Vonda N. McIntyre wrote:
>
> Hi Catherine,
>
> (I hope this isn't more about French history than
> you ever wanted to hear!)
This stuff is fascinating! I never much liked history before, but this
is great. Maybe if my teachers had taught it this way, I would have
found it a lot more interesting.
> They must have been looking at the sales figures
> for STARFARERS. All I can figure is, I wrote
> myself into the world's smallest marketing niche
> and couldn't figure any way out.
Is STARFARERS still available? It sounds like something I would enjoy.
I think the web makes a big difference. My books are marketed as
straight hard sf and I doubt ten years ago they could have found their
cross-over audience, particularly given the hostility I encountered when
I suggested we should try for both audiences (I =knew= the books could
cross-over because of my own reading preferences). Now, with the web,
word gets around and authors can have more of an effect in promoting the
book.
The cross-over has a sort of boomerang effect too, in that I've had fan
mail from the husbands of romance readers who say, "My wife =told= me I
would like this and she was right."
> It would be wonderful to watch people shut up like
> a box when you happened to mention, by the way, that...
Once when I was a teaching fellow in graduate school, I was assigned to
a quantum mechanics class for upper division undergraduates. The first
day I went to the class and sat near the back. I tended to look younger
than my age then and also dressed up more than many grad students (eg, I
wore dresses). There were about sixty students in the class, with maybe
three or four women. While the prof was introducing the course, two
boys sitting behind me started to talk about me, saying things like "Do
you think she'll last?" and "Naw, everyone knows girls can't do this."
They seemed to be deliberately talking loud enough for me to overhear.
When I turned around to look at them, they both smirked and started to
laugh.
Then the professor got around to the syllabus he had handed out. At the
top of the page, next to his name and office hours, were listed the two
teaching fellows, myself and another graduate student named Gil. The
prof had Gil stand up while he introduced him. Then he said, "Catherine
Asaro is our other teaching fellow," and motioned for me to stand up.
Which I did.
Behind me I heard an "Oh, shiiiiit."
I have to admit, it was gratifying. <g>
> But I think the real reason, stated or not, was
> that knowledge of the classics was a marker for
> the top of the hierarchy (especially in England).
> It could have been anything, and has been a lot of
> other things in other societies in other times.
> But there and then it was knowledge of the
> Classics. And if it was reserved for the top of
> the hierarchy, then you _obviously_ couldn't allow
> women to do it. It was against nature and God's will.
That makes sense. One of the European countries, I believe Italy, has a
huge percentage of female mathematicians. In that country, being a
mathematician is a low status job.
> I think she died of anorexia.
I wouldn't be surprised. I used to do counseling of dancers with eating
disorders. Anorexia is often a reaction agains a controlling authority
figure, an attempt by the person with anorexia to exert control over at
least one facet of her life. It's been shown to occur in relationships
where the husband, father, or male relative uses emotional manipulation
to control his wife etc. Which sounds like it fits Louis to the letter.
Many thanks for all the info on the court and the people! It's great
stuff.
Best regards
Catherine
http://www.sff.net/people/asaro/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:07:46 PDT