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Rostrum, CASTLE OF DAYS is an omnibus of BOOK OF DAYS (short stories) and CASTLE OF THE OTTER (all about TBOTNS) and a third section of scattered non-fiction, some previously unpu…
17 Dec 1998, 16:25
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LETTERS HOME is about Gene Wolfe's experience in the Korean War, made up of the letters he wrote to his mother. BIBLIOMEN is another case of Cheap Street (expensive) versus Bryan …
17 Dec 1998, 06:18
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Rostrum, You asked about the most efficient way to get all of Wolfe's short stories and novellas. I'm not sure I understand, exactly--are you worried about overlapping stories in…
17 Dec 1998, 02:12
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Vizcacha, Re: Agia's off-the-cuff time span, my favorite answer so far is that this is a number she heard from Hethor--not necessarily the time of the Conciliator, but the time of…
16 Dec 1998, 20:54
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What Wombat said, except that he meant to say "several early Wolfe stories which have never been REprinted elsewhere and two early stories previously unpublished." Very hard to fi…
14 Dec 1998, 22:26
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Hello Sligo (and hello Kieran Cleary)! Well we do have some info on Fechin via THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF SAINTS (which mentions the Co. Sligo), but the stingy Lexicon only says "Sa…
07 Dec 1998, 18:28
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As alga says. Apheta. The star of a nativity: the nativity of a star. Scarey, circular, yet somehow . . . it makes sense. Back to the "Terminus Est" Latin tangle, obviously I'm…
05 Dec 1998, 02:42
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As my last ditch defense, I'll blame it all on John Crowley's (award winning?) "Great Work of Time": "She told how in those same years the European powers who confronted each othe…
30 Nov 1998, 18:32
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Wombat, Interesting datapoint on "terminus est." Doh! Maybe the paring knife forged by Jovinian was "Consummatum Est"? <g> Matthew Freestone, Thank you very much for your expe…
29 Nov 1998, 18:39
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Wow, go away for a few days and come back to find lots of stuff! Now that's a happy thing. First off, a long overdue report on WFC98. I'll start with details and maybe later I'l…
27 Nov 1998, 23:00
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Matthew Freestone and Gordon Brain, Re: Marble Arch(es), inscriptions, Hyde Park. I'm curious what clues might be on the arch(es), but it is probably too much work for too little…
25 Nov 1998, 01:57
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Paul, This seems the time for my recent thoughts on the "absurdity" of certain units at the battle front. I know this is something you keep turning over, the tallman riding dwarf…
25 Nov 1998, 00:45
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Ack! I should've know that Paul Duggan would be the one to know "Fading Suns"! Good points, too, btw. But under "active interstellar empire" we should list the qualifiers: "Urth…
24 Nov 1998, 02:25
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Tangentially related to the "Elephant & Castle" thread . . . Hey, can anybody help me answer this question: I'm looking for a Latin inscription on a marble arch, probably either …
21 Nov 1998, 22:51
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Kieran Mullen and Derek Bell, Eek! Re: selling copies of the manuscript. Well, probably not kosher, unless it was somehow "at photocopy cost" and "for the purposes of playtestin…
21 Nov 1998, 00:45
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Wombat, Ah, "Tales of the Arabian Nights" in limbo. I guess it happens a lot, but I really wish it didn't happen to my projects and things I'm looking for. Selfish of me, I know…
20 Nov 1998, 18:06
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Wombat, Re: "Tales of Arabian Nights" game, coincidentally that is a product I've been looking for (the West End Games version)! (I saw it once, but it slipped through my fingers…
20 Nov 1998, 03:52
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Wombat (and Kieran Mullen), The short answer is that if "GURPS Book of the New Sun" was out, I'd tell you--believe me, I'd tell you. It is not out yet, nor is it slated for publi…
20 Nov 1998, 00:24
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This seems like a good time to mention that there are three new booklets available right now: "Additions, Errata, &cetera: volume 3" (1998) is the final booklet of notes, weighing…
18 Nov 1998, 23:52
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This seems like a good time to mention that the new "LS" booklet is available right now: "LS-2: Languages of the Long Sun Whorl" (1998) covers all the slang, cant, jargon, and for…
18 Nov 1998, 23:52
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Spectacled Bear, "Elephant and Castle"? <blank> No, I don't get it. But alas! So often is the case. =mantis=…
18 Nov 1998, 23:51
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Raster, Re: "by noyade" and chapter 29 of THE SWORD OF THE LICTOR. Say more . . . seems to me that chapter 30 might be closer to "by noyade" (i.e., the fate of Severian's captors…
09 Nov 1998, 23:14
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Well, okay--another way to do it would be to develop a "Reader Scale." Carrying on from vizcacha's vector, re commentators on PEACE tending to become mantic or borskian, grafted o…
04 Nov 1998, 20:50
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Re: questions regarding the stardrive that is pushing the Whorl. Because the details in the text are so very few, the entire topic is wildly speculative. By my reading, at least,…
03 Nov 1998, 17:30
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Re: Miles & Jolenta. Oh dear, yes, that =does= look like a misread on my part! As Tony Ellis points out, it is a misreading based upon an interpretive splice upon two adjacent se…
02 Nov 1998, 19:48
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Odd detail re: the razor of Silk's father, potent and mysterious artifact. It reminds me of a detail from the Jonas/Miles engima in TBOTNS, when Severian asks the reanimated soldi…
28 Oct 1998, 17:39
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Today's bummer--Gene Wolfe has cancelled his plans to go to World Fantasy Convention in Monterey California. I have this information from a personal letter from him dated 10/18. A…
21 Oct 1998, 21:06
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Robert Borski, Right, it is young (twenty-something) journeyman Severian who dubs the Old Man in the hut as contemporary to Rudesind. And Rudesind talks of when he was a boy seve…
19 Oct 1998, 17:57
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Robert Borski, Actually this Jovinian is another example just like Fechin, whom we were just talking about. Who was this Michelangelo of metal, such that even scum like Agilus wh…
18 Oct 1998, 02:04
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Robert Borski, That Fechin may have been autarch would appear to be quite difficult to prove in the text, but it doesn't seem impossible. I share your interest in Fechin as a mys…
17 Oct 1998, 16:10
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FWIW, an' that ain't much, my version of Agia (and I really do like her a lot) has her fully knowing about the Claw. She plants it on Severian. Once they get out of the tent, she…
15 Oct 1998, 20:17
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Attention! Attention! Jeremy Crampton informs me that the Urth novella EMPIRES OF FOLIAGE AND FLOWER is available now in the book THE BEST OF CRANK! Publishing history: First p…
15 Oct 1998, 16:32
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Kieran Mullen, Re: science and pseudo-science. Okay, fair enough. Now then, do you yourself use the same exact role in the science classroom as an instructor as you do in the pu…
15 Oct 1998, 05:52
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alga, I am cheered to see you so happy, even though it wasn't me who started the ball rolling in this case--it was David Duffy who posted the OED "Apheta" and his closing comment …
15 Oct 1998, 05:38
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Re: Apheta. As "starting place" is given in, I believe, OXFORD HANDBOOK OF CLASSICAL LITERATURE. Along with several so named starting places from Greek mythology. Implication be…
14 Oct 1998, 14:34
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Re: Science, scientists, and the Scientific Method. I thought that Science proceeded by way of cutting edge experiments; said experiments derived from hyptotheses (by definition b…
14 Oct 1998, 00:26
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"As URTH makes clear, the Old Autarch's function, both in the story and in the world, is to prepare the way for Severian. His career and his trial mark the road the New Sun must fo…
11 Oct 1998, 04:05
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Christopher R. Culver, But isn't the monial Catherine, uh, rather =short= for an exultant? I believe somewhere in the text it says that Thecla was Severian's adult height at the a…
10 Oct 1998, 03:00
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Whoops--Kieran Mullen thinks we should shut up. Okay! =m...…
10 Oct 1998, 02:59
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Right, and I wrote Sieur Racho was in Nessus over a span of months because Severian first saw him in SHADOW ch. 6 in winter, strolling around the Old Citadel, then the fiacre race …
09 Oct 1998, 22:54
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Griffjon's fears that Dorcas's soul might have been drawn down into an annonymous body (ala Jonas-riding-Miles) might be assuaged by: 1) the locket Ouen has (i.e., Ouen's mom look…
09 Oct 1998, 20:48
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Robert Borski, I think it was in Feeley's essay where the idea that the pelerines had regular commerce with the cloisonne shop family was first raised. The shop sold crucifixes; t…
09 Oct 1998, 20:15
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Robert Borski, Now this is something interesting. Just to shore up another data point, the estimated age of Dorcas is supplied by Agia when the trio is at the Inn of Lost Loves (…
09 Oct 1998, 00:32
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Robert Borski, It was pointed out elsewhere/somewhen that the last bit of "Forlesen," the Yes No part, is actually the answer (from the nine archetypes) to the final question. Do…
27 Sep 1998, 16:45
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Pardon the abrupt tangent, but . . . Hey, wasn't somebody around here talking a while back about working on an elaborately annotated bibliography of secondary materials relating t…
23 Sep 1998, 00:08
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Tony Ellis, Sorry! Sailors Adam and Eve stay in the ring of Ushas (for the moment at least). Continue to build a case against them, if you like. You seem to be saying the Test …
05 Sep 1998, 16:58
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Tony Ellis wrote, I thought the "thing born" was something larger, more obvious, with a more direct/literal connection to Severian in the text (i.e., another "myself"), and with m…
04 Sep 1998, 14:45
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And now for something completely different. The 1998 World Fantasy Convention (Oct 29 to Nov 1) is to be held in Monterey, California. At the convention center next to the Marrio…
02 Sep 1998, 22:42
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Yes, yes, we have been over this before. But still, who knows--maybe we'll figure something out? The hierodules are creatures of Briah who are agents/tools of Hierogrammates in Y…
02 Sep 1998, 22:16
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John Gersten, Since I believe it likely that time in Yesod travels in the "opposite" direction of time in Briah (which is the only way I can fit things so that ships can sail back…
02 Sep 1998, 16:41
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