I must apologize for two rash utterances:
1) Any literary feud between Wolfe and Aldiss: Damien Broderick is on the inside track with Brian Aldiss, and his testimony to the contrary should be respected. The closest I've come to meeting Aldiss was when, at the age of one, I lived next door to his mother... But concerning HELLICONIA: this was, I suppose, the best way Aldiss could continue in a baroque idiom after any Malacia sequel was nixed. HELLICONIA simply isn't as good, a fact Dr. Broderick makes abundantly clear in READING BY STARLIGHT. I think it is still eminently possible that THE MALACIA TAPESTRY inspired Wolfe.
2) My statement that WHORL had become inactive: this is indeed nonsense. I thought I'd subscribed to WHORL, and that the lack of any Digests sent to me meant it had fallen silent... One further note on Wolfean authors: has anyone else read Elizabeth Hand's WINTERLONG and its sequels? They're a clear, and initially very good, homage to TBotNS. //-------------------------------------- Nicholas Gevers potto at webmail.co.za