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1) Pig(Passilk) -> monitor -> Silk(Horn)? No. From: "Patrick O'Leary" <poleary at sloth.cecom.com> <<1. Passilk does not infiltrate Silk in Pig's Post-Op scene. Yes, there is a monit…
22 Feb 2001, 09:36
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From: "Robert Borski" <rborski at charter.net> <<If I read you correctly, Patrick, you seem to be denying the possibility of even small godlings in general, whereas Wolfe at least men…
22 Feb 2001, 09:01
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<<From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net> vizcacha may concede on the details, but I'm not about to. >> Which is not to say I agree with Mr. Borski, just that he's right…
15 Feb 2001, 08:36
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I find Jahlee's death very straightforward, if disappointing. Jahlee attacks Nettle because she has always loved Horn, and she will never have him because Horn loves Nettle. Horn k…
14 Feb 2001, 08:49
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In TBotLS, we learn that the plan of Pas is to drive the inhabitants of the Whorl out, so that they may populate Blue and Green. All sorts of methods will be used. In OBW, as I rec…
13 Feb 2001, 22:01
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<<From: dd at adobe.com (David DiGiacomo) The Neighbors of Green sent their slave inhumi to prey on the Neighbors of Blue. Once that source of blood was exhausted, the inhumi turned …
13 Feb 2001, 21:42
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<<From: Kieran Cleary <kcleary at jb.man.ac.uk> Couldn't agree more re Pig. Did he like deciphering that dialect? He did nae! >> Thank you, Kieran! LOL, as they say on the web. I ha…
13 Feb 2001, 21:24
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<<From: "Robert Borski" <rborski at charter.net> To Adam Stephanides and vizcacha: are you now still going to argue that Silk has suffered a failure of nerve and cut himself not only …
13 Feb 2001, 21:13
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More evidence of Pig-as-godling: The godling Horn/Silk meets in the beginning is described as having "bestial, pointed ears." (p. 53). Pig shaves and gets his hair cut after (bef…
12 Feb 2001, 21:12
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A few minor notes during a second reading: 1) When Horn and Pig talk about names, Pig's first suggestion for a name for himself is "Cotton." Later, "Ox," "Bull," and "Owl." Finall…
11 Feb 2001, 12:03
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Could the giant be Baldanders? -- Vizcacha, aka Dave Lebling *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.…
30 Dec 2000, 10:17
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Dan'l wrote great wisdom on covers, but... I just recently bought the omnibus Jack Vance _Dying Earth_ trade pb (my Lancer _Dying Earth_ is falling apart, etc.). The cover depict…
09 Dec 2000, 11:54
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Gene Wolfe: He who would pass over the Bridge of Death, answer me these questions three! Reviewer: I will answer! GW: Who was Severian's grandmother? R: Dorcas! GW: Who was Apu P…
07 Dec 2000, 17:10
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Emil Ludwig's biography of Napoleon was published in 1926, and when Weer was 13 he had read it "a year or two ago". So, if that means he was 11 or 12, he could not possibly have b…
20 Nov 2000, 21:02
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Posting from work, so I can't give a page cite, but there is an occasion in _Jungles_ where Horn says something like "no one in my family will ever read this passage," or possibly …
30 Oct 2000, 13:45
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I'd vote for two lists, because in February (?) we will have the whole spoiler thing all over again when _Return to the Whorl_ is published. But of course that assumes all other c…
21 Oct 2000, 13:54
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Has the gang of three looked into the relationship of the Chinese tale to the overall story? It seems to me that that story (sorry, I'm at work, details will be sketchy) provides a…
20 Oct 2000, 08:51
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I agree with Tony here. That was how "And When They Appear" struck me when I first read it. House advises Sherby to get in the freezer with his dead parents: this is not subtlety!…
23 Sep 2000, 11:52
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I finally got the book and the time to read it (had to put aside the new Harry Potter, which has its own attractions as my children have now both read it first and want to talk abo…
29 Jul 2000, 12:04
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Both are artificial constructs (in different senses) propped up by other actors. Both aspire to be something they are not. Jolenta is discarded, Vodalus is discarded (presumably …
09 Jul 2000, 11:53
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The Autarchy and the Ascians are solutions to the same problem. That is, the people of Urth went to the stars, brought war and destruction, and were chastised by the placement of t…
25 May 2000, 20:16
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Never fear. You have the right myth. Tim Powers has also explored this territory, most notably in _On Stranger Tides_, which is about Blackbeard and voodoo and certain interestin…
02 Feb 2000, 08:42
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Could this be a reference to _Terminus Est_? Is Talos saying "If you're going to give him life, why do you have your sword with you?" Another possibility, if he really is referri…
19 Jan 2000, 09:00
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This one at least seems fairly clear. Baldanders' goal is, on more than one occasion, stated to be eternal life. Famulimus and Barbatus have "awesome cosmic power" but very short…
19 Jan 2000, 08:54
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Perhaps the FAQ idea could be moved along by someone (or several someones) posting an actual entry or even (heroically) entries for the said document, in the style which they think…
13 Dec 1999, 15:42
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From: Ron Hale-Evans <rwhe at apocalypse.org> <<I know of two lists of these mysteries. One is in an old Usenet message by Donn Seeley that I have kept and treasured since the early E…
02 Dec 1999, 17:09
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1) What is the Christian take on the fact that in tBotNS, it's apparently hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years in the future, and the Second Coming hasn't happened yet? …
19 Nov 1999, 11:03
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William Ansley suggests: This is by far the best theory, in my opinion. The "Horn" who is the narrator is the body of Silk with the mind of Horn the protagonist. There is almost…
17 Nov 1999, 09:16
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Alex David Groce writes of Borges' influence on Wolfe: <<Borges is also always looming over Wolfe's work ... "Funes the Memorius" and "The Circular Ruins" are obvious ones.>> I'd …
26 Oct 1999, 14:58
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"Greene, Carlton" <CGreene2 at hunton.com> asks: <<Sev says of Juturna: "She saved me once when I was a boy" and then to her "Do you remember that?" Juturna replies "No. It hasn't ye…
25 Oct 1999, 17:20
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alga wrote: <<Yes, indeedy-doody. The four gospeleers of the NT come to mind instantly, writing decades, and dubiously, after the death of their biographee. If you throw Thomas in,…
18 Oct 1999, 09:20
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Length of _Whorl's_ voyage. I recall a remark by Marble, in the scene where she is remembering the mustering of the chems before departure, where she mentions how old she is. I d…
14 Oct 1999, 09:54
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Lots of the speculations engendered by Kevin Maroney's hints (and some before that -- it isn't his fault) revolve around what I call the Black Hole Series philosophy. That is, Urt…
12 Oct 1999, 16:41
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*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.…
12 Oct 1999, 16:25
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Jim Jordan wrote about Blue's Races. I thought I'd add a few more of my cents to the pile. I agree: given the spelling of "Wijzer" and the use of the word "Dorp", the inhabitants…
12 Oct 1999, 16:25
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From: Paul C Duggan <pduggan at world.std.com> <<What about the detail (IIRC) in the Long Sun that the religion of the Whorl "parodied" that of the state religion at the time of Typho…
08 Oct 1999, 09:51
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I'm curious as to the facts concerning the Innovation Comics _Shadow of the Torturer_ graphic novel. There seems to be no consensus on whether two or three of the six proposed iss…
07 Oct 1999, 10:27
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mantis wrote: <<Then, didn't Horn decide that the huss had =not= struck whatever it was, but only licked up the blood after?>> I thought what he decided was that Babbie hadn't _ea…
06 Oct 1999, 17:16
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mantis mentioned "chem-bio" identity confusion... Which reminds me of another Wolfe trademark, a more generalized identity confusion (Sev/Thecla being one of the more prominent on…
06 Oct 1999, 10:51
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As promised, these are hints Horn gives us about the inhumi's secret: p. 217: The inhumu had told me that we human beings were the cattle of his kind. They drink our blood in pref…
05 Oct 1999, 15:15
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Patrick O'Leary writes: <<But then there was that unspoken agenda which Nettle intuited--"They don't want us to write anymore." Not sure I get that.>> Horn gives a short summary o…
04 Oct 1999, 10:25
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alga (I think) wrote that the cover illustration is wrong because it shows Horn with a beard. Just a little correction: the cover is clearly illustrating Seawrack's return (about …
04 Oct 1999, 10:07
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Roy C. Lackey, on Dorcas: <<She then recalled to Sev Dr. Talos's labeling him as Death, which Sev said was a metaphor. She said it was a bad metaphor and, as they were walking back…
04 Oct 1999, 09:38
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(That's the Ace Double reprint of _On Blue's Waters_, of course. Blurb: "They crossed the stars to drink human blood, but he loved one like a son!" The cover illustration I'll lea…
29 Sep 1999, 09:31
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Horn runs through other versions of Silk's story (Horn's is _The Book of the Long Sun_, commonly known as _The Book of Silk_). One he mentions that he hasn't read was written by a…
24 Sep 1999, 13:52
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Apropos of nothing, I find this interesting (from Amazon.com): "Customers who bought titles by Gene Wolfe also bought titles by these authors: Frederick Forsyth John Le Carre Dan…
16 Jul 1999, 16:52
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I've always taken this to mean that only at that moment does Jonas realize that he's on Earth, rather than some very odd colony world. His knowledge is obviously based on reading t…
23 Jun 1999, 09:08
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mantis asks: My take on this, ever since first reading _New Sun_, is that a major part of Jonas' distress is the realization of how much time has passed on Urth since his departur…
01 Jun 1999, 09:22
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He doesn't say he _has_ all six issues, just the first two. He's probably just repeating the original plan. Check out the URL: <http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIte…
19 May 1999, 15:24
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Gee, my original post in this vein was intended as a joke. I think I even labeled it as such. But seriously, folks... This stuff _is_ interesting. I think it's even potentially …
14 May 1999, 09:29
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