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En-LARE-giing . . . now! "Mountain out of mole hill: death, doom, and distraction; take two!" Okay. Severian talks with Ava. Severian doesn't scold her or anything, but he has (I…
22 Apr 1999, 18:32
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Not so long ago there was talk of how Wolfe "goes Orwell" in the language of the Ascians; and how Wolfe then goes beyond that by strongly suggesting (via translation) that the Asci…
21 Apr 1999, 14:04
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Re: Yesod, the "fairie" mode often works better than the "angel/devil" mode (of course, it all depends upon the application: if the essay is about a =religious= reading, then it re…
21 Apr 1999, 10:40
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In several essays and countless conversations, people have wondered "Why Severian? What qualifies him?" And often, after listing his various strengths and weaknesses, his first kno…
21 Apr 1999, 09:23
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Ori, Good post! (You would probably enjoy Peter Wright's essays, I'm guessing.) I strongly agree with your post and especially like the use of the brown book tale (it comes up aga…
21 Apr 1999, 06:30
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Potto, Re: Father Inire as "Father In Ire". Several years ago now, Jennifer K. Stevenon (who btw had an essay on John Crowley's work in NYRSF last summer) took a similar approach…
18 Apr 1999, 08:24
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Potto, Yikes! I meant to say that I don't know as much as the publishers already know. They have manuscripts and have read them; I don't. I'm not complaining at all, just saying…
10 Apr 1999, 15:23
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Robert Borski, Right, you and I both know that there is only one boatman, but we must make (or learn to make) allowances for other readers and acknowledge that the text . . . oh n…
09 Apr 1999, 03:48
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Hey everybody, look--it's Dr. Nick Gevers. <??> Author of that fine essay in "Nova Express." <applause, cheers> And he has just given away the major surprise of THE BOOK OF THE…
08 Apr 1999, 14:34
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Cliff Drane, Thank you for your kind words about the Lexicon. It doesn't give the name of the boatman, I don't think, but Robert Borski and I are in the habit of calling him one …
07 Apr 1999, 20:56
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Roy, Actually I thought the estimates on the size of the whorl couldn't be reconciled with the text primarily because I kept botching the calculations (while all the scientists sn…
06 Apr 1999, 14:40
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On this second anniversary I thank you sincerely for creating and maintaining this place (and its twin "whorl") where we meet and discuss matters Wolfean and obscure. None of it w…
05 Apr 1999, 21:26
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In my reading, the possible paradox would be whether or not the white fountain exists, not "if it exists then why can't it be seen from Urth." Because it can be seen from Urth. I…
05 Apr 1999, 17:11
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Roy, I can't tell if you read the part of my posting that had to do with the time Severian tried to heal all the wounded in the tent at once. So for one last time, I'll try a diff…
04 Apr 1999, 04:38
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The "Periodical" Table of the Elements is, of course, the table rendered in magazine format. "Subscribe now and we'll throw in =Trans-Uranic Metals= absolutely free! Be the first…
01 Apr 1999, 17:10
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Robert Borski, I was under the impression that the Lady of the Tent is away because if she saw Severian she would say, "You again!" Because didn't she see him after the destructi…
01 Apr 1999, 15:38
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Roy, The focus on the play and its authorship seems to place it entirely in the realm of fiction. Maybe it is more like the Periodical Table of Elements. A document describing r…
01 Apr 1999, 15:38
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Today I finally found reason to try and calculate the size of the ship "Tzadkiel" by way of answering the question: if the miracle eclipse of the Sun by Apu Punchau was caused by t…
31 Mar 1999, 02:05
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Right, sure, of course. I originally listed it as "Old Norse," but then that made it seem as if: Urth had been "terraformed" (itself a questionable notion) by the same civilizatio…
29 Mar 1999, 18:25
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Another possible link between Ascians and abos from St. Anne? NAME LANGUAGE Urth English (phonetic form of Earth) Verthandi Old Norse Skuld Old Norse Lune …
29 Mar 1999, 14:46
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Mitchell A. Bailey, CONSTELLATIONS OF URTH'S SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE Amphisbaena (III, ch. 14) the Cross (III, ch. 18; V, ch. 49) the Crotali (V, ch. 49) the Eight (IV, ch. 25) Great …
25 Mar 1999, 21:23
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"New York Review of Science Fiction" No. 128 (April, 1999) has a piece written by a Robert Borski about Severian's grandmother(s). (Crafty Robert Borski sneaks up on us, publishes…
22 Mar 1999, 20:15
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Hello and welcome Cliff Drane. Right, most (all?) of our arguments (<ahem>, "discussions") revolve around the appropriate degree of "reading between different texts" in interpreti…
20 Mar 1999, 00:27
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Just for kicks: Rather than an "either/or" situation ("either they are chant caught OR there is time travel involved"), experiment with the idea of an "and" situation ("some, but …
18 Mar 1999, 16:59
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Roy, Huh. I thought "C. Sappan" aka brazilwood aka "bresel wood" (when it was first imported to medieval Europe) is aka "the East Indian redwood" because its wood is a bright red…
17 Mar 1999, 04:31
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Wombat, Context: notes in a letter. Source: a letter received by me in February. Names: a letter written by Gene Wolfe. Maybe I'm telling stories out of school, I don't know! (A…
17 Mar 1999, 02:30
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"Pocketsful of Diamonds" (a story?) STRANGE TRAVELERS (the next collection) Gene Wolfe is writing "a medieval fantasy [length?] somewhat along the lines of THE DEVIL IN A FOREST" …
16 Mar 1999, 23:49
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Y., Yes, LEXICON URTHUS is still in print, hundreds of copies left, I'm sitting on a box of them right now (okay, I made up that last part--the nearest box is in the next room). …
25 Feb 1999, 17:55
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From LEXICON URTHUS, p. 46: "_Occult: `Madregot' is a kabbalistic term for `levels of mystic ascent,' according to Epstein (_Kabbalah_, Shambhala, 1988, glossary." =mantis=…
25 Feb 1999, 15:42
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Y, Hello and welcome. "Alzabo" is a fabulous creature from medieval bestiaries of Europe, based in part (it is thought) upon legends surrounding the hyena (a non-European creatur…
24 Feb 1999, 20:13
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To bring the "Gilligan" thread back to the "Beatles" thread that spawned it ("Get Back," as it were--or close enough for relaxed fit stadards), to close the circle like Ouroboros "…
22 Feb 1999, 17:31
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Well maybe it was "Bean" Wolfe, after all! (see also: 5HC dedication page) =mantis=…
15 Feb 1999, 17:27
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Tony Ellis, Right, there is no proof that Sev1 failed. But I think there is a sense of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"--and since Sev2 has been opitimized, then it stands to re…
11 Feb 1999, 15:03
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I've finally gotten around to answering the questions of Adam Stephanides, briefly and lamely. Since I had promised to post them, here, before I attempted to answer them, I might …
09 Feb 1999, 19:30
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Patrick, Now, now! You can't just say that "Nova Express" has a "wonderful review of the Long Sun Books" and leave it at that. After all! You have strong opinions! You've read…
01 Feb 1999, 19:05
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Go, Ranjit, go! (Lurkers: Don'tcha just hate it when you're trying to do some serious research, looking through virtual reams [eh-hem] of archival material, and you keep hitting t…
31 Jan 1999, 02:35
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William H. Ansley, No pressure, but once you've "completed" your work on "Eyeflash," you can mine another Wolfe-does-Oz by annotating FREE LIVE FREE. (Are there any other direct …
30 Jan 1999, 16:40
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Go, Ansley, go! =mantis=…
29 Jan 1999, 05:38
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Lest we forget, PALE FIRE contains a haunting (near-death?) vision of a white fountain . . . and when the artist at last meets another person who has had this vision, he warms up w…
26 Jan 1999, 05:49
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Here's a thought--maybe a committee (a "FAQulty," if you will) could begin the process of whipping up a FAQ ("Frequently Asked Questions" and the Answers to Them) for a book by Gen…
25 Jan 1999, 18:09
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Wombat, Ah, what colour is the stamp?(!) Well, if they are reporting that a second 1856 1-penny stamp has been found, it must be magenta. Wow! Spooky! What kind of cancellatio…
21 Jan 1999, 22:11
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And another thing-- !!Official Change of Address!! Yes, that's right. You want Lexicons, copies of "Vance Space," booklets in the "AE&," "LS," and/or "NS" series, please write t…
17 Jan 1999, 00:26
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!!Official Change of Address!! Yes, that's right. You want Lexicons, copies of "Vance Space," booklets in the "AE&," "LS," and/or "NS" series, please write to: Sirius Fiction P.…
17 Jan 1999, 00:26
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Uh-oh, the Log Squad is on to us! An ultraquick note to bring others up to speed on THE BLACK GRAIL. This is a book firmly in the tradition of THE DYING EARTH. It was published …
16 Jan 1999, 19:20
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Yay! (Go NYRSF! If everybody around here can't [find the time or energy to] write for it, they should at least subscribe.) Doh! (I was hoping to surprise alga--sent a copy of 125…
15 Jan 1999, 16:28
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Hey! I got a copy of "Nova Express" vol. 5, no. 1. The interview is good! The piece on THE BOOK OF THE LONG SUN is by a person I've never heard of (itself probably a good thing-…
24 Dec 1998, 16:18
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Damien Broderick, I don't know the story "Children's Hour" at all. Somebody around here must. Thanks again for writing up that Suzanne piece! It was a fun read and who knows, m…
24 Dec 1998, 04:24
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Tusk, Thanks for the info--I'd heard something about it and was just about to ask whether anybody had seen it, if it was available yet, etc. My next questions have to do with inf…
20 Dec 1998, 17:30
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ATTENTION! ATTENTION! If you ordered one or more booklets from Sirius Fiction over a month ago and haven't gotten them yet, please send me e-mail giving the details. M.Driussi@g…
18 Dec 1998, 16:09
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Viscacha, You've missed one already--what are you trying to do, cover for Severian? <g> One of Greg Feeley's list of "Severian's lies" is in chapter four, when Valeria mentions t…
17 Dec 1998, 16:25
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