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Interesting - though I can't help suspecting that Wolfe would be disappointed if he let enough details slip to make any sort of definitive map possible! The popular hypothesis, …
06 Dec 2020, 16:17
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On 21/06/20 Not sure Gene is ever going to be the poster-child for fat reduction regimes... - Gerry Quinn…
22 Jun 2020, 04:31
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I just get 'Forbidden' when I click on the link. - Gerry Quinn…
11 May 2020, 12:15
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Presumably Barnes doesn't want men either, and can't have them - so should his attitude not be the same? Clearly he is a misanthrope.. - Gerry Quinn…
29 Jan 2020, 22:21
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Indeed, that's a telling similarity. It seems very much like the Heinlein was on his mind! - Gerry Quinn…
27 Jan 2020, 16:46
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Certainly a few commonalities there - two headed mutants aren't exactly a dime a dozen!? But that said, there are a lot of generation ship sagas with some similar features. Wolfe…
27 Jan 2020, 14:15
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It's the 'carabou' the original anthropologist shoots, early in V.R.T. Page 169 of Gollancz Masterworks edition. It says the carcass weighed fifteen pounds, but it seems an obvio…
02 May 2019, 23:36
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I think they will edit it and proof-read it regardless. I would assume that a posthumous editor will generally edit with a relatively light hand (since he cannot consult the auth…
01 May 2019, 14:45
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I've not read it, but my impression is that Operation Ares was generally considered a tyro effort even by Wolfe himself? - Gerry Quinn…
28 Apr 2019, 00:31
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Just noticed this was the last story referenced in the title of a post on the list (2nd April). There was a post about an interview a few days later... then the news of Wolfe's d…
16 Apr 2019, 18:49
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Very sorry to hear it. Though having not heard anything in the past year since he entered a care facility, I cannot say it came entirely as a shock. By chance I was shopping for…
16 Apr 2019, 00:18
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Several hundred million so, given reasonable estimates for breathing rates and life expectancy. Talarican's estimate seems high. [Unless it's the acrobats who leap, and they get …
16 Jan 2019, 02:58
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His shelves seem to be mostly comedy, so Wolfe is one of the few from other genres. - Gerry Quinn…
19 Aug 2018, 20:23
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[damn, replied to just you instead of list - you will get this twice] You're right, in that the very meaning of the word seems to include settlers. But another way of looking at …
27 Sep 2017, 02:52
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A few years ago, there was talk about a graphic novel version of Book of the New Sun - some excerpts were posted. (Unless they were just example images from a proposed project?)…
30 Apr 2015, 07:31
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There's a lot more tribadism than the other thing,,, - Gerry Quinn…
29 Apr 2015, 18:21
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There is also a Bangor in Northern Ireland which was a major centre of early Christianity. - Gerry Quinn…
26 Apr 2015, 19:53
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It's a nice article IMO. Might not bring him readers unverrsed in SF, but that's probably a good thing. If someone is unfamiliar with SF tropes, Wolfe's SF will be beyond them…
24 Apr 2015, 17:41
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I never read the original, but it occurred to me that 'Barbs' could be a corruption of 'Burbs'. They became the 'Drops' after heavy bombardment during the BigKill. Fallinwalls …
23 Apr 2015, 07:22
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Rule of Three? The above seems to fit well enough. - Gerry Quinn --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast…
14 Nov 2014, 12:35
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There is something to be said for having more specific titles. Eg. If it goes Catholic Wolfe / Catholic Theology, those who care little about theology can ignore, those who enjo…
25 Oct 2014, 23:53
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A lot of those are in 'Endangered Species', which is a very good collection, though... - Gerry Quinn…
16 Oct 2014, 17:38
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I thought of that earlier. Saying there can be parts of the universe where logic doesn't apply is like saying "God is omnipotent, so he must be able to make a stone he can't lif…
15 Oct 2014, 00:13
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If logic didn't apply in a given realm, it would be logically correct to deduce that logic did in fact apply there, because a false statement implies the truth of all statements.…
14 Oct 2014, 14:22
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There's also the issue of Master Ash, who says he thinks his future is improbable, but clearly his existence suggests that the future of Severian's world is not cast in stone. -…
11 Oct 2014, 19:04
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Yes, but it would be difficult or impossible to make predictions for a biological organism. There's even wiggle room for some quantum chaos to work its way up into decision maki…
09 Oct 2014, 14:19
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It's a deliberate or accidental riff on something similar that Pauline Kael said about Nixon. - Gerry Quinn…
09 Oct 2014, 14:15
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I think Wolfe would largely agree. His humanoid aliens - and robots - seem to be mostly different to humans, but capable of mutual understanding. Loyal To The group Of Seventee…
09 Oct 2014, 14:09
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I think it's universal. Basically mathematics is a fractal set of strings made from other strings by following rules, and it's possible to embed the rules in the fractal. All m…
09 Oct 2014, 14:02
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I don't really agree. I think "the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" in science is a result of science being based on repetitive aspects of the world that can be mathem…
09 Oct 2014, 13:57
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Does He claim that? The same problem arises in science. As far as we know scientifically, a robot with a computer brain could - and perhaps soon will - be manufactured. This r…
09 Oct 2014, 13:48
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In the main I agree with this, as regards the interpretation of names and events. Perhaps this goes too far, or it could be that I am mistaking what you are trying to express. …
09 Oct 2014, 13:38
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The Catholic Church doesn't generally fulminate about the theological details of the beliefs of the faithful. The saints - and Mary too - in principle intercede with the Lord wh…
09 Oct 2014, 13:27
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Has Neil Gaiman ever done any criticism? I seem to recall Wolfe saying that he wouldn't mind if Gaiman wrote further works in his universes after he was dead. Of course, as a w…
09 Oct 2014, 13:11
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Looks like the red pill and blue pill of the Matrix, about twenty five years early, only in book form! [Anyway, the form should be irrelevant.] I did a cursory internet check an…
14 Sep 2014, 22:47
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I always reckoned Martin Amis's _Other People_ was to some degree derivative of _The Third Policeman_. - Gerry Quinn…
14 Sep 2014, 17:48
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Bah, I spent enough time in middle management for that to be enough to explain the story (I still think _Peace_ embodies Wolfe's guilt for his part in creating the disgusting 'P…
11 Sep 2014, 03:36
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Well, you did ask what could be the purpose of introducing an iterated universe, and this is an in-text reason for it. I would agree, at least to the extent that he makes it clea…
10 Sep 2014, 17:02
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The Yesodi are mentioned here. They were responsible for the creation or modication of the Hierodules, who in turn created aquastors such as Malrubius: "It was not done swiftly …
10 Sep 2014, 14:42
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To explain the Yesodi. - Gerry Quinn…
10 Sep 2014, 13:46
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Thecla's sister Thea is an exultant, so perhaps not of the common populace, but she is aware of the fact that 'present' meant 'now' and 'gift' in English. I assume she learned i…
09 Sep 2014, 16:06
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Those probabilities don't add to 1! You're forgetting that tghere is one fewer egg every day. Your figures work for a scenario in which he adds an ordinary egg every day, so he…
07 Sep 2014, 20:20
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Actually, that is the chance before the experiment, If the first egg is to be eaten on Sunday, then before he eats it he knows that the chance of eating the special egg on any g…
07 Sep 2014, 13:26
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I don't have the book to hand, but if he is given six eggs, one special, and eats one every day at random, the chance of getting the special egg on any day is indeed 1/6, as you …
07 Sep 2014, 13:19
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The chapter "The Key To The Universe" in _Citadel of the Autarch_ makes it clear, I think, that the concept of cosmic cycles is intended to be foundational to the structure of th…
07 Sep 2014, 00:37
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An actual cosmic cycle would be on the order of tens of billions of years or more (this would have been known in the '80s), but I wouldn't rule it out on the basis of the "fifty …
06 Sep 2014, 15:17
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I do not disagree Here I do disagree. On the contrary, the existence of a host of obvious objections suggests, surely, that a proposition is highly questionable? It indicates …
05 Sep 2014, 17:50
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Few would claim to have the final word on issues of logic or truth. Forthunately, the identification of logical inconsistencies requires no such power. And the placement of scar…
05 Sep 2014, 12:40
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Perhaps there should be a rule in debate that logical objections to a thesis become invalid when the proponent tires of having them pointed out, I fear it is unlikely to catch o…
05 Sep 2014, 10:20
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It is made very clear that they were BAD imitators, who looked significantly different. Because if he did, he would hardly have noted that Victor's eyes were 'a startling green'…
04 Sep 2014, 12:44
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