# Gene Wolfe's "The Knight"

*The Usenet list — 9 messages, 8 voices, 20 Oct 2003*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/usenet/55>

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### Steve Moss
*20 Oct 2003, 01:32*

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

Steve Moss

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### jere7my tho?rpe
*20 Oct 2003, 04:27 · in reply to Steve Moss*

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

     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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### rik stroeb
*20 Oct 2003, 06:05 · in reply to Steve Moss*

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

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### Martin Lewis
*20 Oct 2003, 14:08 · in reply to jere7my tho?rpe*

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

>      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.

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

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

 Martin

---

### Htn963
*22 Oct 2003, 06:36 · in reply to rik stroeb*

> 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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### Michael Grosberg
*22 Oct 2003, 13:04 · in reply to rik stroeb*

> wrote:

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

> 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."
> 
> 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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### jere7my tho?rpe
*22 Oct 2003, 18:48 · in reply to Michael Grosberg*

> 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.

     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

```
**************************************************************************
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
```

---

### Eric Walker
*22 Oct 2003, 20:43 · in reply to jere7my tho?rpe*

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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### David Kennedy
*22 Oct 2003, 22:38 · in reply to Htn963*

> Htn963 <htn963 at cs.com> wrote:
> 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_.

....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
```

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