Subject: Gene Wolfe's "The Knight"

From: Steve Moss <stevenm at uneedspeed.net>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 01:32:13 +0000

I saw this listed on Amazon.com, though its not yet availaible.  Any
word on what its about?

Steve Moss

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From: jere7my tho?rpe <j7y at liws.org>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 04:27:34 +0000

> I saw this listed on Amazon.com, though its not yet availaible.  Any

     This is what he told me at ConFusion 2002:  it was titled "The 
Wizard Knight" while he was writing it, and it's his stab at a doorstop 
fantasy epic.  He said it was to be published in two volumes (which, in 
Gene's case, probably means both volumes have already been written), and 
would be delayed until Feb. 2004 because the publisher was sending it 
out for internal illustrations (!).

     That's all the info I have on it, and some of that might have 
changed in the last 18 months.  He wouldn't reveal anything (to me) 
about the plot, characters, or setting.

                                                  ----j7y

-- 
**************************************************************************
jere7my tho?rpe / 734-769-0913      "There is no spoon."  "SPOON!"  "There
    >>>  j7y at liws.org  <<<           is no spoon."  "SPOON!"  "There is no 
invert liws to reply via email       spoon."  "SPOON!" -- The Tick vs. Neo

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From: rik stroeb <rikstroeb at soleilnouveau.net>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 06:05:05 +0000

On 19 Oct 2003 18:32:13 -0700, stevenm at uneedspeed.net (Steve Moss)
wrote:

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From: Martin Lewis <martin at theculture.org>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 14:08:53 +0000

"jere7my tho?rpe" <j7y at liws.org> wrote in message news:<j7y-D55F56.00273420102003 at visonmassif.rs.itd.umich.edu>...

> about the plot, characters, or setting.

 There was an extract from it in Conjuctions: The New Wave Fabulists:

 http://www.conjunctions.com/conj39.htm

 Martin

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From: Htn963 <htn963 at cs.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 06:36:04 +0000

rik stroeb wrote:

>>From the back cover of "The Knight" (advance reading copy):
>
>"A young boy, in his mid-teens, passes from our world to a magical
>realm of five worlds, where he is quickly transformed physically into
>the body of a mature man of heroic proportions. Yet inside he remains
>a boy, while circumstances force him to act as a man, and to set off
>on a quest to find his destined sword and become a knight. His quest
>is filled with danger and adventure, giants, elves, and dragons. And
>also love."

     Oh, great, it's the fantasy version of Tom Hanks' _Big_.
--
Ht

|Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 
--John Donne, "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions"|

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From: Michael Grosberg <preacher_mg at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 13:04:35 +0000

> It also has various Norse gods and a bunch of Arthurian prototypes and
> is much easier to digest than the average work by this often-difficult
> writer.
> 

Oh brother. I relly hope this is some sort of tongue-in-cheek work
because otherwise it sounds like the epitome of juvenile wish
fulfilment EFP.
Unless of course it's a mainstream work about a boy addicted to
playing EverQuest.

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From: jere7my tho?rpe <j7y at liws.org>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 18:48:54 +0000

> because otherwise it sounds like the epitome of juvenile wish

     There are no writers I trust to turn banal genre expectations on 
their ear more than Gene Wolfe.  _The Book of the Long Sun_ isn't just 
another generation-starship novel, after all.

                                                       ----j7y

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From: Eric Walker <sfandf at owlcroft.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 20:43:07 +0000

On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 14:48:54 -0400, jere7my tho?rpe wrote:

[...]

>     There are no writers I trust to turn banal genre 
>expectations on their ear more than Gene Wolfe.  _The Book of 
>the Long Sun_ isn't just another generation-starship novel, 
>after all.

Just so.  I would not place much credence in back-cover blurbs, 
but I would place a lot of credence in an established author's 
history.

-- 
Cordially,
Eric Walker, webmaster
Great Science-Fiction & Fantasy Works
http://greatsfandf.com

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From: David Kennedy <dave at dkennedy.org>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 22:38:57 +0000

>     Oh, great, it's the fantasy version of Tom Hanks' _Big_.

....but it's by Wolfe, so it'll be like the fantasy version of
_Big_ was remade by Terry Gilliam and Jeunet/Caro. 

Personally? Can't wait.
-- 
David Kennedy
www.dkennedy.org