# Gene Wolfe books about books

*The SF-Lovers list — 2 messages, 2 voices, 29 Nov 1984*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/38>

> Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright
> in each message remains with the person who wrote it.
> Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original
> archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than
> retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.

---

### Purtill
*29 Nov 1984, 22:53*

Does anyone know of any easy (or possible) ways of
\getting/ Gene Wolfe's THE CASTLE OF THE OTTER and/or PLAN[E]T
ENGINEERING?  As I understand it, both were put out by small presses
in small quantities.  I heard that the Science Fiction Book Club put
out THE CASTLE OF THE OTTER.  Is this true?  Is it still available?
(I.e., if I joined now, could I get it?)

Thanks in advance,

Mark Purtill
Purtill@MIT_MULTICS

---

### Donn Seeley
*05 Dec 1984, 12:33 · follows Purtill*

I don't have a line on purchasable copies of THE CASTLE OF THE OTTER
or PLAN[E]T ENGINEERING, but a good place to start is with Mark
Ziesing, publisher of OTTER and from whom I bought both books:

        Mark V Ziesing
        PO Box 806 (orders) or 762 Main St. (store)
Ziesing is a wonderful source of Wolfe books; apart from OTTER and
PLAN[E]T, I've bought THE WOLFE ARCHIPELAGO, FREE LIVE FREE (both
published by Mark), THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH, and just recently an
autographed hardbound edition of THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS (a great
book that has been afflicted with revolting cover art in its
paperback editions).  Even if Mark can't get you copies of these
books, you might be able to find out from him where else they might
be available now or in the future.

Here's some publication info on OTTER and PLAN[E]T:

THE CASTLE OF THE OTTER: A BOOK ABOUT The Book of the New Sun.  Gene
Wolfe.  Ziesing Bros.: Willimantic CT, 1982.  ISBN 0-917488-10-5,
0-917488-11-3 (signed ed.).  117 pp.  Limited edition of 520 copies.
Contains essays on the structure and symbolism of the novel, poetry,
onomastics ('the study of names') and warfare; plus a glossary for
SHADOW, an essay on writing, a collection of jokes told by
characters from the novel, a history of the publishing of the novel
and a Wolfe bibliography through 10/81, by Gordon Benson.

PLAN[E]T ENGINEERING.  Gene Wolfe.  NESFA Press: Box G MIT Branch
P.O., Cambridge MA 02139-0910, 1984.  ISBN 0-915368-25-0,
0-915368-83-8 (slipcased ed.).  155 pp.  Limited edition of 1000
copies.  Contains: Introduction by David Hartwell; 'Logology' (a
foreword); 'The Books in THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN' (an essay); 'In
Looking-Glass Castle', 'The Rubber Bend', 'The Marvelous Brass
Chessplaying Automaton', 'When I was Ming the Merciless', 'The
HORARS of War', 'A Criminal Proceeding' (a personal favorite), 'The
Detective of Dreams' (all stories); 'British Soldier near Rapier
Antiaircraft Missile Battery Scans for the Enemy', 'Last Night in
the Garden of Forking Tongues' (about guess who?), 'The Computer
Iterates the Greater Trumps' (all poetry); and 'The Anatomy of a
Robot', an article from PLANT ENGINEERING MAGAZINE.

I originally heard about Mark Ziesing and OTTER through sf-lovers,

---