TOL: Unintended references

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Am I the only one that smiles every time "Black Mesa" is mentioned? :-)

Nerds ;-) I expect both Tom and Veronica react the same as me. Both being gamers.

(view spoiler)[Black Mesa is a science technology company in the Half Life game series. It is a rival to Aperture Science. It is also mentioned in the Portal game series. (hide spoiler)]

I keep waiting for "Aperture Science" to come into the story and Portal guns .

It can be either annoying or fun when books have these unintended references.

Older books also have differences in word or phrase usage. Like older classics having their characters "make love". Which they use to mean flirting or courting, but to us it means going all the way.

[terpkristin]

The cake is a lie.

[Mark]

Tassie Dave wrote: "Am I the only one that smiles every time "Black Mesa" is mentioned?"



San Ildefonso Pueblo (P'ohwhóge Owingeh) is at the base of Black Mesa in New Mexico. I drove by every weekday for years on the way to work.

It's a game too? ;-)

[Mark]

Hmmm. Ok, I looked at your spoiler and read some more at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locatio...

More or less the same place

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

I assume that's the Black Mesa mentioned in the book. Cool.

Those are the parts of the US I want to see. The less cityfied, scenic areas. Like Monument Valley, Grand Canyon etc

[Trike]

Yeah, I don’t think this is unintended. Both the game and this book are set in the same location and Black Mesa is a real feature of the place. It also appears in one of the Leaphorn & Chee novels and maybe in Lonesome Dove, and who knows how many others. It’s kind of like when Devils Tower shows up in things that aren’t Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

[Mark]

I misidentified the pueblo. Black Mesa is home to San Ildefonso Pueblo (P'ohwhóge Owingeh). Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo) is further north. I think Roanhorse is of Ohkay Owingeh heritage.

[Trike]

Tassie Dave wrote: "I assume that's the Black Mesa mentioned in the book. Cool.

Those are the parts of the US I want to see. The less cityfied, scenic areas. Like Monument Valley, Grand Canyon etc"

I’ve been there, there isn’t much to see. It’s a good place to die easily, between the extreme heat during the day, extreme cold during the night, and various critters. Oz might have the most poisonous snakes in the world, but the Southwest has got them there rattlers. They’re no joke, bucko.

But if yer fixin’ to go, don’t forget to see White Sands and the Petrified Forest.

[Mark]

Trike wrote: "the Southwest has got them there rattlers. They’re no joke, bucko."

Welcome to New Mexico.

New Mexico Snakes Information for New Mexico Homeowners
https://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_circulars...

Venomous Creatures in New Mexico
https://nmpoisoncenter.unm.edu/educat...

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Trike wrote: "Oz might have the most poisonous snakes in the world, but the Southwest has got them there rattlers. They’re no joke, bucko."

I try and avoid all snakes ;-) Tasmania only has 4 species, but they are all deadly, even the babies.

I'd rate our Tiger Snake as scarier than a Rattler. They can be up to 8 feet long and as thick as an arm, with venom many times more deadly than any rattler. Plus they don't give any warning sound if you get close.

Snakes don't scare me. You learn really quickly living in the country how to avoid snakes and if you see them, give them plenty of room to slither away.

The animals that would scare me in the US are the large predators like grizzlies and cougars. We have nothing like that here.

[Trike]

Tassie Dave wrote: "The animals that would scare me in the US are the large predators like grizzlies and cougars. We have nothing like that here."

I wouldn’t worry about those too much. Attacks by them only happen

— checks notes —

every week.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...

Just kidding. You are FAR more likely to get shot here than even see a bear. I’ve got a couple bears in my neighborhood and I’ve only seen them twice.

[Ruth]

Trike wrote: You are FAR more likely to get shot here than even see a bear. I’ve got a couple bears in my neighborhood and I’ve only seen them twice.

You’ll forgive me if I don’t find this particularly reassuring...

I thought of Half-Life too when Black Mesa was first mentioned, but I think it’s just coincidence - it’s simply a geographical feature of that area.

Some parts of the book remind me of American Gods, I’m not sure whether that’s intentional or not.

[Trike]

Ruth wrote: "Trike wrote: You are FAR more likely to get shot here than even see a bear. I’ve got a couple bears in my neighborhood and I’ve only seen them twice.

You’ll forgive me if I don’t find this particularly reassuring..."

Nor should you. America has a disease that is hollowing us out, and that is a sick love of guns. Today is the 250th day of 2019 and we’ve had 307 mass shootings. 99% of them don’t even make the news any more. As a category of gun violence, mass shootings account for the least number of deaths. That very fact is terrifying.

[Ruth]

Trike wrote: America has a disease that is hollowing us out, and that is a sick love of guns.

I have to say, a lot of American popular culture does kinda fetishize guns and promote violence as the answer to the main characters' problems... and this book, at least so far (I'm about 2/3 of the way through) is no exception. Maggie sure loves her weapons and responds with violence in a lot of situations. She's also channelling a god's power in order to do violence. It's a bit like the Poppy War in that respect.

tbh I think I would have preferred to read something with less violence and more peaceful conflict resolution. I get a bit bored with endless fighting.

[David H.]

Ruth, there are some pacifist SF/fantasy works out there if you're interested in seeking them out. I agree about the apparent glorification of violence in a lot of our genre.

[Ruth]

David wrote: "Ruth, there are some pacifist SF/fantasy works out there if you're interested in seeking them out. I agree about the apparent glorification of violence in a lot of our genre."

Recs please!

[Trike]

Ruth wrote: "David wrote: "Ruth, there are some pacifist SF/fantasy works out there if you're interested in seeking them out. I agree about the apparent glorification of violence in a lot of our genre."

Recs p..."

You should start a thread.

[David H.]

(Ruth, you don't accept messages on Goodreads, so here you go: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...)

Please continue with your regularly scheduled Trail of Lightning discussion.

[Ruth]

David wrote: "(Ruth, you don't accept messages on Goodreads, so here you go: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...)

Please continue with your regularly scheduled Tr..."

Thanks!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Tassie Dave wrote: "I assume that's the Black Mesa mentioned in the book. Cool.

Those are the parts of the US I want to see. The less cityfied, scenic areas. Like Monument Valley, Grand Canyon etc"

Me too, top of my list. I even have a B&B in a cave I want to stay in!

[Buzz]

Tassie Dave wrote: "Am I the only one that smiles every time "Black Mesa" is mentioned? :-) Nerds ;-) I expect both Tom and Veronica react the same as me. Both being gamers..."

I KNEW Black Mesa sounded familiar from something lol!

Thanks for the trip down nerd memory lane lol.

[Buzz]

Trike wrote: "...It also appears in one of the Leaphorn & Chee novels ..."

My brother and his wife LOVE the Leaphorn & Chee series... I've only read the first one with Leaphorn but I've heard they get better once the Chee character is introduced

[Trike]

Buzz wrote: "Trike wrote: "...It also appears in one of the Leaphorn & Chee novels ..."

My brother and his wife LOVE the Leaphorn & Chee series... I've only read the first one with Leaphorn but I've heard they..."

The characters age as the series progresses, so Leaphorn goes from cop to mentor to retired, and Chee comes along in the middle. I’m not even sure Chee was born when those first books came out. It reminds me of the Vorkosigan series, where we have a few books before Miles is born, but then Miles comes of age and we follow his life.