Jonathan Palfrey
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Penric can get water from the air, and also turn it to ice. I wonder what else? Purify seawater (any advantage over air?)? Concentrate alcoholic drinks (like winter wine but faster)? Separate water into hydrogen and oxygen (for what purpose?)? Weld objects together (maybe not just metals)? Heat food like a microwave oven, or freeze it? Nuclear fission, probably not. Nuclear fusion, surely not.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Good questions. Purify seawater, sure; it just needs evaporated and condensed, tho' if one is in/by the sea, the air should be damp enough to skip step one. Ice wine, yes. Break down water molecules, not sure. Heating/cooling/cooking, maybe on a very small scale. (Mustn't overheat the sorcerer!) He would of course have to deal with the waste heat/waste chaos.
If science advances in this world, a very open question, I'm sure Pen would follow along and try to work out even more clever sorcery as insights emerge.
Ta, L.
Good questions. Purify seawater, sure; it just needs evaporated and condensed, tho' if one is in/by the sea, the air should be damp enough to skip step one. Ice wine, yes. Break down water molecules, not sure. Heating/cooling/cooking, maybe on a very small scale. (Mustn't overheat the sorcerer!) He would of course have to deal with the waste heat/waste chaos.
If science advances in this world, a very open question, I'm sure Pen would follow along and try to work out even more clever sorcery as insights emerge.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Peter Lawson
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
So Lois, my so distant Georgette Heyer muse, on your advice I have read the Toll-Gate, The Unknown Ajax, and finally The Reluctant Widow. Surprisingly, as a 61 year old Aussie guy, I've thoroughly enjoyed her works. What next? Is it too early for Cotillion, or do i not know enough of the various tropes she suberts in that book?!
Mackenzie Lang
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hello! Minor Vorkosigan question here, but all of the armsmen whose family names we learn are proles not Vor. Is the status of armsmen barred to Vor (due to conflicting oaths), or were armsmen historically of the Vor caste and the prevalence of proles a consequence of the opening of the military and new institutions like ImpSec and the municipal guard?
Katya
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I've read my way through almost the whole Vorkosigan series in the last couple of weeks, and enjoyed them thoroughly. Have you ever done any "dream casting" of actors/celebrities as your characters? (As someone who has a hard time drawing a mental picture from text, especially when it comes to faces—it's a weird neurological disconnect—I'd love to be able to "see" them as you visualized them.)
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