{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/439",
    "note": "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.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "whorl",
  "thread": {
    "id": 439,
    "subject": "Cordwainer Smith reading order -- dissent",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "1997-09-12T09:18:49+00:00",
    "last": "1997-09-12T11:22:20+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0007-0587@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "David_Lebling",
        "address": "david_lebling at avid.com"
      },
      "date": "1997-09-12T09:18:49+00:00",
      "subject": "(whorl) Cordwainer Smith reading order -- dissent",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Rostrum, Nutria, alga, et al.,\n\nI'd have to disagree slightly with the Rodent of Unusual Size.\n\nDon't read Smith in the chronological order set out in the NESFA books\n(but do buy them -- run, do not walk!).\n\nRead \"The Ballad of Lost C'mell,\" then \"Scanners Live in Vain,\" then\n\"The Game of Rat and Dragon.\"  After that, I would move on to \"Alpha\nRalpha Boulevard\" and eventually \"Norstrilia.\"  Read \"On the ... Planet\"\n(really a novel in three episodes) last.  Read the very early stuff and\nthe very late stuff (including posthumous collaborations with his wife,\nGenevieve) only if you feel the need.  (Although, \"Western Science is So\nWonderful\" is an absolute hoot -- more like Rudy Rucker than Smith).\n\nThe idea is that you should read the middle stories, where the\nInstrumentality figures prominently, first. You should absorb the\nstories like you would absorb a huge, complex tapestry -- the\npublication order would be better than the \"history\" order, but still\nstart with C'mell and Lord Jestocost.  Also, don't read the\nintroductions, timelines and afterwords until you've read everything\nelse.\n\nNo one should read the Narnia books starting with \"The Magician's\nNephew.\"  No one should read Smith starting with \"War 81-Q\" (or whatever\nelse is first).\n\nI am Of a Certain Age, and started reading the late, lamented Galaxy\nabout when \"The Ballad of Lost C'mell\" was published.  I was hooked, and\na great deal of the wonder of it all was figuring out what was going on\nin the whole future span Smith imagined.\n\nAs they say, \"the Golden Age of Science Fiction is twelve.\"\n\n     -- vizcacha\n     (david_lebling at avid.com)\n\nps: It is such a pleasure to find other Wolfe fans out there, and to\nhave them be Smith fans as well!  Ah, bliss."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0007-0588@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Kevin J. Maroney",
        "address": "kmaroney at crossover.com"
      },
      "date": "1997-09-12T11:22:20+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: (whorl) Cordwainer Smith reading order -- dissent",
      "in_reply_to": "<whorl-v0007-0587@digest.urth.net>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "At 09:18 AM 9/12/97 -0400, you wrote:\nRead \"The Ballad of Lost C'mell,\" then \"Scanners Live in Vain,\" then\n\"The Game of Rat and Dragon.\"  After that, I would move on to \"Alpha\nRalpha Boulevard\" and eventually \"Norstrilia.\"  "
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Hmm. I've read only the Smith stories that were in the Del Rey \"Best of\"\nvolume (boy, I miss those!)--I have the NESFA volume and just haven't read\nit yet. I seem to be alone in liking Smith and not particularly liking \"The\nBallad of Lost C'Mell\", prefering (by a wide margin) \"Scanners\", \"Rat and\nDragon\", and \"Alpha Ralpha\".\n\nRegardless, no one who takes sf seriously, or who likes Wolfe, should be\nwithout first-hand knowledge of Cordwainer Smith. \n\n\nWombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com\nKitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction\nhttp://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}