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I am sure that is one allusion, but the other I am sure of (more so for BotNS) is to the end of _A Canticle for Lebowitz_. Cheers, David Duffy. ___________________________________…
27 Jan 2020, 07:01
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Hi Gem. My only exposure to alga was via this list. Yes, she came across as a very erudite reader and writer - I presume you have seen her essays for the Turner/Andre-Driussi's…
19 Jun 2019, 00:57
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Charles Dickens? G.K. Chesterton? If you have read _The Death of Dr Island_, _The Fifth Head of Cerberus_ (SF) or _Peace_ (something else) and didn't enjoy them, then there's pro…
17 Apr 2019, 10:43
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"Guess what never appears in the text of the novel? I'm reminded of Umberto Eco's _Foucault's Pendulum_ which goes through alchemy, the Knights Templar, Kabbalism to Rosicrucianis…
04 Jun 2018, 01:44
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I have been seeking in vain for any evidence that Latro meets Jews or Judaeans along the way. The most obvious place would have been at Yeb a.k.a. Elephantine Island, from where th…
03 Apr 2018, 01:06
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Nah, just ordinary imperialism. ________________________________________ From: Urth [urth-bounces at lists.urth.net] on behalf of Gerry Quinn [gerry at bindweed.com] Sent: Wednesda…
27 Sep 2017, 04:12
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Missing a zero: 60022.9976012393064119998 ie 60023 RE: Sighting at Twin Mounds I thought it might also allude to Lovecraft (and Bishop) _The Mound_: "I had gone into Oklahoma t…
29 Apr 2015, 01:32
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I would interpret this as suggesting dogs had been deliberately genetically modified, given the size possibly for military purposes - in keeping with a later turning against them…
22 Apr 2015, 23:35
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http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.php?102296-Sword-with-sliding-weight "...and from his huge sword, which had a remarkable accessory in the shape of an iron ball that s…
17 Jul 2014, 02:55
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Writing style? Plotting? Ambience? Influenced by: Paul McAuley (Confluence trilogy) Paul Park (Starbridge Chronicles) And someone else has made a list: http://www.freebase.com/…
13 Jun 2014, 00:47
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28 May 2014, 00:26
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I don't think, based on interviews and on reading _Ghostwritten_ and _Cloud Atlas_, that one can regard him as a dabbler, but his main interests lie in other directions... http:…
19 May 2014, 00:32
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Yeah, I posted on this back in 2005 and mentioned in 2008 - http://lists.urth.net/htdig.cgi/urth-urth.net/2005-April/005034.html http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2008…
07 Apr 2014, 00:45
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I did read all eight as they appeared at our local library, but I became a bit disappointed as things progressed, and was glad it finished. So maybe liking the first three volumes…
02 Jan 2014, 00:19
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Again riffing on _Wizard Knight_ they are the lowest gods in so many ways.…
28 Aug 2013, 21:29
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And the Wizard Knight, with its rapid collection of plot coupons.…
25 Aug 2013, 22:53
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Yes, I like him (hey, I even contributed to the Inherent Vice wiki once ;)), and he has been previously discussed here. There are certain parallels with Wolfe, though no direct …
19 Aug 2013, 23:22
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The critical literature's not yet big enough - just need a few more people to do a PhD on him. He already has more book length academic studies than most other SF writers I guess…
19 Aug 2013, 07:26
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Because he is a tricksy Modernist. Joyce had to put the chapter headings back in _Ulysses_, otherwise it was too hard, he was told. Similarly - in a response to Clute? I can't r…
19 Aug 2013, 04:42
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It's possible Wolfe was recalling the model in Blish's _Jack of Eagles_, where the "single" main timeline we perceive which is actually a superposition dominated by the most like…
30 Jul 2013, 03:17
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Well Silk may feel in loco parentis to Horn...…
13 Jul 2013, 00:40
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I always thought they were using a microscope.…
06 May 2013, 23:21
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Well that will depend on the translation, of course. Looking through the gutenberg.org one (Dunne 1904). Yes, we see "Erebus", "cynocephali", etc. But most of the story is take…
16 Apr 2013, 08:59
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Perhaps not relevant, but I thought the alzabo a nod to Damon Knight's _Four in One_. There the victims have some say in what the monster does next. Cheers, David Duffy.…
07 Feb 2013, 22:29
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Agree with all the Williams recommendations (our uni library had his complete set of novels). Sidetracking onto other tarot novels (this has happened before, I think), Calvino a…
17 Dec 2012, 22:51
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I don't know what's going on with you people. First someone calls Kim Stanley Robinson boring, and now Gerry's making out quantum loop gravity is dubious. Didn't you read Egan'…
29 Nov 2012, 21:36
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You meant KSR, I suppose. Boring? ... de gustibus. His first novel _Icehenge_ has some Wolfe-like ambiguities and twists, and is short ;) How about _Star Maker_?…
29 Nov 2012, 01:34
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Even more: http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/mad-science/terence-mckenna/ "Terence McKenna was the Magellan of psychedelic head space, and humanity's first ambassador to the hyp…
28 Nov 2012, 01:44
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Clearest in his treatment of the chems. That is, you may not necessarily own even your thoughts, but there are still occasions where you get the opportunity to make meaningful d…
26 Nov 2012, 11:55
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Yes, but they don't _talk_ about it as much...…
02 Oct 2012, 00:50
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John Clute's _Appleseed_ is a meditation on that, kinda... Cheers, David Duffy.…
02 Oct 2012, 00:07
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Maybe they wear polaroids…
01 Oct 2012, 03:33
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I also suspect a reference to _The Stars My Destination_ (where Fourmyle presents the men with an alluring android who they discover is a real woman at the end of the night) and p…
09 Jul 2012, 23:13
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You've read Calvino, I take it? Cheers, David Duffy.…
08 May 2012, 01:00
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Yes, I thought this was so obviously the model. I can only nitpick backwards in time ;) to say, Blish was not Catholic - rather, agnostic through most of his life, becoming Anglic…
06 May 2012, 23:54
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Yes, when I first read it I was blown away, but rereading it after rereading _The Time Machine_ (specifically the later chapter) showed me where many of the most striking ideas c…
26 Apr 2012, 03:37
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I originally thought _The Deep_ a little turgid until the VanVogtian ending, but enjoyed the whole lot on rereading. Ditto _Beasts_: Reynard might be Dr Talos. If one was riffi…
17 Apr 2012, 22:54
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I reckon the other type of king of the mountain is alluded to. The Wikipedia article on _Peer Gynt_ has: ...the question asked by the troll king: What is the difference between …
16 Apr 2012, 05:33
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Reading this, I wondered: does neurosurgery appear more often in Gene Wolfe's work than that of other writers of the era? I have recently reread Bernard Wolfe's _Limbo_, where (…
12 Apr 2012, 22:47
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"It is better for 99 individuals to suffer unjustly than one guilty person escape his punishment." I think that's in _The Space Merchants_ ;)…
12 Apr 2012, 03:23
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The woman who survived a salty attack a few years ago in the Northern Territory played dead and escaped from the hollow log where she was stashed, IIRC. You just have to keep a …
30 Mar 2012, 23:55
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Mephistopheles in Goethe's Faust has a limp, but not Marlowe's AFAIK.…
25 Mar 2012, 11:48
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As in a witch suckling a familiar spirit? But in a nice way ;)…
28 Feb 2012, 23:05
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Yes, Mani stays with Iddn (eg Chapter 36, P 434, "Iddn had marched north with Svon, Mani..."), but we don't hear him speak again. Baki mentions talking with him when Art is in t…
27 Feb 2012, 23:16
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I've looked through it, and agree it might be a source. But Wolfe always mentions Andrew Lang's books as a childhood love. Lang also edited _The Secret Commonwealth_, and his …
19 Jan 2012, 00:43
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http://www.jonathanstrahan.com.au/wp/2012/01/07/episode-83-live-with-gary-k-wolfe/ The other Wolfe on the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame event, and Strahan on BotNS, _The Map_, _A …
17 Jan 2012, 12:11
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The only problem with Popperian falsificationism is that it doesn't say anything about where the hypothesis that is being tested comes from - it deals with experimental design, a…
23 Dec 2011, 23:45
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It's pretty clear (to me at least) that Wolfe is very interested in souls, and how they can be consistent with modern neuroscience and "strong AI". That is, answering questions l…
22 Dec 2011, 22:56
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"Practising yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter" ;) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8915691/Harry-Potter-and-yoga-are-evil-says-Catho…
21 Dec 2011, 23:08
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No. The protagonist is an apparently sincere follower of a future syncretic monotheistic ("Biblqur'an") religion in a Islamic style culture with some segregation of the sexes. S…
19 Dec 2011, 22:29
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