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Even if b sharp is correct in his interpretation, Ymar is a more likely candidate for the shared memory than Thecla, as his childhood is definitively established in the citadel.…
24 Aug 2006, 01:42
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It's worth mentioning that this sort of synchronicity doesn't happen nearly as much in the Long Sun books, which are third person, twice as long, and more - what's the word?- picto…
20 Aug 2006, 05:15
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An even simpler explanation is that the narrative is written in the first person - It is essentially a fictional memoir. In "real life" Sev surely meets plenty of shmoes not worth …
20 Aug 2006, 05:05
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Argh! (Stamps feet in frustration) This is why I don't watch television shows. But you have me, the hook is firmly in my mouth. : ) For now Well, I for one am intrigued by thi…
14 Aug 2006, 02:07
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Hi all, Sorry about the last post. I hit send instead of delete. Ah well, here's what I meant to send --- b sharp <bsharporflat at hotmail.com> wrote: Ah well, they say all T…
08 Aug 2006, 06:45
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--- b sharp <bsharporflat at hotmail.com> wrote: Ah well, they say all === message truncated ===…
08 Aug 2006, 06:13
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--- maru dubshinki <marudubshinki at gmail.com> wrote: [regarding Blood Meridian] I have to admit I haven't read Bloom's criticism. The book was recommended to me by a couple of…
03 Aug 2006, 17:40
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Hi all, I've just finished reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and I wish to express that it is one of the finest modern novels I have ever read, neck and neck w/ BotNS and …
01 Aug 2006, 05:47
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This is indeed what my copy is like though the interior (minus a few typos) seems finished. The chapter heads are illustrated like the Wizard Knight. It's as good as the other two,…
25 Jul 2006, 23:51
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--- thalassocrat at nym.hush.com wrote: For an orthodox Perhaps that is what Inire meant in his letter to Sev. about convincing his cousins (other hierodules) to support them in…
22 Jul 2006, 17:26
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--- "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net> wrote: (regarding Typhon's family) At This isn't quite true since, as the gods of mainframe on the Whorl, they helped to shape Silk an…
10 Jul 2006, 03:14
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He returned to Springfield and the Quickie Mart of course. . . Sorry, but I absolutely could not resist that. Don…
08 Jul 2006, 07:29
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One is Severian's analog (Ymar, imo) or Sev himself, the other his twin sister (probably Merryn, possibly Valeria) though I feel strongly that the sex of Sev's twin is variable. Th…
04 Jul 2006, 18:27
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Hi everyone, Some days are good days. I have in my hot little hands an advance reading copy of Soldier of Sidon just begging me to read it. This means other than certain home …
27 Jun 2006, 20:19
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I think that's a frivolous charge at best, and a lazy one. I assume those who say this think that Wolfe's work tries to rise "above its station" as SF? Pretending to significance i…
13 Jun 2006, 19:21
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Oh, I don't know about that, some art is well deserving of hate, if for no other reason than to spur dialogue and make people think. Some artists actively court dislike for that re…
13 Jun 2006, 02:26
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I don't find Wolfe's style pretentious at all, mainly because it serves his story. Too many writers are (in my biased opinion, of course) in love with the Word for its own sake and…
13 Jun 2006, 02:16
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I've found that I have no hate in my heart for any SF/fantasy writers (though there's plenty I have no desire to read). It's all reserved for "literary" fiction writers who pretend…
12 Jun 2006, 06:03
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Amen to that. They're the reason most great religious texts survive and carry relevance, as well as great literature imo. This list would have degenerated into nitpicks years ago i…
31 May 2006, 05:03
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I've recently been accused A bully's a person who picks on someone who can't fight back. I don't think that's a problem here. bsharp seems able to give as good as he gets. Besides…
31 May 2006, 02:25
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My understanding is that they have human face masks covering monstrous cthuluesque masks and the insectoid faces are their true ones. Mantises have strangely beautiful faces if you…
26 May 2006, 04:59
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There's a theory these are the inhumi of Green in the Short Sun books, and it's curious that the main inhumu besides Krait is named Jahli, but it's a fringe theory (though I suppor…
26 May 2006, 04:55
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Exactly my point. One clear theme in many of Wolfe's works is that the role ends up making the "man". Be that This is great stuff, and while it may yet be shown incorrect, I f…
26 May 2006, 04:50
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But faith and fiction endure regardless. ]; )…
25 May 2006, 22:19
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I believe the argument is that Inire is a kind of shapeshifter. No masks involved Don…
25 May 2006, 22:14
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This does not necessarily negate bsharp's argument - that Inire is possibly disguised as the human Rudesind. It would be natural for him to take a human rather than a Hierodule na…
25 May 2006, 22:11
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To further clarify this (how tacky on my part) Famulimus, Barbatus only live for about twenty years, so traveling by a machine is the way to maximize their time with Sev. The reaso…
25 May 2006, 07:45
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Yeah, I realised that wasn't too clear so I reposted. Basically they're just like you and me if we had a time machine and Roy told us to take it and always travel backward, contac…
25 May 2006, 07:34
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Replying to my own post, to clarify: They are traveling via a device, not through the "natural" process. They are from the future moving Meaning travelling backward is their job…
25 May 2006, 07:23
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There's a much simpler explanation. They age forward (their personal timeline goes in the same direction as anyone else's) but they are traveling backward via the corridors of time…
25 May 2006, 07:15
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--- "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net> wrote: And Don, reverting to his southern vernacular: "Do what?" (say again?) I don't have my books, Roy (never never never loan out yo…
25 May 2006, 07:07
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--- b sharp <bsharporflat at hotmail.com> wrote: I Could Severian be once again Thank you for this, I agree 110 percent. My ideas and yours about Sev's family tree aren't t…
25 May 2006, 06:59
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Well, as I said, I don't have my books, so it's quite possible I'm misremembering. Thanks for the correction. Don…
02 May 2006, 18:30
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Ah, yes, Katharine, Severian's mother, also has violet eyes. Don…
02 May 2006, 07:24
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I don't have my books with me, but Noctua, who is the naviscaput's daughter, has violet eyes, as does Valeria. There are more that I can't recall, but I think you are right that th…
02 May 2006, 07:22
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At least since the time of Constantine. It's funny how the point of a sword will clarify things. . . around 200 a.d. the meaning was a little fuzzier. That said, I agree the term …
13 Apr 2006, 03:47
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I doubt that's necessary. Information like that just looks like big blocks of code to me anyway and my brain just glides across it until something sticks. Sometimes that something …
11 Apr 2006, 22:20
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Hear, hear. I'm all for the fun "not" being sucked out of the room. :)…
11 Apr 2006, 20:22
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Perhaps, but Wolfe has also shown time and again that he his willing to forsake literal truth and internal consistency to make room for the right poetic imagery. The laws of dream …
09 Apr 2006, 21:17
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Howdy, Follow ze link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765316641 Don…
16 Mar 2006, 05:21
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That's when it's scheduled to be released according to the sales rep at St. Martin's, which Tor is an imprint of.…
01 Mar 2006, 02:18
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Hi all, I have it from a reliable source (a rep at St. Martin's Press) on the release of Soldier of Sidon. Below is a direct quote, strategically truncated to keep me out of trou…
28 Feb 2006, 06:24
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You could also think of them as slaves to ASCII, that is, their computers and technology (possibly this influences their language as well?). A somewhat prescient notion to judge f…
31 Jan 2006, 02:59
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Well, that went right by me until now, big surprise. It brings up an interesting shadow of the Korean War, don't you think? Doubly interesting since GW fought in that war. Not t…
30 Jan 2006, 00:22
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Angels are by definition messengers of God, so it only makes sense that Michael can travel wherever he needs to do his duties. Able is special because he is human. According to Ch…
10 Dec 2005, 04:12
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I agree. The Osterlings are analogs of the inhumi and, farther back, of the Ascians in the NS books who seek to devour the commonwealth. This is what fascinates me about WK. I can …
10 Dec 2005, 04:04
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Hi all, In case anyone is interested and didn't know, an new edition of Borges' Dictionary of Imaginary Beings has just come out this month. It's translated by Andrew Hurley, who…
07 Nov 2005, 00:04
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Except when they obviously take place in the same universe, as NS LS and SS do. I agree however that the ties between 5HC and these works are largely thematic. don…
29 Aug 2005, 13:47
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It seems to me that there are four possibilities for the neighbors travel. 1. They physically left the planet in ships. Maybe treeships, like the one in that SF poem Genesis. 2…
23 Aug 2005, 18:54
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Besides, loup would be a dead giveaway, ham handed, inelegant, and not like GW at all. They're both canis which is about as close to obvious as he would ever seem to get. And yet…
23 Aug 2005, 18:41
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