New to the list

Hi. I just joined the list and I was saying hello. I've read Book of the New Sun and the first half of Book of the Long Sun and was wondering what the spoiler policy was. -Anjruu

"Beware," I think. Most of the people here have read everything Gene Wolfe ever wrote, including grocery lists filched from his garbage can (Dude! Remember March 12, 1992, when he wanted Reddi-Whip? Those were the days!) , and are not going to be circumspect about spoiling the books. Adam

Don't worry about spoilers on anything really. However if there is something new that comes out kindly let us know if u are going to be spoiling anything

Welcome aboard, Anjruu. Feel free to post away, but please be aware that many of your questions about New/Long Sun may have already been addressed, so if you can, kindly check the archives first -- people who have new or interesting things to say about these works will always be welcomed here, I'd venture to say, but nOObs who haven't done their homework or want to cut to the front of the line are only dissing those of us who've paid their dues in more legitimate fashion. Also try not to be too insulted or hurt if no one agrees with you; despite frequently leveled charges of heresy by various individuals (including me), there is no orthodoxy here. msg

Welcome aboard.

Oh, usually abacination for a first offense. Do you mean, "Do I need to be careful about posting spoily stuff?" or "Do I need to worry that posts here will spoil things I haven't read?" I'll assume both. As Adam says, many -- I won't say "most" -- of the participants on this list have read, if not Gene Wolfe's laundry lists, at least a huge proportion of what's available by him, including hard-to-find stuff like his first, long out-of-print-and-not-likely-to-be-reprinted-while-he's-alive-to-say-anything- about-it novel, OPERATION ARES. So at times this list takes on the feeling of a graduate seminar in Lupine fiction. Yet, we have always had a share of "beginners," "noobs," or just plain cool people who have just latched onto the Wonder That Is Gene Wolfe's Fiction. (No personal heresy here, nossir.) Yes, you can search the archives, but they're spotty, and the search function is not the best. My experience is that folks here are actually pretty patient with new members asking questions whose answers have been discussed to death -- whether settled by general consensus, or unsettled and likely to remain so for a very long time. There is a kind of "core" set of theories that constitutes a sort of orthodox Wolfeology, and a whole lot of speculations at the edges of those theories, and then a bunch of theories that contradict orthodox Wolfeology but have passionate adherents. Wait till you read "Short Sun" and then ask about the trees. You'll see. You certainly don't have to read and commit to memory every precious word of Gene Wolfe's fiction to enjoy a stay on the Urth list. (I certainly haven't hunted down all the obscure short stories, or even some of the harder-to-find chapbooks and collections.) ***** You know, folks, I think it's time this little list developed a kind of Gene Wolfe FAQ. --Dan'l

Quoting Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>:

oh! oh! can we use the brank? enamel