Posted from 3 addresses as Kevin J. Maroney, Kevin Maroney
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That's not predestination. That's a statement about the unchanging and unending love which god has for its creations. The Outsider might not know what Silk will do--though he proba…
12 Apr 1999, 19:39
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Considering the trail of dead bodies Weer leaves behind him, I'm not sure that I *want* to identify with Weer. Wolfe's protagonists are not admirable or likable people, for the mos…
12 Apr 1999, 19:36
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Context? Source? Thanks. I am not telling stories out of school to say that Hartwell is very enthusiastic about putting together a new collection of Wolfe stories--it's been over …
16 Mar 1999, 20:01
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Wolfe has explicitly stated that the Alzabo was the replacement for the hyena because it was an animal that laughed. I don't remember if this was in _Castle of the Otter_ or in som…
26 Feb 1999, 19:14
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This should be moved over to Whorl probably... In _The Book of the New Sun_, Severian's meeting with Typhon deliberately echos Christ's temptation in the desert (from Luke and Mat…
25 Feb 1999, 12:03
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It's a Romanized version of the Arabic word for "hyena", if I'm not mistaken. The Alzabo was introduced as a replacement for the hyena because, like the hyena, it laughs. (Remembe…
24 Feb 1999, 14:51
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Pas is depicted as two-headed throughout _Long Sun_--I believe that the description of the mural in the auditorium in the brothel in _Nightside_ mentions his two heads (and two pen…
16 Feb 1999, 11:35
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Coover is an amazing genius; _The Public Burning_ is one of the Great American Novels. _Visit to a Small Planet_. Incidentally, while doing some background research for a piece…
27 Jan 1999, 10:52
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Here are a few Wolfe FAQs which have nothing to do with BotNS and one which does but isn't *about* BotNS: "What's up with Dennis Weer?" "Which egg contained the hallucinogen?" "W…
26 Jan 1999, 11:19
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I don't understand Lamarck well; as Gould points out, what is taught in schools as Lamark is actually a cruel caricature, much closer to Lysenko. But I think that what appealed to …
21 Jan 1999, 12:18
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Isn't it in my .sig? Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.h…
15 Jan 1999, 13:33
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"Seven American Nights" hands-down. "Detective of Dreams" is a Christian story, but "Seven American Nights" actually has an Easter procession in it. Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney …
12 Jan 1999, 11:29
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... I have the feeling--based on only one reading of the novel; Wolfe's contemporary fantasy novels don't inspire me to re-read them---that "Mr. Green" is not his name. If I recal…
04 Jan 1999, 11:42
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I believe that I am not telling tales out of school to mention that David Hartwell was definitely reviewing the ms when I was at his house on Dec 5. He had not formally accepted th…
20 Dec 1998, 13:43
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Alternately, doesn't Severian state that occasionally prisoners die of natural causes while awaiting their sentences? Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com Kitchen S…
17 Dec 1998, 14:20
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What was not clear from Mantis's list is that the fiction in _Plan[e]t Engineering_ was completely reprinted in either _Endangered Species_ or _Storeys from the Old Hotel_. The W…
17 Dec 1998, 14:18
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I believe that most of the Cheap Street material has been made available in less expensive forms: _Bibliomen_ is available in a new edition from Broken Mirrors Press; _Empires …
17 Dec 1998, 14:07
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It's minor, but it does contain several early Wolfe stories which have never been printed elsewhere, including the wonderfully titled "Volksweapon". I certainly have never regrette…
14 Dec 1998, 15:59
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I seem to recall someone mentioning that one of Wolfe's contemporary novels includes, among other things, an elaborate and almost completely invisible analogy/allegory of the War o…
14 Dec 1998, 15:57
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I noticed it and assumed that it was a copyediting mistake until I got to the end! I don't know what that says about me. Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com Kitchen…
13 Dec 1998, 14:50
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Actually, that's a good point--even if Wolfe didn't mean the connection to be there, it's a nifty one anyway. I would still like to know whether "it is finished" really is a good…
03 Dec 1998, 12:50
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I'll check him out. The review doesn't give me much sense of his position or his criticism of Crossan, but I certainly need to read some other authors. Crossan fits my own prejudic…
03 Dec 1998, 11:06
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Capernum and Sepphoris were two fairly large newly-buily, heavily Hellinized towns within walking distance of Nazareth. Neither is mentioned at all in the Gospels or in Acts, from …
02 Dec 1998, 20:21
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John 19:30 cum ergo accepisset Iesus acetum dixit consummatum est et ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ inclinato capite tradidit spiritum ("And w…
29 Nov 1998, 11:52
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I wouldn't bet on that. Given Wolfe's habit of writing the entire series (in draft) before submitting the manuscript for the first volume--which he did with both _New Sun_ and _Lon…
24 Nov 1998, 13:07
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Probably. I did want to make one other point of moderately general interest, which is that Steve Jackson has developed "GURPS Lite", a boiled-down version of GURPS in 24 pages, des…
20 Nov 1998, 14:07
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Drifting a bit off-topic, here, but.... The English version of the second edition of _Tales of the Arabian Nights_ is, unfortunately, in limbo right now. A German edition should b…
20 Nov 1998, 11:23
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Anyone who directly contributed to the piece and is not a regular recipient of the magazine should contact me (off-list) for a contributor's copy. Anyone else who is interested sho…
20 Nov 1998, 10:17
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Actually, at this point, it would probably be cheaper to buy _Gurps: Basic Set_ than _Melee_ and _Wizard_.... I'm sorry to hear that _GURPS: New Sun_ got pocket-vetoed by SJGames.…
19 Nov 1998, 19:49
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The Elephant is a piece in the Chinese member of the _Chess_ family, _Xiang Qi_. It is the direct ancestor of the Bishop; it moves two spaces diagonally. This piece was probably pr…
18 Nov 1998, 14:29
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Well, I'm quite fond of _Sandman_. It's very easy to overpraise it, but there's some really first-rate work in it, especially in the scattered short stories. Wolfe is, by evidence,…
08 Nov 1998, 18:12
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The Gaiman fact is pretty well-established--there's a character in _Sandman_ who is clearly Chesterton. (Gilbert, who features prominently in the second story arc, "A Doll's House"…
06 Nov 1998, 17:25
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The Butler was available online. I actually can't remember what translation I was reading when I first encountered this scene; I read it in WH Auden's _The Greek Classics_ (Viking …
03 Nov 1998, 10:49
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At 07:46 PM 10/29/98 -0500, alga quoted Julian Jaynes: By complete coincidence, I just happened to be reading part of _The Iliad_ only a couple of weeks back--I'd never read it be…
02 Nov 1998, 19:45
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Yes and no. I can say this about the conclusion of _Snow Crash_ without spoiling it (and it's a fun book, well worth reading even with its significant problems, some conceptual, …
31 Oct 1998, 14:16
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Crowley delivered the manuscript to Bantam in August '98, I believe, which indicates a publication date somewhere in early-mid '99. _Deamonomania_ is the belief that everything in…
31 Oct 1998, 13:45
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In fact, the most recent NYROB piece on Orwell was about _The Complete Orwell_, a 20-volume scholarly edition of literally everything the editors could find ever written by Orwell,…
20 Oct 1998, 12:28
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Think about the stroke involved in beheading a prisoner. The sword is raised overhead and brought down in a smooth circle. Gravity, not the centrifugal effect, is what moves the qu…
19 Oct 1998, 12:48
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Actually, I thought it was overrated as a book-object, but I've always felt that about Cheap Street. Perhaps it just shows that I'm not enough of a bibliophile to pick up on the th…
15 Oct 1998, 16:11
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Minor bit of detail: "Al lah" was indeed originally two words in Arabic, "Al" (the) and "lah" (god). Before Mohammed (bbhn!), the Kabbah was a shrine to a goddess known only as "Al…
28 Jul 1998, 15:27
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Well, there's no guarantee that the Cards are program chips--they could just be pure memory, or power, or something else interchangable. If they're not interchangable, then the w…
10 Jul 1998, 12:35
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<MASSIVE SPOILER> What, the story of a young torturer's apprentice growing up, becoming king, wrestling Satan, and evolving into God isn't grand enough? And in the sequel, he bot…
22 May 1998, 23:15
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I'd forgotten that one. But the use of the Outsider in the standard prayers in _Long Sun_ is quite similar to the Unknown Gods in Pausinas--as a catch-all for those Gods who are po…
18 May 1998, 17:15
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Strictly speaking, I believe the only other name we're given for the Outsider is Allah. I was interested to discover Pausinas's description of altars to "the unknown gods" in his…
18 May 1998, 12:42
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Lady >of Clown Town." Or even "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons." Yes yes yes. There's just so much good Smith. :-)…
12 Sep 1997, 12:40
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Hmm. I've read only the Smith stories that were in the Del Rey "Best of" volume (boy, I miss those!)--I have the NESFA volume and just haven't read it yet. I seem to be alone in li…
12 Sep 1997, 11:22
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I had forgotten that poor customer service voided copyrights. My mistake. Forget I said anything. Anyone want some really great Jenny McCarthy scans?…
09 Sep 1997, 13:31
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Believe me, I find it equally frustrating that The "New York" Review of SF can't be purchased off-the-rack in its home state. However, copies are readily available by mail-order, w…
09 Sep 1997, 11:26
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Hmm. Well, I don't want to be *too* picky, but all of these works *are* copyrighted.... Anyway, I think it's pretty clear that the Outsider is both God and a burst blood-vessel i…
08 Sep 1997, 17:30
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I'll have to check those references out. Does my memory about Rose/Marble's decimal point ring any bells? I would think so, given Wolfe's explicit statement that Pas did not know …
08 Sep 1997, 11:03
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