure of intelligence.

Um, what story were we discussing here before we got sidetracked?

[Lester Curtis]

The speed at which thought takes place is not the only (and perhaps not the most important) measure of intelligence.

The speed of thought -- maybe not -- but, it will be tied to the speed of other neural processes which do have to be fast to avoid accidents or predation, or to capture prey.

Um, what story were we discussing here before we got sidetracked?

Classic case of 'topic drift,' isn't it?

[Robert_Moriyama]

If the life form in question is composed of materials that become more conductive under certain conditions (low temperatures -- say in a liquid methane ocean?), one would expect that it would require less energy to transmit neural signals (at least the electrical component) due to reduced resistance. (On the other hand, low temperatures also imply slower movement of particles, so the chemical component of neural activity would be, well, slower...)

Robert,

Don't forget that nerve impulses aren't electricity. For one thing, they have a top speed of around 300 mph, regardless of temperature. Some nerve impulses are as slow as ten mph. (Not just Republican brain neurons, that goes for everyone!)

Nerves aren't wires. The frog leg and battery experiment should have been banned from 'science' classrooms at the turn of the Century--and I don't mean the last one. . .the one before!

Bill Wolfe

Why, you grey jelly chauvinist! Would this apply to a silicon (instead of carbon) based lifeform with sorta-kinda semiconductor "nerves"?

[Robert_Moriyama]

My current project is a long piece about the future when humans have been genetically modified to live in the ocean.

Robert,

Don't forget the original post, by McCamy.

Genetically modified to grow wires instead of nerves? That's a lot of modification.

This greasy bag of ropey guts, would object.

Bill Wolfe

Oh, sure. NOW he wants to steer the discussion back toward the author, if not the story. I have half a mind to spritzle miqwarg in his general direction. (The other half is currently being detailed -- the chrome circuit pathways were getting a little dull.)

[Megawatts]

That's a good point Bill. I'm going to re-read the story. I'll post my findings after another re-read.