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At the least, I'd say the inhumi are evil in the sense that a thing might be called evil (atom bombs, torture devices, pornographic movies, crack coccaine, a computer virus). That…
23 May 2002, 16:20
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I think this has been pretty well refuted, but oh, how I wish it were true. I really believed it for a minute. It seemed like such a Wolfean idea, him being an engineer and all, …
14 May 2002, 14:22
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When I read the story, I thought Wolfe might be pastiching Barry Hughart's _Bridge of Birds_ (which is possibly the most wonderful fantasy novel I've ever read, Wolfe's works inclu…
13 May 2002, 18:57
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This theory would also account for the difficulty we've been having pinning down how much manual dexterity the abos have. As much or as little as the person thinks an abo would ha…
10 May 2002, 03:05
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I'm undecided about whether 'A Story' is "true," but I'd like to take issue with your idea that it would be a waste if it weren't. 1. It's an entertaining novella on its own. Ma…
06 May 2002, 19:30
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I don't know of any natural phenomena we understand as well as the things we make ourselves. Naturally, we try to explain what we don't understand in terms of what we do. -Rostru…
24 Apr 2002, 18:15
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I thought sure those comments in the Appendix were jokes. They made me laugh. -Rostrum…
24 Apr 2002, 18:11
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Maybe this is what you mean by "evoked potentials," but I always assumed that the eye thing was merely a trigger, that the Holy Hues put the brain into some sort of receptive state…
24 Apr 2002, 17:35
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[...] Classically, Pride is seen as the chief of sins, and one that is least connected to our animal nature. Thought to be the source of If angels (e.g. Satan) can sin and fall…
24 Apr 2002, 17:27
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Which raises the question again, are there no more rainbows on Urth? (Other than the one Severian pulls butterflies out of, that is.) -Rostrum…
19 Apr 2002, 19:20
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Wow. How is it I've never heard of this? What years would this be? Extremely fascinating! You're thinking of "When I Was Ming the Merciless." I believe that in the story there …
18 Apr 2002, 13:26
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This just further supports the theseus that "A Solar Labyrinth" is about reading Wolfe's books. I'm not sure which way Occam's razor cuts. Should one assume that an author's work…
18 Apr 2002, 13:20
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If it makes you feel any better, I read that group regularly, and there are some people who don't like Wolfe, but also many eloquent defenders of his work. Here's a few good posts…
17 Apr 2002, 14:07
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I agree with this, but I think it is a symbolic connection rather than a literal one. That is, I don't think we should expect #5 to look like our own Mr. Wolfe nor look for clues …
16 Apr 2002, 18:58
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Really? I thought the name thing was just a joke. Not that the character is supposed to have any real relationship or resemblence to the real Wolfe. -Rostrum…
15 Apr 2002, 17:15
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My introduction to Wolfe was the New Sun books, followed by the Soldier books, all of which I loved. Then I read 5HC and didn't like it very much. If that had been my introductio…
12 Apr 2002, 13:13
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Thanks to mantis, John Barach (whose bibliography I've cut/pasted from below) and all the others who helped recommend uncollected Wolfe shorts. Here's my list of most of the short…
11 Apr 2002, 15:47
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I agree. Wasn't Wolfe already being hailed as a genius for 5HC before people had even read any of the New Sun books? I mostly agree with this. One of the main reasons I dislike …
11 Apr 2002, 14:13
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I was thinking about Wolfe's apparent modesty with regard to whether or not his next novel will be published. Wolfe is a SF fan, he knows what's popular, and he knows that his boo…
11 Apr 2002, 14:01
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While I don't buy this theory (I think Wolfe would have done a little more with the concept if this was truly going on), I think it's my favorite of your theories. The idea of Sil…
10 Apr 2002, 14:30
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Thats a great article Nick. I like the way you linked 5th Head with the Sun books. Even though I've read half-a-dozen similar retrospectives of Wolfe's work, this one seemed quit…
10 Apr 2002, 14:24
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Could this be that he's following Silkhorn, who is using his Neighbor-given ability to find paths through bushes? Although it's possible that this works because the trees are movi…
08 Apr 2002, 19:55
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I missed that detail. Do you have a reference? By "related to the Neighbors" are you refering to the Narrator's ability to walk between them, or that they are both lifeforms of t…
28 Mar 2002, 17:08
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Thanks! From that page: Shakespeare wrote 17 comedies. Beethoven wrote 17 quartets. The age of the universe is about 10^17 seconds. There are 17 muscles in the tongue. The Japan…
27 Mar 2002, 17:26
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Heh. Googling Discordians and 17 found this quote: The crazies aside, though, it's the utterly boring, uncreative people who see a stupid theme and latch on then run it into the …
27 Mar 2002, 17:18
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I recently found out that another SF writer is enamored of the number seventeen: apparently most of Steven Brust's novels have 17 chapters (starting with the first Dragaera novel, …
27 Mar 2002, 17:01
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Regarding the similarity of Urth and Blue/Green lifeforms and their ability to eat each other, this is an old standard convention in science fiction. Let's remember that the Short…
26 Mar 2002, 16:16
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From that obit: --- Thousands of fans have seen his cartoons, but I suspect that only a few have seen his wood carvings. Perhaps the most remarkable is a cane decorated with leaves…
22 Mar 2002, 20:45
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I'm sorry. I had the impression that you and some of the other folks on the list had read a lot of these stories in magazines or elsewhere and might have a favorite to recommend. …
21 Mar 2002, 17:57
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Aw, c'mon, mantis. Surely you don't need a list to recommend a few of Wolfe's better uncollected short works that are worth tracking down? -Rostrum…
21 Mar 2002, 16:46
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This is probably forshadowing Silk trying to replace his own painful memories with those of Horn's. -Rostrum…
19 Mar 2002, 13:05
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I think you mean Urth is saltier than Blue? Isn't that just because the dying sun means more water is frozen in the polar caps, thus the ocean salt is more concentrated? You almo…
19 Mar 2002, 01:44
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Perhaps my least favorite bit from Mr. Gevers's excellent interview with Wolfe was when he said he didn't see a new short story collection on the horizon (although perhaps that's j…
18 Mar 2002, 15:00
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One of my favorite pleasures in reading science fiction short stories is being dropped /in medias res/, not knowing where or when the story takes place, not knowing if the protagon…
14 Mar 2002, 15:24
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But every version of the Blue=Ushas theory I've seen at least admits a very long time between Severian and the Short Sun Books (long enough for Neighbor civilization to rise and fa…
12 Mar 2002, 15:48
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My take on it is this: Horn is completely dead at the end (Silk says, "in some sense, I killed their father"). This is why Silk is reluctant to intrude on Nettle saying goodbye t…
07 Mar 2002, 15:38
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As a little break from our more involved discussions, here's a down-to-earth question that probably has a straightforward answer. How does Severian quickly unsheath his sword when…
06 Mar 2002, 17:48
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I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes, but it's not clear whether Thecla kills herself of her own volition to avoid further torment, or if by taking the knife she is allow…
05 Mar 2002, 15:42
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Yet they continue to act against the Autarchy and to try to prevent Severian from bringing the New Sun. Here we get into deep philosophical/theological waters. This is like sayin…
05 Mar 2002, 00:43
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I read this to mean that Typhon's astronomers hadn't even detected the black hole's effects, that they were telling him about the sun's normal life-cycle as a star, until it was to…
04 Mar 2002, 13:02
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The universe has moved, but it's not moving faster than light, which it would have to in order to be able to see the old red sun in the sky of Blue. I think the only way you can …
27 Feb 2002, 13:17
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I thought it was a typo for "scarred." -Rostrum…
22 Feb 2002, 20:37
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I've mentioned before another way in which the Long Sun books remind me of the book of Acts. Acts is written in third person for the first 75% of the book, then it suddenly shifts…
19 Feb 2002, 20:48
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I think "the girl" there is the concubine the Rajan escaped with. I agree, that sentence does lend itself to sinister interpretation. I don't think the narrator is an inhumu, but…
19 Feb 2002, 13:54
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Yet another problem with this theory. When the narrator and Hoof and Jahlee travel to Green and visit Sinew's city, they go out to the lander where Horn died and retrieve the Neig…
19 Feb 2002, 13:50
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I don't think the inhumu soul-stealing works that way. For one thing, there's no other evidence of an inhumu gaining memories (or even much personality) from the person he/she's…
19 Feb 2002, 13:26
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I kind of like this idea; it's not much harder to swollow than Mucor's powers or the Narrator's dream travelling. But if you're saying Horn-in-Silk really did have a dream about J…
18 Feb 2002, 12:56
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Near the beginning of RTW, "He" (the person whose adventures are chronicled in the third-person passages) has a dream that had me quite confused. I'm refering to the one He has th…
17 Feb 2002, 02:42
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Silk's body may not used to eating much. Remember in _Nightside_ where couple fried tomatoes, and apple, and a crust of bread are a mouth-watering feast? That was when he was a p…
13 Feb 2002, 16:11
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I realized after I wrote this that I'm including a few spoilers from Return to the Whorl. So read at your own risk. The inhumi become human when they are transported because they…
12 Feb 2002, 14:28
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