tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post728854665099771094..comments2024-03-26T14:48:15.857-07:00Comments on Rocket Stack Rank: The Hydraulic Emperor, by Arkady MartineGreg Hullenderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16720604327299886491noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-19497281224155300622018-10-12T08:42:43.501-07:002018-10-12T08:42:43.501-07:00Some author notes:
https://www.arkadymartine.net/...Some author notes:<br /><br />https://www.arkadymartine.net/blog/2018/1/3/new-short-fiction-the-hydraulic-emperor-in-uncanny-20Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16119082365881285289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-80356984155532897012018-09-14T16:47:39.140-07:002018-09-14T16:47:39.140-07:00What Allie said. Keeping Skemety's location s...What Allie said. Keeping Skemety's location secret was more important than seeing The Hydraulic Emperor. Averill did it to push her that far. He knew she wouldn't let him win. Maybe all three bidders were hired by the same company since Averill had just the thing to push the woman with the jade disks into working with Mallory.Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16119082365881285289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-41138835884647102622018-04-07T12:06:34.899-07:002018-04-07T12:06:34.899-07:00I don't think it was about preventing people f...I don't think it was about preventing people from seeing the Hydraulic Emperor. I felt like that only mattered in the story because it was a sacrifice for Mallory. Her thoughts on the location sacrifice:<br /><br />"All of her famed reclusiveness, gone. Everything exposed. In her last public interview—only voice, and with all the location markers scrambled—she said that she couldn’t stand to be seen anymore, that she couldn’t bear being known—the films were enough. The films were already too much."<br /><br />She was respecting Skemety's wishes and respecting her ability to maintain her legacy as "that reclusive filmmaker who made some immersive films and then mysteriously vanished from the public eye forever." Alliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-68046772598750130732018-04-07T07:51:28.931-07:002018-04-07T07:51:28.931-07:00Well, she protected Skemety's location, but ho...Well, she protected Skemety's location, but how did that protect her legacy? I didn't see that she feared the Hydraulic Emperor was so bad that it would damage Skemety's legacy. (And, truthfully, when a writer or other artist produces a bad work near the end of their life, no one seems to care a whole lot.)Greg Hullenderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16720604327299886491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-23233479197800072862018-04-07T06:23:07.552-07:002018-04-07T06:23:07.552-07:00From my reading, after Averill's first bid, he...From my reading, after Averill's first bid, her goal was to protect Skemety (not to gain access to the Hydraulic Emperor). She cared less that she won, and more that Averill lost. She desperately wanted to see the film, but in the end protecting Skemety's life and legacy was more important to her.Alliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com