Discontinuity = clue? [GS sample ch spoilers]

[Byers]

Mort from Ch4.

"Morty, what?” he snapped back. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I am not getting involved in whatever international crisis you mean to perpetrate next.”

I take "international crisis" to mean that Mort is refering to the destruction of the Red Court and the shake up in both the natural and supernatural worlds due to the power vaccum.  This also agrees with Stu's timeline of 6 months.  I also find the snow on the ground to be interesting.  I take it to mean that Mab is exerting her influence for some reason, either in response to Harry's death or the stated crisis.

[taishojojo]

Stu says that ghosts can become unattached to time... maybe Dresden's ghost is in the past.  That would explain why Mort says weird things like, "It’s not enough that you have to keep dragging me into things in life. So now your stupid ghost shows up to do it, too?"  The tense of this is all wrong.  If ghosts can time travel, Mort would know it, so he wouldn't clue Harry in on it.  When did the blizzard hit Chicago during one of the past books?  Was it May?  If so, maybe that is "when" Harry's ghost is at right now.

There is some really weird discontinuities, though, regarding Mort's house.  Harry remembers being killed and saving Maggie and killing Susan BUT he doesn't remember Mort having been bald before or moving to the duplex.  So, if Harry is in the past, he remembers "powerful events" like Maggie and Chichen Itza, but doesn't remember things like Mort?  That doesn't make much sense.

Unless the stuff about Mort's house and lack of hair is an error, which is unlikely, Harry's ghost is in the past and while he remembers some things about right before he died (Maggie and the offing of the Red Court and his apartment getting burned down), he doesn't remember Mort moving.  Nothing else makes sense, but, what I'm saying doesn't make much sense, either!

But if they are in the past, how does Stu know Harry has been dead for 6 months.

This all doesn't make much sense at all.  That's about all I can conclude, LOL.

As far as Stu inviting Harry in... as I understood it a resident could invite. Stu may not be a relation to Mortimer but still resides in the house.
I had considered that this was the original ghost created by Harry but I couldn't explain how the ghost knew about CI. (this would have explained the time thing and getting the houses wrong....)
Also... Morty complains about Harry dragging him into an international incident. The only one I'm aware of is CI itself (I dont consider Death Masks to be an international incident). As near as I can tell this is current.
Also... I'm sure this qualifies as DUH but Harry's being played. (of course when is Harry not being played)

This has been commented before but it bears repeating....
Hes only being shown what THEY (whoever THEY is) want Harry to think... THEY are laying nout the dots for him to connect.
Thats why 'Jack' calls Karrin, Karrie; it comes off as endearing until you think Karrie aint short for Karrin. Even you make the stretch that some thick accent makes it come across as Karr-een.
Thats why Amitiel shuts down Harry's sight... Amitiel is the Angel of Truth in some cultures and a fallen angel in others.

I'm firmly wut-duh-fudge... (I can hear cosmic giggling... dont think I dont notice)

[laura118b]

Except a very much alive and knew her father Rawlins called Murphy Karrie as well.  Pet names are hard to qualify, it may be that her little sister or a brother had problems saying Karren and Karrie just stuck with the family.

[Durwen]

Maybe Harry is seeing things on a spiritual plane rather than on a purely physical level. In a sort of semi-Sight slash Soulgaze, he might be perceiving the world in idealized and symbolic images. So far he's dealt with basically good people (nice to look at) and evil ghost-eating monsters (u-gly).

Maybe that's what Lash and Uriel talked about when they said Harry needed to die to understand. Maybe he's seeing things as they really are, no longer encumbered by his... biology. 

[Serack]

One you might be missing... are we certain that ghosts are capable of issuing invitations over threshholds?
Could Harry's mind/subconscious/imagination be compensating for his expectations of needing an invitation?

I'll come back to the posts made after this later, I've gota step away from the computer for a bit but first:

But Harry isn't at Mort's home, so why would he need Mort's permission to step over the threshold?

[lovejoy69]

Thats why 'Jack' calls Karrin, Karrie; it comes off as endearing until you think Karrie aint short for Karrin. Even you make the stretch that some thick accent makes it come across as Karr-een.

Murphy's family seems to be long-rooted into the Chicago area. I'm from roughly the same Upper Midwest region of the US. It doesn't strike me as at all unlikely that her dad's nickname for her when she was a little girl (and thus the nickname which his coworkers would have heard him use back then when he mentioned her) was Karrie. Dropping final consonant sounds and tagging on a syllable with a '-y' or '-ie' sound would be quite usual. For example, for a dad speaking of his two year old girl, Evelyn would likely be shortened to Evie. For a boy, Daniel goes to Danny or for a girl, Danielle to Dani (pronounced like Danny and sounding the same as the boy's nickname).

Rawlins knew Karrin Murphy's father while Karrin was a very small girl. The nickname Karrie seems reasonable to me, though she no longer uses the diminutive herself anymore.

[Serack]

For example, for a dad speaking of his two year old girl, Evelyn would likely be shortened to Evie.

That's my first choice if we have a girl (We are at 7 weeks).  I still have some lobbying to do with the Mrs though.  And yah, I already told the Mrs that if we did name her Evelyn I'd call her Evie.

[AcornArmy]

That's my first choice if we have a girl (We are at 7 weeks).  I still have some lobbying to do with the Mrs though.  And yah, I already told the Mrs that if we did name her Evelyn I'd call her Evie.

Wow, congratulations Serack! Happy baby and many more!

_{Or is that just for birthdays? Hrm...}

[Serack]

Wow, congratulations Serack! Happy baby and many more!

_{Or is that just for birthdays? Hrm...}

Thanks, We found out almost 4 weeks ago, and heard the heart beat at the ultrasound a week ago today (Wednesday).  Apparently that drops the miscarriage rate down by a factor of about 5.

[Shecky]

That's my first choice if we have a girl (We are at 7 weeks).  I still have some lobbying to do with the Mrs though.  And yah, I already told the Mrs that if we did name her Evelyn I'd call her Evie.

You do know that's Iago's daughter's name, right? I don't even like kids that much and *I* think she's adorable.

[lovejoy69]

That's my first choice if we have a girl (We are at 7 weeks).  I still have some lobbying to do with the Mrs though.  And yah, I already told the Mrs that if we did name her Evelyn I'd call her Evie.

Congrats, congrats!!! Wishing all three of you all the best. Healthy and happy and everything.

(And yes, Iago's daughter Evie turned two on June 12th. She and her little brother-on-the-way will be two years and just a few weeks apart in age.)

[Fannan]

Yes congratulations, Serack! Evie can grow up with wizards in her bedtime stories.

[Serack]

Thanks guys!  *Points at thread about the baby*

[LogicMouseLives]

Collection of disparate facts from the sample chapters...

• Everyone in Chicagatory is in the prime of their life with no scars (well at least the 3 we know)
• The cars are vintage
• What Harry is percieving is being censored
• There's an angel garding the door to the "precinct"
• Somebody cheated when Harry was killed
• 3 people Harry loves will be harmed if he doesn't solve who killed him
• Harry is asked to write down a specific address to go to rather than to say something like "Mort's House"
• Harry is limited in what he can influence on the living plane, and has no magic
• Mindless specters want to eat Harry's ghost
• Memories can be used as a weapon on these Specters
• Harry was taken to Mort's old address, not the Duplex in DB
• Harry had forgoten that he had already seen Mort with a bicked head
• Mort stopped to take the time to grab a single Oreo before locking Harry out of his bedroom
• There is 1.5 feet of snow outside
• From Harry's perspective about an hour has gone by since he died, yet 6 months have passed

I know you're just collecting these for future reference, Serack, but I feel the need to point out a couple of minor inaccuracies in the list.

1. Not all the residents of Chicagotory are without scars. Carmichael and Amitiel are, but Captain Jack is described as being pretty battered. From chapter 2:

...he looked like a professional boxer. There was scar tissue here and there around his eyes, and his nose had been frequently broken.

Both of the humans, however, are described as being really buff, which I think probably means something...

2. The cars are appropriate (as best I can tell) to the time frames of the people driving them. Captain Jack's blue Buick Skylark is most likely either from the 1953-54 run or the 1961-63, neither of which is really heavily 'tail-finned' as such, but could be described so by someone not terribly interested in the appearance of cars in general. To take a shot in the dark, the Captain was probably between twenty and maybe thirty-five when Karrin (his oldest) was born, so since she's currently in her early forties, he would have been born some time between 1935 and 1950 (very approximately).

Carmichael's car is simply described as an old, gold colored Mustang, which doesn't narrow it down much, since Mustangs have been in continuous production–in one form or another–from 1964 to the present, but Carmichael actually refers to it as "my old Mustang" near the end of chapter 1, so I'm guessing that it (and probably the Skylark as well) is just a reflection of an actual car that he owned in life and had an attachment to.

Okay, everyone, please continue with the nearly unfounded but vastly entertaining speculation! *grabs a bowl of popcorn*

LML

Oh, and even though I said it in the baby thread already; Congratulations, Serack! Happy soon-to-be-fatherhood to you!

[itari]

Collection of disparate facts from the sample chapters...

• Everyone in Chicagatory is in the prime of their life with no scars (well at least the 3 we know)
• The cars are vintage
• What Harry is percieving is being censored
• There's an angel garding the door to the "precinct"
• Somebody cheated when Harry was killed
• 3 people Harry loves will be harmed if he doesn't solve who killed him
• Harry is asked to write down a specific address to go to rather than to say something like "Mort's House"
• Harry is limited in what he can influence on the living plane, and has no magic
• Mindless specters want to eat Harry's ghost
• Memories can be used as a weapon on these Specters
• Harry was taken to Mort's old address, not the Duplex in DB
• Harry had forgoten that he had already seen Mort with a bicked head
• Mort stopped to take the time to grab a single Oreo before locking Harry out of his bedroom
• There is 1.5 feet of snow outside
• From Harry's perspective about an hour has gone by since he died, yet 6 months have passed

• Although Harry has no magic, he is still able to use his Sight, at least in Chicagatory
• He bleeds ectoplasm
• He can feel pain
• Despite the snow, there are potted plants with leaves in Morty's garden and hedges
• Sir Stu is familiar, apparently, with Harry Dresden's name and reputation. I think he saw Harry in DM and DB.
• If a wraith devoured Harry, it would become so powerful that it could threaten the living

A little bit off-topic: when I read about Stu spending 5 years listening to Pink Floyd, I immediately thought of this.