Jemiatha’s Jumble Stop
In which Bechimo settles the bill.
It hadn’t occurred to me to think much about what name one of Bechimo‘s reserve personalities might have, but of course it depends on where they’re deployed: if one had taken over control of Bechimo, its name would have been Bechimo, but since it didn’t, it isn’t. And apparently the name of the ship this one is now based in is Admiral Bunter, which gives us two defense-oriented AIs in this series who share the names of characters from English literature. I’d remark on the coincidence, but as remarkable coincidences go I think Roderick Spode still has it beat.
It was only this morning, seven years later, that it finally occurred to me in this connection that there are two notable characters named Bunter in English literature, and that when I wrote this entry I was probably thinking of the wrong one. The one who came to mind at the time was Billy Bunter, from Frank Richards’ Greyfriars series, but it’s at least as likely that the authors were thinking of Mervyn Bunter, from Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey series — arguably the second most famously capable valet in English literature after Jeeves himself. I don’t know why it took me so long to put that together, unless it’s that my brain was resisting the coincidence of two defense-oriented AIs just happening to be both be named after famous fictional valets. It’s still not quite in the class of the Roderick Spode thing, but it’s getting there.
Of course! Bunter from Sayers, which I have read and yet never made the connection either. This is worth mentioning. Thank you! It adds something to the whole story, and Admiral Bunter is a favorite of mine.
ps. Thinking of AIs and Spode, did you see my recent comment on Intelligent Design? about the short story “standing orders”
Yes, I did. It looks like the only way for me to get hold of the Derelict anthology is to order in a copy of the physical book from overseas, which I’ve been reluctant to do, so I’ve been putting it off and hoping “Standing Orders” will show up in a chapbook or Constellation one of these days.
I imagine it will — something to look forward to! But I read the kindle version — not available overseas?
I expect it is, but I’ve so far avoided getting entangled in the Kindle ecosystem and I’d like to stay that way.
Although now you’ve prompted me to check again and it looks like the book is now available in other ebook formats/from other providers, including the one I usually use. Hmm.
that’s good news!
Thank you for pointing out the valet connection. Since I haven’t read Woodhouse or Sayers, this is news to me.
The Wiki says that “Sayers admitted having partially based Bunter’s character on P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves, although Wimsey and Bunter are quite distinct from Wooster and Jeeves.” I wonder whether the authors also had this “partially being based on Jeeves character” in mind when they picked the name Admiral Bunter for the newly created AI and what that is going to say about Admiral Bunters future?