On Sun, 29 Feb 2004, mary whalen wrote: > > --- Philip Hart <philiph at SLAC.Stanford.EDU> wrote: > > On pg 15 (ppb) of _Dragon_ Vlad describes having related the events of > > _Taltos_, which occurred "just days before", to a box with ears. > > Somewhere else we learn someone convinced him his stories would never > > get back to anyone involved. I found it rather difficult to suspend > > my disbelief that V would confide to a stranger the histories of the > > Vladiad. It now strikes me as rather odd that the stranger in question > > would know to question V after _Taltos_ - before he'd been rather > > unusual but (as far as we know) hardly noteworthy to anyone except > > Kiera. Hmm. > > Actually, going to the Paths of the Dead and returning alive are > unusual enough to be interesting to almost anyone. Maybe an > interdimensional traveler interested in Dragaera found out what Vlad did > and told him that he would only spread the story in his home dimension. My point was, how would the traveller find out about the events of _Teckla_, and how could that happen within days, and how could anyone convince Vlad to discuss the events in question when he had a) just had his world greatly expanded, b) just had a bunch of very difficult-to- organize-into-a-three-or-however-many-voice-symphony experiences, c) just spent some time recovering from sleep deprivation followed by a life- threateningly-difficult spell, and d) just spent some time getting back up to speed at the office and putting out small fires etc. No, I think this had to be a prior arrangement. I think this is further borne out by Vlad's (implied) description of the transaction as unremarkable at the time. It does depend a little on what "just days" means, I suppose, but V does seem financially ok at the time and hence less likely than earlier in his career to covet the telling fee. As an aside, it is remarked by memoirists and poets and so forth that the need to have experiences to relate leads one to seek out situations likely to lead to good material, a process which may distort one's life. I wonder if during _Dragon_ Vlad had in the back of his mind, It'd make a nice tale for the box if I joined the army and met a bunch of Dragons.