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Another possibility (one I don't like as well) is that Kingsport is a haunted, Lovecraftian location where this kind of location and time shifting happens all the time. In ''The …
23 Jan 2009, 14:12
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J Jankiewicz The Neighbors knew of the Whorl because it arrived at its destination (the Short Sun system, containing the planets Blue and Green) over 33 years before the start o…
23 Jan 2009, 13:41
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Gene Wolfe answered several questions related to Quetzal's motivations in a Q&A session recorded here: http://www.ansible.co.uk/cc/cc77.html/quetxal Check out answers 7, 23, and 2…
21 Jan 2009, 18:36
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There are half-truths and evasions, but no outright inventions I can see. It' s interesting how she hesitates, though. Did she start to say something else, like, "I called him Wa…
21 Jan 2009, 10:54
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In almost every variation of this I can think of, Cassie saw both the "before" and "after" version of Bill. But there is no mention of her seeing anything different about him. I …
20 Jan 2009, 13:01
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I do think so, because strange things are going on around her other than her new attractiveness. Addresses are shifting, etc. Her power seems not to be under conscious control, a…
19 Jan 2009, 00:07
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Chase's note (p. 216) doesn't seem OTT or OOC to me. Other than the first and last paragraphs, the rest gets down to the business of delivering her to Kololahi for Reis. The love…
18 Jan 2009, 21:38
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But he does have a sense of humor, and a pretty strange one. I think it's a mistake we Wolfe interpreters make sometimes, to fail to use our sense of humor. Borski's key to many…
18 Jan 2009, 10:15
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No, Ebony said "A woman tried to pet it. Did you see that?" (p. 190). The petting woman must have seen a wolf or dog, and so did Ebony. Cassie didn't see anything different than …
18 Jan 2009, 09:51
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Those were rough examples; I don't have my copy of the story on hand. I'll get it and try for a more detailed exegesis in a few days.…
18 Jan 2009, 03:32
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We seem to be talking past each other, and I'm not sure how to resolve it. I believe Cassie's transformation up to star/goddess and Margaret's to possibly immoral shapechanger ar…
18 Jan 2009, 02:55
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I have to disagree. Cassie was told "It is easy, terribly easy, for someone who has transformed up to slip back down; and it wouldn't be right for me to die without having warned…
18 Jan 2009, 00:09
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Kingsport is fictional, so I can't get an exact distance on that. I used the closest known real city.…
17 Jan 2009, 21:29
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That's what he said at the cast party, but he told all sorts of lies there. Almost everything he said there about the bracelet he contradicted in later statements to Cassie: 1) …
17 Jan 2009, 06:29
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Hi Greg, thanks for posting. I rarely agree with Borski, but on this one I think he found the right approach. This thing is loaded with double-entendres and near-puns, leading to…
17 Jan 2009, 04:59
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I'm also interested in what powers she retained, and new skills she gained, as Margaret. She may have learned to walk unseen. I say that because there was a doorman on guard at the…
16 Jan 2009, 18:01
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It's true that the other riders "turned to speak with Corby" (155), so Margaret could have kept from eye contact without holding her eyes shut. It did give her an excuse not to l…
16 Jan 2009, 12:26
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There's another place where Cassie could have begun to learn this. Chase said that werewolves "want the wild and a liberation from human morality" (207). When the Volcano God dan…
16 Jan 2009, 08:37
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In spite of all the time-changing ideas I put in my previous post, I think you're absolutely right. In a Lovecraftian world there are no do-overs. The repeat will be stable... b…
15 Jan 2009, 08:12
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I'm sorry you feel that way, because so many Wolfe novels have some. In a way that's good, because it gives us some background on how Wolfe handles the paradoxes. He usually provid…
14 Jan 2009, 23:03
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There's a good reason that Margaret wouldn't do this. She not only wants to save Wally's life but she wants him back with her. Here's how it might go. "You've got to listen to me!…
14 Jan 2009, 19:52
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Or back to the Outsider, who enlightened Silk with the mission to "save the manteoin," (which actually meant save the people of his city and evacuate them to Blue). Silk's public d…
14 Jan 2009, 19:34
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I feel pretty confident now that Margaret was Cassie, back in time as a werewolf to try to help Cassie avoid her fate. The next issue is: what did she do? Chase appeared to be her …
14 Jan 2009, 18:13
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Margaret plays her role very low-key, so it is hard to find a smoking gun in her words. Here are some more emotional indications based on Cassie's reaction to her. "I have no se…
14 Jan 2009, 09:28
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Thanks, I'm glad someone else finds this convincing. I didn't know about Carrie Kelly -- the name sounds a lot like Cassie Casey, doesn't it? Here are a couple more references I …
13 Jan 2009, 19:24
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The burnout problem gives us reason to think that the mojo trick will only work once. That was a creepy thing to do to a woman Gid professed to love, but he was never one to let …
13 Jan 2009, 14:58
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Roy C. Lackey quoted andwrote: Thank you for challenging my theory. I think most of the objections can be answered, making it stronger. I believe Cassie hopped back several year…
13 Jan 2009, 12:58
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I'd like to expand on the possibility of temporal clones. It seems probable that Bill Reis came back from his trip to Woldercan while he was "still there" from the point-of-view …
12 Jan 2009, 20:53
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I'd rather not call Cassie's change a glamour. It was a magnification of her natural star-power. (If it were a glamour like the one Gid used to be Gib it wouldn't show up in pict…
12 Jan 2009, 13:06
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Gideon's character, and Cassie's understanding of it, seem to be critical in understanding the end of the book. What is she hoping to achieve by visiting Woldercan? How much help…
11 Jan 2009, 13:44
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I liked "Nightside" too, with Silk as Father Brown and Auk as his Flambeau. Have you seen the article "Five Steps Towards Briah", which continues to track the genres of the next …
09 Jan 2009, 20:46
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Oops, my table didn't come out well. You can see it better on the WolfeWiki: http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Articles.Gods…
08 Jan 2009, 18:55
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Mythic patterns from the *The Golden Bough* seem to recur in many Wolfe works. There is a conflict between a man representing Spring and a man representing Winter over a woman/Godd…
08 Jan 2009, 18:52
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John Watkins wrote: I am wondering, however, what place An Evil Guest has in Wolfe's body of work. I think it's fair to consider Pirate Freedom and The Wizard Knight as paired no…
08 Jan 2009, 17:46
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If Chase was aware of Reis' scheme (whether or not he suggested it), and did nothing for Cassie other than possibly give her the eleventh-hour airlift by Death's Visitors, he app…
08 Jan 2009, 14:00
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One advantage of hiring Gid was that it divided his loyalties. He couldn't deliver Reis to the FBI while taking his money (202). But there must be something big going on in the b…
06 Jan 2009, 12:39
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That's the biggest flaw I see with Donny as Chase's shooter. He has to appear in rehearsals for "Dating the Volcano God" very soon after the attack, and a big face wound would wo…
06 Jan 2009, 12:26
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The other statement is not exactly a lie either. "An actress with no more vocal control than that? Perhaps I may tread the boards myself someday. I couldn't be worse" (p. 250). I…
06 Jan 2009, 12:13
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The gender of the Takanga Ha'i assassin is highly ambiguous. The doctor says it was once human and female, but that his opinion hardly matters. Chase may have been mistaken in thin…
05 Jan 2009, 23:52
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Chase told Cassie his best ideas on who shot him on pp. 203-204. 1) He was convinced it wasn't Reis, that Reis only wanted to get him medical help and enlist him. Chase must have …
05 Jan 2009, 11:21
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Mortals can kill other mortals in Fairyland; Hwan Lee shot Jose Balanco in "Castleview." Mortals can also kill monsters there; Able killed Grengarm in "The Knight." On the other…
04 Jan 2009, 12:38
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Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was her maiden name, and despite the French sound of that she was primarily of Irish, Scottish, and English ancestry. Kennedy is a well-known Irish name. T…
02 Jan 2009, 14:06
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This is not the Fairyland of "happily ever after," but a land of dangerous adventures. Cassie is advised to go armed and not to talk to the fish. Wolfe's Fair Folk are never all …
02 Jan 2009, 14:04
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Corundum crystals are formed in nature under extreme heat and pressure, probably sufficient to burn up the thorn inside. I think the original idea of an artificial sapphire which…
01 Jan 2009, 18:29
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Yes. I thought that was so obvious it went without saying, but I've done a lot of cryptic crosswords.…
29 Dec 2008, 13:45
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My take is that Baldanders is only pretending to be talking in his sleep. He's playing his role as a dim-witted giant here, instead of the articulate genius he actually is.…
29 Dec 2008, 13:42
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I think Hanga is amoral and hungry, like a shark. He pledged friendship to Baden, but couldn't be made to understand that he shouldn't eat Baden's family. As King Kanoa says, he'…
29 Dec 2008, 01:07
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At the post"Red Spot" party, Wolfe includes some interactions between Norma and Vince. I'd like to look at them for clues to see if they were ever married. That may help clarify …
27 Dec 2008, 14:25
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It might be useful to compare Long Sun/Short Sun with Pirate Freedom, where God seems to take a direct hand (indeed, a divine miracle seems to be the only available explanation f…
26 Dec 2008, 21:45
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As you say, she has no audience here. I have to believe the love is real. Even if she does ultimately end up with Chase, it doesn't undercut the sincerity of her feelings. Bill is …
24 Dec 2008, 22:48
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