-
From SWIMMING WITH THE UNDINES, Excerpt # 2: After Severian manages to extricate himself from the antechamber where he and Jonas have been imprisoned, and goes looking for Terminu…
22 Mar 1999, 00:52
-
From SWIMMING WITH THE UNDINES, my latest on-going project, Chapter 16: After Severian and Jonas are arrested on the grounds of the House Absolute, they're confined in an undergro…
17 Mar 1999, 03:25
-
mantis: One of the things I screwed up in my Fechin post was the identity of little Sev's grandpa. I called him Becan's father, but Sev identifies him as Casdoe's father. She also…
18 Oct 1998, 22:05
-
Anybody have any notions how Terminus Est came into the possession of Palaemon? The sword, after all, is no mere carnificial sword, but a valuable weapon, owing to its smithing by …
17 Oct 1998, 18:36
-
When Severian's cabin aboard the Quasar is broken into by Idas and plundered, Sev has only one big worry: "Whatever he had sought, I had possessed only one treasure: the letter Mas…
16 Oct 1998, 20:42
-
raster having written: "But it occurs to me that your theory can still be salvaged. If Agia isn't trying to filch the Claw, then she must be after the keys. We know S. has the …
16 Oct 1998, 12:00
-
Is anybody beside me disturbed by how often Fechin's name is mentioned in the Book of the New Sun? He seems to be extraordinarily well known for an artist, given the nature of the …
15 Oct 1998, 14:37
-
When Severian as a very young boy runs his first errand to the Witches Tower, he tells us "I was ushered into the presence of an old woman who sat in the only chair I had yet seen …
15 Oct 1998, 13:20
-
When Severian first meets Agilus at his rag shop, Agilus is wearing what Sev describe's as a skeleton or death's head mask. Sev, however, in the dimness of the shop (Wolfe specific…
14 Oct 1998, 16:15
-
This one's for alga, because I miss her. At the ridotto being held by Abdiesus, Cyriaca, on her way to seducing Severian, relates a longish tale about the Ages of Myth and Monarch…
13 Oct 1998, 16:44
-
This is the last of the major genealogical timeloop inversions of New Sun. Father Inire's name derives from Latin and means "to begin, to enter." Like many of the other incestuous…
13 Oct 1998, 01:43
-
Time for another of my far-fetched genealogical forays. Lupines still reeling over my claim that Catherine, Sev's Mom, is Valeria's daughter, might be advised to skip this one. Th…
12 Oct 1998, 18:36
-
Catherine is the daughter of an armigette (Valeria) and an exultant (Caesidias), so she may be less than full exultant height. She probably also has no khaibit (since I doubt her f…
11 Oct 1998, 23:03
-
Earlier this year prion (Sean Whalen) brilliantly observed the connection between Appian, the old autarch, and the Latin word for bee, apis. Why this works is because Appian was a …
10 Oct 1998, 15:22
-
As Severian is getting ready to depart the ship that has taken him to Yesod and back to Urth, he makes the following comment (URTH, p.187): "Together we left the ship, and it was o…
10 Oct 1998, 11:08
-
It's Camoena, and like her fellow Hierodules, Famulimus and Barbatus, she may experience time backwards (which is why I expect the Cumaean and her acolyte Merryn to turn up in the …
10 Oct 1998, 11:08
-
raster does not like the Corridors/Atrium of Time escape clause, but I'm sticking with it. Or to quote the LEXICON URTHUS entry for A of T: "A time traveling structure, like the La…
10 Oct 1998, 00:46
-
Earlier, I asserted Catherine (Severian's mother) to be the daughter of Valeria. So then, who's her father? It's Dux Caesidius, Valeria's second husband. According to Eata, Caesidi…
09 Oct 1998, 16:44
-
Interesting observation. And it may be worth noting that the flower valerian has azure-colored petals. I'm also wondering, in light of the above, if anyone can link the two (Valer…
09 Oct 1998, 15:20
-
In LEXICON URTHUS, under the entry for Catherine can be read the following commentary: "she probably was a Pelerine and her reason for leaving the order (of 'professional virgins,'…
09 Oct 1998, 11:48
-
In LEXICON URTHUS, in the entry under Dorcas, it reads: "She dies at the age of sixteen or seventeen while giving birth to her first child, a son named Ouen." But in SWORD, Dorcas…
08 Oct 1998, 15:38
-
Don't believe this has been addressed yet, but in LEXICON URTHUS, the following question is asked: "What were the names of the journeymen Master Gurloes sent in search of the House…
07 Oct 1998, 17:35
-
In CLAW, Gurloes tells us khaibits are "common girls that look like the chatelaines. [But] I don't know where they get them." Severian, in his first and only visit to the House Azu…
07 Oct 1998, 00:38
-
Here's a couple more items in my Barbea-as-Sev's sister thesis, even though I don't know what the pomo word for alternative history is, either. In CLAW, Severian says, "I recalled…
05 Oct 1998, 00:20
-
Time for me to add my speculations to the mix, since, to the best of my knowledge, no one's yet mentioned the woman I think is Sev's sister. I believe we meet her early, in SHADO…
02 Oct 1998, 18:48
-
Not long ago Kieran Mullen asked: It may still be a while, I'm afraid. GW has yet to submit the final draft for Vol. 1 of the Short Sun trilogy to editor Dave H…
30 Sep 1998, 12:55
-
For a long time my favorite explanation for the events that transpire in "Forlesen" was provided by the undertaker-type character at the story's end--namely, that Emanuel Forlesen …
26 Sep 1998, 22:23
-
"Four Wolves" was published in AMAZING, May, 1983. It consists of: 1) At The Volcano's Lip (reprinted in STOREYS FROM THE OLD HOTEL) 2) In The Mountains (also in STOREYS) 3) My…
22 Sep 1998, 22:20
-
Between its Biblically-resonant title and Baba Yaga hut-on-the-run ending, Gene Wolfe's "Many Mansions" (found in GW's BOOK OF DAYS) has one other thing I feel recommends it for mu…
22 Sep 1998, 01:30
-
This is my assertion and it's one of two speculative claims I make about "In Looking Glass Castle"--the other being that the man Daisy McKane sees first in her house, then later on…
05 Sep 1998, 19:21
-
mantis having written earlier: "I understand that Merlin is said to be living backwards in time. And this device has since been used by writers. So I don't know . . . it is certa…
02 Sep 1998, 20:34
-
What David neglected to add is that Valse Triste is by Jean Sibelius, another Scandinavian composer (though from Finnland, whereas Grieg--the composer of Peer Gynt--is from Norway)…
11 Aug 1998, 00:32
-
Just finished CASTLEVIEW for the first time and thought I would offer my preliminary observations. After I do a second read, I'll probably post some longer, more explicatory stuff-…
08 Aug 1998, 00:07
-
Given that in "Silhouette" we have a literal Deus ex machina--originally a convention of stagecraft--plus a panoply of characters who are known only by their first names or rank (t…
31 Jul 1998, 22:03
-
Sean/prion: Re your assertions following: "It's unknown how much time passed after that and when the case was photocopied and assembled. When it was finished, it was a year befo…
21 Jul 1998, 00:54
-
Sean/prion: It's kinda neat--your idea of David being Maitre #2, the junior officer who reviews VRT's case. I'm not sure I buy it--David's a wee bit on the spoiled side if you ask…
20 Jul 1998, 22:10
-
Some bits and pieces on "The Doctor of Death Island," because it's easier to discuss that way. Unlike its two predecessors in the Archipelago series, which draw mainly on Greek my…
20 Jul 1998, 21:16
-
Earlier, in regards to my Continuing Westward post, Sean Whalen (aka prion) wrote: "This seems to fit, but how does it fit in that he originally thought that she stabbed Sanderson…
17 Jul 1998, 23:26
-
Don't know if this has been brought up before, but if Owen/Ouen is considered to be the Welsh/Celtic equivalent of Eugene, doesn't that mean Sev's father might also be called Gene?…
17 Jul 1998, 21:14
-
"Continuing Westward" reminds me of "Suzanne Delage" in several respects. (1) It's an homage piece to another writer, this time Rudyard Kipling. And (2) its more fantastic elements…
16 Jul 1998, 21:12
-
Gene Wolfe's "Cherry Jubilee" might be read as a simple Agatha Christie-like whodunit set aboard a spaceship traveling to Mars, but like all of Wolfe's stories set in space (perhap…
16 Jul 1998, 00:06
-
In a previous post I mentioned how I thought "The HORARS of War" and "All the Hues of Hell" were part of the same story cycle. Time now to examine what I think each means and how t…
14 Jul 1998, 14:34
-
A couple of people have suggested that "All the Hues of Hell" is somehow related to "Silhouette," but I'd like to suggest it's the fugue sequel to still another story--"The HORARS …
11 Jul 1998, 20:10
-
"To the Dark Tower Came" seems interpretable in several different ways, so I'm hoping others will post their interpretations. mantis has already linked it to "At the Point of Capri…
08 Jul 1998, 21:34
-
William Ansley, with NaCl on his tongue, has recently written: "(By the way, could you please favor us with all the dirt on how you "almost certainly" work out that "the name of '…
06 Jul 1998, 21:35
-
While I think William Ansley's rebuttal of my tv-as-labyrinth theory was well argued, and I enjoyed prion's alternate intrepretation, I still feel compelled to quote the following …
05 Jul 1998, 22:04
-
Time now to consider "Cues," possibly Gene Wolfe's most cryptic short work. It's also extremely scatological if I read it right--wicked, wicked Gene is playing a wicked, wicked jok…
05 Jul 1998, 20:42
-
Jason V. having asked: "One question though: what do you suppose is the "sinister element" that Wolfe claims to have "kept so far in the background that few readers notice it at a…
04 Jul 1998, 17:47
-
With his head well above water, about 666 posts ago (+/-100), Welshian sawn prion wrote: "First, about the original Jeannine in the photo. Aunt Jeannine tells No. 5 that she will…
04 Jul 1998, 17:25
-
One of my all-time favorite short-shorts by Gene Wolfe is "A Solar Labyrinth." And yet no one I've ever shared the story with has ever been to figure it out, to solve the maze, if …
03 Jul 1998, 20:39
Urth Net