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.

  1. 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.).
  2. 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)."

Additional Errata 2014

Anonymous reports

Xii (resevoir) => reservoir
62 (Caitanya) themeselves => themselves
110 (Domnina) mirrrors => mirrors
201 (khaibit) rejuvination => rejuvenation
202 (khaibit) orginial => original
226 (man-apes) seem seem => seem

Found by machines

23 (arctother) deathsports => bloodsports
25 (arsinoither) deathsports => bloodsports
77 (Catherine) khabit => khaibit
99 (Cyriaca) occassion => occasion
101 (Daria) orginially => originally
107 (diatryma) deathsports => bloodsports
111 (Dorcas) commited => committed
125 (Eschatology and Genesis) laserburn => laser burn
133 (family trees) geneological => genealogical
150 (Gildas) degredation => degradation
156 (Guasacht) condotierre => condottiere
185 (Idas) onomasatics => onomastics
189 (Isid Iooo IoooE) occassionally => occasionally
316 (sergeant at the vincula) clavinger => claviger
330 (starost) heretiary => hereditary
336 (tallman riders) nighmarish => nightmarish
340 (technology levels) hastauri => hastarii
350 (torture chamber tools) grusome => gruesome
361 (Valeria) autarach => autarch
364 (vincula) clavinger => claviger
366 (Vodalus) harrassment => harassment
416 (ships) thalangii => thalamegus

Still More

223 (Magic in the Urth Cycle) [remove quote mark at end of quoted block]
272 [Capitalize A of There Are Doors]
384 (Yrierix) [change 'second "r"' into 'second R']

Lune repair

line "Or Lune's physical qualities . . ." replaced with "Or Lune's orbit might be more artificial than natural physics; it might be a powered hovering."

"(See flier)" replaced with ", described for fliers: 'Their lift is supplied by the antimaterial equivalent of iron, held in a penning trap by magnetic fields. Since the anti-iron has a reversed magnetic structure, it is repelled by promagnatism' (IV, chap. 24, 198)."

"Applying this to Lune . . ." replaced with "Applying this to Lune, we envision vast amounts of antigravity"

"Such a 'light' moon . . ." replaced with "substance on the satellite, allowing constant thrust along a circular track, taking 28 days per lap."

Thais repair

line "She became . . ." replaced with "She came up with the idea of burning the palace of Persepolis, and Alexander did it, so Thais has a 'destruction of the palace' element that finds an echo in Thais of Urth."





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August 2014