On Wed, 11 Sep 2002, David Silberstein wrote: [SKZB] #] Tue Sep 10th, 2002 6:01 AM # #] Off on a long pilgrimage. A few days in central California, #] then Minnesota to catch the last couple weekends of the #] Renfest. I'll be back in early October, and maybe then I'll have #] my thoughts organized for the rant in which I explain why I #] think historical accuracy is over-rated in fantasy. Yee-ha. # #"historical accuracy is over-rated"???? #Hmpf. # #> #>> So I am wildly curious to know what happened! Did Steve #>> err? #> #>Not if we can think of an alternative explainantion :) [snip lots] How'bout?: History is always reconstructed from fallible views. *The Truth*, the facts of what really happened, is not accessible. All we have are artifacts (that is, actual things); records; other people's testimony of their memories; our own memories; and assorted nth-hand descriptions and interpretations of all but the last. The above is a truth about the world, whether our world or the Dragaera universe. Given Steve's interest in society and history, I'm sure he's aware of it. He may have made a conscious decision not to provide a (truly) omniscient viewpoint, but to provide "truths" as seen from various viewpoints and leave us in the same relation to them as we are to our own history. -- Mark A. Mandel http://world.std.com/~mam/Cracks-and-Shards/ a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website