The Ann Arbor/Flint, Michigan Discussion Group of the Mythopoeic Society
Galadhremmin Ennorath
contact Dave & Grace Lovelace, (of Milan, MI) davel@cyberspace.org
or gracel@cyberspace.org
Meetings start at 7:30 PM unless otherwise arranged, and alternate between
Flint and Ann Arbor, MI.
See the Activity Calendar for current meeting
info
Here are a couple of brief descriptions of past meetings.
1997
February 8 Discussion Report: We were supposedly discussing Tolkien's
The Shaping of Middle Earth, second half. The division had been made
before anybody read the book, and there wasn't much to discuss for light-minded
people like us. "Orc raids" appeared surprisingly often on the
map, so we spent much of our time hunting through the whole volume for Orcs
and Balrogs, noting that Orcs were being made before the Elves first woke
up, and that *all* the Balrogs were destroyed in Morgoth's fall. Our host
provided a copy of the published Silmarillion wherein we found that
a few Balrogs had escaped after all.
The cheesecake was excellent. There was also the not-uncommon exchange of
borrowed books; the Lovelace contingent came away with an armful of Barbara
Hambly's earlier works, after recommending Dog Wizard.
March 15 Discussion Report: the Ides of March, Ann Arbor. Topic Robert
Jordan's Crown of Swords The "Ann Arbor" group met last
Saturday, at Don Hildebrandt's house in
Scio Township (A2 mailing address). This was the March meeting that had
had been postponed, partly because of basement water problems. We were discussing
Robert Jordan's A Crown of Swords, the latest (7th) in his "The
Wheel of Time" series. We've caught up with the publisher, so that
we can't expect another one soon; Dave L. thinks the publisher has caught
up with the author, though Jim Harley suggested that profits from the present
hardback sales have encouraged delay in bringing out either the paperback
or the next volume.
In any case, the book is full of plot developments, some expected &
some not (e.g. Nynaeve's losing her block had nothing to do with her hair
after all) and discussion did not flag (though memory does). We wondered
exactly who Rand's rescuer was, in Shadar Logoth, whose balefire was so
different; Jim says it was Moridin, which seems to be consistent, but then
who's he? The prophecy about the Black Tower's being "rent" we
contrasted to the one about Servants balancing guardians. etc.
We wondered (as usual) about what will happen next: what happened to Bayle
Domon & Egeanin, sailing more-or-less into the Seanchan fleet? Will
the Kin and those Aes Sedai stay on that farm outside Ebou Dar as the Seanchan
takeover? Is Mat's apparently-inevitable capture going to be his first step
toward marrying the Daughter of the Nine Moons? Interesting reading ahead,
eventually.
The coffeecake & cider were quite good, and the usual book exchange
took place.
Note from May, '98: We're up to date on Robert Jordan's books, we're working through Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books, we're about to start over on Charles Williams's novels (Shadows of Ecstasy, Don's, May 23), in The History of Middle-Earth. I think we're between volumes 5 & 6 but we might be in the middle of v. 5 (The Lost Road)..
Grace Lovelace