Subject: (urth) The Dark Shore

From: Reusch <newsun at freeway.net>
Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 07:10:38 +0000

[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

>has anyone read Adam Lee's (AKA A.
>A. Attanasio's) THE DARK SHORE (Book One of The Dominions of Irth).

Jason,

You got my attention with your A.A.Attanasio reference. Are you saying 
that Adam Lee *is* A. A. Attanasio? I'm a big fan of Attanasio's, but 
I've never heard of this one.

>You can >immediately see that this book bears at least a good bit of 
resemblance to >TBOTNS.

I got excited about a Attanasio tribute to Wolfe, so I checked out the 
brief description in Amazon Books, but I don't see the similarity to 
BOTNS. From this short paragraph, it sounds more like straight fantasy. 
Where's the link?

Vance

---

From: Jason Voegele <voegele.6 at osu.edu>
Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 09:37:02 +0000

>I've never heard of this one.

Yup.  Locus listed The Dark Shore as "A. A. Attanasio writing as Adam Lee"
or something to that effect.  Also, the newly published Encyclopedia of
Fantasy (Clute and Grant, 1997--HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) lists The Dark Shore as
Attanasio's latest novel.  Oddly enough, it doesn't mention the pseudonym.

>BOTNS. From this short paragraph, it sounds more like straight fantasy. 

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse anyone here.  I wasn't trying to imply that
there is any connection as far as plot (or "shared universe") is concerned.
What I noticed right away (and, again, I haven't actually read the book yet)
is that there is a distinct similarity in both tone and style.  Notice how
Attanasio spells "Irth."  While this one similarity between The Dark Shore
and TBOTNS isn't enough to discern that Attanasio is a copycat or
commentator, I very much doubt that it is coincidence.  Apart from that, the
universe of The Dark Shore is (I think) a decaying landscape rather similar
to Urth, and from flipping through the pages of TDS, I've noticed
Attanasio's use of obscure words very much like those in TBOTNS.  I'll see
if I can't shed some light on this when I read the book.

Jason