SIRIUS FICTION

Lexicon Urthus Second Edition Corrections

History of Urth (p. 178) 12 P.S. "Chateline Sancha" should be "Chatelaine Sancha." (Hint from G. San Martin.)

Lune orbital period (p. 218) Jack Smith rightly points out that changing the mass of the satellite will not affect its orbital period. (Tracing the origin of the mistake, it turns out that in making my spreadsheet formula I had accidentally put the mass of the secondary body into the equation where it is supposed to be the mass of the primary body.)
The context was an attempt to derive a 28-day orbit from a 15-day orbit by envisioning vast amounts of anti-gravity substance on the satellite. Within this framework, it is a simple step to adjust it and propose that since the term "orbit" implies too many things, the term "powered hover" would be more appropriate to an utterly artificial, constant thrust, circular track taking 28 days per lap. That is to say, if we are to use antigravity, let us use it in an active sense of thrust rather than a passive sense of mass reduction; if we are to emphasize the artificial nature of the Lune situation, let us be plain that the "orbit" is not an orbit at all.

midinette (p. 241) a blank line is missing before the entry.

planetaration (p. 286) should be planteration (Tim Reilly). Since it had the same misspelling in the first edition, it must be worth double points.

pyx (p. 295) is missing a period at the end "297)."

Severian (p. 318) history section: "a bishop of Scythopolis . . . murdered by Eutychian heretics with connivance of the empress Eudoxia." Darrell Schweitzer questions that it was Eudoxia, who was wife of Theodosius II. Back tracking to the source text confirms that Eudoxia is the name given in The Book of Saints (1966), but it was subsequently corrected to Eudocia in a later edition. Thus, the line from the Severian entry should read, "with connivance of the empress Eudocia." Since it had the same misspelling in the first edition, it also must be worth double points.

Thais (p. 343), last line: "She became queen of Egypt, was condemned by Dante . . . and became the subject of a novel by Anatole France, as well as an opera." Darrell Schweitzer points out that, "The Anatole France novel is not about the queen of Egypt and contemporary of Alexander. It's set in . . . about A.D. 350 and is about a monk who tries to reform a courtesan." This is true. The entry was trying to say that Thais inspired a variety of echoes: legendary, literary, religious, novelistic, and operatic.

Thais the Athenian hetaera, loved by Alexander in the fourth century B.C. She came up with the idea to burn the palace of Perseopolis, and Alexander did it (so Thais has a "destruction of the palace" element that finds an echo in Thais of Urth). She became queen of Egypt, but a chiliad later Dante condemned her as "flatterer." (In fact, Dante was probably talking about the heroine Thais in The Eunuch, a play by Terence in the second century B.C.).
Saint Thais the penitent (4th-century Christian legend). Patron of fallen women or courtesans. The subject of the historical novel Thais (1890) by Anatole France, as well as an opera (1894).

Xenagie (p. 377) is missing a period at "246)."

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October 2009