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Neal Asher's "The Skinner"
December 21, 2007 by wordweary
Asher, Neal. The Skinner. New York: Tor, 2002. 424 p.
Anguine: "Of or related to or resembling a snake."
What a great word!
"Pieces of shell and gobbets of flesh were being pulled at and rapidly denuded by dark, unclearly seen, anguine shapes in the water." (7)
Intagliate: "To engrave in intaglio; as, an intagliated stone," with "intaglio" meaning " "A figure or design carved into or beneath the surface of hard metal or stone."
"This metal was deeply intagliated with Egyptian hieroglyphs." (17)
Clypeus: "A shieldlike plate on the front of the head of an insect."
This doesn't quite seem to match the image that I feel like Asher's going for in this sentence — I wonder if he's misusing the word?
"The whelk grew faster than its own shell, and soon its tender pink body was bulging out around the lid-like clypeus that had otherwise kept it safe." (21)
Dispeptic: "1. Relating to or having dyspepsia. 2. Of or displaying a morose disposition." With dispepsia, of course, meaning "indigestion."
"A small leech, which had also discovered the bounty of the passing boxy shoals, eventually dropped on to the dispeptic whelk, wound around its shell and, extruding mouthparts like the head of a rock drill, reamed in through tender flesh and fed." (21-22)
Panga: "A large heavy knife used in Central and South America as a weapon or for cutting vegetation." A machete, basically.
"Peck watched him go, his knuckles whitening around the handle of the panga." (25)
Cicatrise: "To form a scar, after an injury."
"A hand, deeply cicatrised with leech scars, reached down and caught the tout's wrist." (35)
Dingle: "A small wooded valley; a dell."
"Rather than catch up with her he turned down a side road and took a track leading out of the town into the dingle." (41)
Pellucid: "1. Admitting the passage of light; transparent or translucent. 2. Transparently clear in style or meaning."
"Below the pellucid waters off this beach, the stony bottom was alive with movement." (44)
Riddle: "A coarse sieve, as for gravel."
"Anne had meanwhile opened one of the rail lockers and removed two long-handled rakes, a riddle, and some hide sacks." (61)
Incept: "To take in; ingest," or, according to the OED, "To undertake; to begin, commence, enter upon," which makes more sense to me, given the sentence.
"Sniper had always been the odd one out–from when his mind had been incepted by a dying AI warship, up to and including his choice of a body-shape that scared the shit out of most humans." (85)
Facia: "The tablet or plate over a shop front on which is written the name and often also the trade of the occupier," says the OED, or "The instrument panel or dashboard of a motor vehicle." The variant "fascia" seems more in keeping with the use in this sentence: "Any long flat surface of wood, stone or marble, esp. in the Doric order, the band which divides the architrave, and in the Ionic and Corinthian orders, each of the three surfaces into which the architrave is divided."
"The edifice had the appearance of something on the facia of a Hindu temple, only subtly distorted until nothing was recognizably complete…" (85)
Horripilation: "The bristling of the body hair, as from fear or cold; goose bumps."
Another good word, this.
"Erlin could not help feeling horripilation as the two hornets took off." (89)
Carboy: "A large glass or plastic bottle, usually encased in a protective basket or crate and often used to hold corrosive liquids."
"There it hung with its tied-off neck hanging down, as Ambel pulled across the large green-glass carboy he had brought up earlier, and dropped a big funnel in its mouth." (121)
Platen: Seems to mean "a flat surface on a tool or device, sometimes a work surface on such." Refers to specific pieces of a machine, depending on what type of doohickey is being described — flatbed scanner, printing press, etc.
"Paul led Keech to the side of the bay and pointed to a container resting on the platen before a scanner." (124)
Eonides: Appears to be a made-up word? But it may be related to "eonism"; the OED says this means "Transvestism, esp. by a man" — and that would make sense as an origin, as the "eonides" Asher refers to apparently let one brain and spinal column "wear" (that is, be transplanted into and inhabit without being rejected) the body of another. A kind of cross-dressing or "costuming," even if the mind and body are of the same gender.
"It had all been so simple: send Frisk off in pursuit of Keech, let it be known there that she was on-planet and, using adulterated eonides, destabilize her nerve linkages with her host body so that she operated below effficiency." (260)
Supernal: "1. Celestial; heavenly. 2. Of, coming from, or being in the sky or high above."
"…an interface with the supernal." (261)
OTT: Apparently, a (largely British-used) acronym standing for "Over The Top." Another of several places, then, where Asher uses very contemporary language in his futuristic setting. Kinda stick out like a sore thumb, those bits, to me.
"'This,' he murmured, 'is completely OTT.'" (286)
Bluery: Can't find an official definition for this one. Popularly, it seems to be a take-off on the word "greenery"; "greenery" implies a lot of green plants — "bluery" seems to imply a lot of something…naturally blue. Like water.
"There were things moving around in the bluery — big, slimy things with buzz-saw mouths." (298)
Merlon: "A solid portion between two crenels in a battlement or crenelated wall."
"Squatting on a merlon of the nearest stretch of wall was something that could have been taken for a gargoyle–until it shifted its position and briefly opened its stubby wings." (321)
Bolshy: "Left-wing; uncooperative, recalcitrant," coming from "Bolshevik."
Again, centuries and centuries in the future, and contemporary slang's still in. Tenacious stuff, apparently, slang.
"On the other hand it had probably been bolshy long before, else why would it have acquired an aug in the first place?" (373)
Actinic: "Of, relating to, resulting from, or showing actinism," with "actinism" being "The intrinsic property in radiation that produces photochemical activity."
Asher may, perhaps, be forgiven his metaphors referencing fast food and Halloween decorations (in a far-future, alien environment) by virtue of the obscure, rather awesome other words he also throws in. Don't think they *quite* tip the scales, though.
"The sounds of explosions had carried across the water, and they'd gaped up at the enormous ship hurtling towards them like a floating arcology, surrounded by energy displays, fast-moving objects and actinic explosions." (407)
Apposite: "Strikingly appropriate and relevant."
"As Windcheater so appositely put it to me, 'Spend a thousand years sitting on a rock having conversations that consist mainly of comments on how windy it is, and you'll have a true appreciation of library computers, walls, and solar heating.'" (417)
Dottle: "The plug of tobacco ash left in the bowl of a pipe after it has been smoked."
"After knocking out the pipe's dottle on the palm of his hand, he immediately began to refill it." (419)