Subject: (urth) Marsch as spy; fan fiction

From: adam louis stephanides <astephan at students.uiuc.edu>
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 19:22:03 +0000

On Thu, 25 Jun 1998 Sgt. Rock wrote:

> adam louis stephanides <astephan at students.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> 
> > 1) Pretending to be an abo impersonating an Earthman would hardly free him
> > from suspicion of being a spy.  There's no reason why such an impersonator
> > couldn't also be carrying out a mission from the Annese government.  In
> > fact, given the Ste.Croix regime's paranoia, Marsch's being an Annese
> > visiting Ste. Croix in the guise of an Earthman would probably be regarded
> > as tantamount in itself to being a spy.
> 
> Of course. That's why Marsch only activates the second cover when he has
> good reason to think his first one is blown (when the authorities arrest
> him and accuse him of being an Annese spy). Marsch is using the
> time-honored tactic of "confessing" to a lesser crime (murder) to draw
> suspicion from his true activities (spying).

But my point was that "confessing" to be an Annese impersonating Marsch
wouldn't draw suspicion from his spying, but to it.
 
> Furthermore, isn't it odd that the St. Croix authorities not only accuse
> Marsch of being a spy, but also of murdering Maitre? After all, they've
> already convicted Number 5 for the same crime. Is there perhaps some
> reason for thinking that the two were acting in collusion? 

My reading was that he was first arrested on the grounds of murdering
Maitre; later Number Five was arrested for the murder, but by that time
they'd already decided "Marsch" was a spy.  The cover letter to "Marsch's"
papers (p. 267 in the Ace edition) seems to confirm this.
 
> From: "Alice Turner" <al at interport.net>
> Subject: fan fiction

When I saw this subject line in the digest intro, I thought you were
referring to genuine Wolfe-based fan fiction, and I confess to being
disappointed that you weren't.  Does anyone know if such a thing exists?

--Adam 

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