Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun

I have just been enjoying Dan Simmon's sequel to Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion called Endymion. On the back cover various reviewers compare DS's work to Gene Wolfe 's Book of the New Sun. The only problem is I can't find Book of the New Sun anywhere. Does it exist? It's not even listed in a reference text in my local bookstore. However, there is sequel to Book of the New Sun titled "Urth of the New Sun" which refers to "BOTNS". It's very confusing, plus there are several book with titles including "so and so, or such and such" of the LONG Sun. Can anybody help me out there? Bob

"The Book of the New Sun" consists of the volumes THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER, THE CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR, THE SWORD OF THE LICTOR, and THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH. Currently, these four books are available as two trade paperback omnibuses from our Orb imprint: SHADOW AND CLAW contains the first two, and SWORD AND CITADEL contains the second two. THE URTH OF THE NEW SUN is a "pendant" - not really a sequel, to THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN. "The Book of the Long Sun" is a separate four-volume sequence set in the same universe, but some millenia earlier. It consists of the volumes NIGHTSIDE THE LONG SUN, LAKE OF THE LONG SUN, CALDE OF THE LONG SUN, and the forthcoming (in fall '96) EXODUS FROM THE LONG SUN. Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Excellent stuff, far-future SF set on an atmospherically evoked low-tech Earth with high-tech undercurrents. Expect to have to pay close attention to work out what the hell is going on. If you loved the literary quality of the Hyperion books, you should enjoy these, though the tone is much darker. The "Long Sun" series is newer, and as yet unfinished, but it has a different setting (though with one or two very slight links) to the "New Sun" books. Marcus Ogden mwo20 at cam.ac.uk

Earlier, eh? How do you figure this? (I haven't read "Calde" yet, so forgive me if there are giveaways in that book.) Marcus Ogden mwo20 at cam.ac.uk

Probably earlier. SPOILER: The Whorl was launched during the reign of Typhon, probably 3000 years earlier. Typhon is far more than 3000 years in Severian's past. Kevin Maroney Crossover Technologies