# Question for Lafferty fans ... *The Urth list — 4 messages, 2 voices, 16 Jul 2012* > 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. --- ### Antonin Scriabin *16 Jul 2012, 20:02* I was wondering if any of you have managed to get your hands on and read * Archipelago*, the first in the "Devil is Dead" trilogy. As far as I can tell, there was only one print run of 1,000, and the copies that I find online are at least $150. Does this work like a "regular" trilogy, in that it is necessary (or at least highly recommended) that the books be read in order? I know with Lafferty all bets are off, so I wouldn't be surprised if I could read them out of order! I am also not sure about the last couple volume ... the Wiki says that the third book in the trilogy, *More Than Melchisedech, *is itself in three parts, that look like they were printed as chapbooks. All are virtually impossible to find online, and incredibly expensive. If they were printed as chapbooks, do any of you know if they have been collected elsewhere, perhaps in a science fiction anthology or something similar? I ask because I stumbled across a nice copy of the second volume (*The Devil is Dead*) that, while still expensive, was a bit more in my price range. Of course, I am also just plain curious about all things Lafferty I can find! * * Thanks!* * --- ### Daniel Petersen *16 Jul 2012, 21:59 · in reply to Antonin Scriabin* Hi Antonin, I still haven't read anything but *The Devil Is Dead* because the other volumes have been too expensive for me to obtain. I get the impression you can read at least the first two out of order, but it eventually makes sense better if you read the entirety. Interestingly, related to Wolfe, I believe Lafferty's novella 'From The Thunder Colt's Mouth' in the affordable 'science fiction triad' called *In the Wake of Man* (where Wolfe's 'Tracking Song' first appeared) is an excerpt from *More Than Melchisedech*. The novella is an interesting read in itself, but I'm not sure how much it tells you about the trilogy (I certainly didn't notice much connection to *The Devil is Dead*, but there was an appearance from *Devil*'s protagonist, Finnegan.) Whilst there is good news in the pipeline that there should be a new Lafferty collection of short stories coming out in a few years' time (possibly introduced by some famous authors), with more popular volumes to follow such as his novels *Past Master *and *Fourth Mansions* - the Argo Mythos cycle (as the volumes you're referring to are sometimes called) is almost certainly not high on the publisher's priority list and so it will still be quite some time before they see the light of day. Since you're self-professedly curious about all things Lafferty, I highly recommend a perusal of the Lafferty blog I write as some quite knowledgeable people frequently comment with lots of insights and insider knowledge about the publication of Lafferty. http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/ Take care, DOJP (For those wondering what all this Lafferty stuff is doing here in a Wolfe board, check out Wolfe's rather fawning comments on Lafferty here: http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/its-great-to-be-young-and-in-danger.html .) > On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 9:02 PM, Antonin Scriabin > wrote: > I was wondering if any of you have managed to get your hands on and read * > Archipelago*, the first in the "Devil is Dead" trilogy. As far as I can > tell, there was only one print run of 1,000, and the copies that I find > online are at least $150. Does this work like a "regular" trilogy, in that > it is necessary (or at least highly recommended) that the books be read in > order? I know with Lafferty all bets are off, so I wouldn't be surprised > if I could read them out of order! > > I am also not sure about the last couple volume ... the Wiki says that the > third book in the trilogy, *More Than Melchisedech, *is itself in three > parts, that look like they were printed as chapbooks. All are virtually > impossible to find online, and incredibly expensive. If they were printed > as chapbooks, do any of you know if they have been collected elsewhere, > perhaps in a science fiction anthology or something similar? I ask because > I stumbled across a nice copy of the second volume (*The Devil is Dead*) > that, while still expensive, was a bit more in my price range. Of course, > I am also just plain curious about all things Lafferty I can find! > * > * > Thanks!* * > > _______________________________________________ --- ### Antonin Scriabin *16 Jul 2012, 22:22 · in reply to Daniel Petersen* Thanks for the detailed response! It is remarkable that a writer of Lafferty's caliber has such a fragmented oeuvre. As I was searching for more about this trilogy I came across many references to unpublished works of his, and of course some of the published things were limited print runs, chapbooks, etc. A shame, really! I will see if I can find *In the Wake of Man*, Lafferty + Wolfe will of course be a great combo. Where did you happen to hear about the possibly forthcoming Lafferty reprints? The short story collection seems particularly interesting; *Nine Hundred Grandmothers* is hands down my favorite book of short stories. Thanks for the link to your blog, I remember having read some posts there after finding your Wolfe blog. Good stuff! > On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 5:59 PM, Daniel Petersen < > danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Antonin, I still haven't read anything but *The Devil Is Dead* because > the other volumes have been too expensive for me to obtain. I get the > impression you can read at least the first two out of order, but it > eventually makes sense better if you read the entirety. > > Interestingly, related to Wolfe, I believe Lafferty's novella 'From The > Thunder Colt's Mouth' in the affordable 'science fiction triad' called *In > the Wake of Man* (where Wolfe's 'Tracking Song' first appeared) is an > excerpt from *More Than Melchisedech*. The novella is an interesting > read in itself, but I'm not sure how much it tells you about the trilogy (I > certainly didn't notice much connection to *The Devil is Dead*, but there > was an appearance from *Devil*'s protagonist, Finnegan.) > > Whilst there is good news in the pipeline that there should be a new > Lafferty collection of short stories coming out in a few years' time > (possibly introduced by some famous authors), with more popular volumes to > follow such as his novels *Past Master *and *Fourth Mansions* - the Argo > Mythos cycle (as the volumes you're referring to are sometimes called) is > almost certainly not high on the publisher's priority list and so it will > still be quite some time before they see the light of day. > > Since you're self-professedly curious about all things Lafferty, I highly > recommend a perusal of the Lafferty blog I write as some quite > knowledgeable people frequently comment with lots of insights and insider > knowledge about the publication of Lafferty. > > http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/ > > Take care, > > DOJP > > (For those wondering what all this Lafferty stuff is doing here in a Wolfe > board, check out Wolfe's rather fawning comments on Lafferty here: > http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/its-great-to-be-young-and-in-danger.html > .) > > On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 9:02 PM, Antonin Scriabin < > kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote: >> I was wondering if any of you have managed to get your hands on and read >> *Archipelago*, the first in the "Devil is Dead" trilogy. As far as I >> can tell, there was only one print run of 1,000, and the copies that I find >> online are at least $150. Does this work like a "regular" trilogy, in that >> it is necessary (or at least highly recommended) that the books be read in >> order? I know with Lafferty all bets are off, so I wouldn't be surprised >> if I could read them out of order! >> >> I am also not sure about the last couple volume ... the Wiki says that >> the third book in the trilogy, *More Than Melchisedech, *is itself in >> three parts, that look like they were printed as chapbooks. All are >> virtually impossible to find online, and incredibly expensive. If they >> were printed as chapbooks, do any of you know if they have been collected >> elsewhere, perhaps in a science fiction anthology or something similar? I >> ask because I stumbled across a nice copy of the second volume (*The >> Devil is Dead*) that, while still expensive, was a bit more in my price >> range. Of course, I am also just plain curious about all things Lafferty I >> can find! >> * >> * >> Thanks!* * >> >> _______________________________________________ --- ### Daniel Petersen *16 Jul 2012, 22:31 · in reply to Antonin Scriabin* My pleasure, Antonin! Only too glad to try to help out another Laff enthusiast. There's a guy who comments on the blog called Andrew Ferguson who wrote his MA dissertation on Lafferty (the only academic paper on Lafferty so far): http://virginia.academia.edu/AndrewFerguson/Papers/288013/Lafferty_and_His_World. He has passed along some of this insider knowledge about upcoming publication of Lafferty. -DOJP On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 11:22 PM, Antonin Scriabin wrote: > Thanks for the detailed response! It is remarkable that a writer of > Lafferty's caliber has such a fragmented oeuvre. As I was searching for > more about this trilogy I came across many references to unpublished works > of his, and of course some of the published things were limited print runs, > chapbooks, etc. A shame, really! I will see if I can find *In the Wake > of Man*, Lafferty + Wolfe will of course be a great combo. Where did you > happen to hear about the possibly forthcoming Lafferty reprints? The short > story collection seems particularly interesting; *Nine Hundred > Grandmothers* is hands down my favorite book of short stories. Thanks for > the link to your blog, I remember having read some posts there after > finding your Wolfe blog. Good stuff! > > On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 5:59 PM, Daniel Petersen < > danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi Antonin, I still haven't read anything but *The Devil Is Dead*because the other volumes have been too expensive for me to obtain. I get >> the impression you can read at least the first two out of order, but it >> eventually makes sense better if you read the entirety. >> >> Interestingly, related to Wolfe, I believe Lafferty's novella 'From The >> Thunder Colt's Mouth' in the affordable 'science fiction triad' called *In >> the Wake of Man* (where Wolfe's 'Tracking Song' first appeared) is an >> excerpt from *More Than Melchisedech*. The novella is an interesting >> read in itself, but I'm not sure how much it tells you about the trilogy (I >> certainly didn't notice much connection to *The Devil is Dead*, but >> there was an appearance from *Devil*'s protagonist, Finnegan.) >> >> Whilst there is good news in the pipeline that there should be a new >> Lafferty collection of short stories coming out in a few years' time >> (possibly introduced by some famous authors), with more popular volumes to >> follow such as his novels *Past Master *and *Fourth Mansions* - the Argo >> Mythos cycle (as the volumes you're referring to are sometimes called) is >> almost certainly not high on the publisher's priority list and so it will >> still be quite some time before they see the light of day. >> >> Since you're self-professedly curious about all things Lafferty, I highly >> recommend a perusal of the Lafferty blog I write as some quite >> knowledgeable people frequently comment with lots of insights and insider >> knowledge about the publication of Lafferty. >> >> http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/ >> >> Take care, >> >> DOJP >> >> (For those wondering what all this Lafferty stuff is doing here in a >> Wolfe board, check out Wolfe's rather fawning comments on Lafferty here: >> http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/its-great-to-be-young-and-in-danger.html >> .) >> >> On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 9:02 PM, Antonin Scriabin < >> kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote: >>> I was wondering if any of you have managed to get your hands on and >>> read *Archipelago*, the first in the "Devil is Dead" trilogy. As far >>> as I can tell, there was only one print run of 1,000, and the copies that I >>> find online are at least $150. Does this work like a "regular" trilogy, in >>> that it is necessary (or at least highly recommended) that the books be >>> read in order? I know with Lafferty all bets are off, so I wouldn't be >>> surprised if I could read them out of order! >>> >>> I am also not sure about the last couple volume ... the Wiki says that >>> the third book in the trilogy, *More Than Melchisedech, *is itself in >>> three parts, that look like they were printed as chapbooks. All are >>> virtually impossible to find online, and incredibly expensive. If they >>> were printed as chapbooks, do any of you know if they have been collected >>> elsewhere, perhaps in a science fiction anthology or something similar? I >>> ask because I stumbled across a nice copy of the second volume (*The >>> Devil is Dead*) that, while still expensive, was a bit more in my price >>> range. Of course, I am also just plain curious about all things Lafferty I >>> can find! >>> * >>> * >>> Thanks!* * >>> >>> _______________________________________________ ---