Reply: Item #4986522 from WHORL at LISTS.BEST.COM@INET00#
Michael Bowman,
Hello there!
Glad to read about how your appreciation for Long Sun has developed.
I think the same sort of thing is happening for a lot of people. One of the things we love about the New Sun (if I may be so bold as to blindly speak for everybody else) is the baroque language and Renaissance perceptions of Magic-level Technology. This gap between Renaissance eyes and Ubertech creates fascinating tension, puzzles, and the like, as we re-examine all sorts of off-the-shelf sf items through new lenses (lexical aside: "lens" is from lentil bean, because of the shape. Holy Beanman! Gives a fresh nuance to the term `feisty'--whoops, that punchline is a few days old.) The Long Sun offers a more narrow gap between a 19th century "Father Brown" and a 21st century "cyberpunk" worldviews. The language is more modern, but beneath that calm and lucid surface . . . well, it is turning out to be pretty complicated and convoluted.
Let's see, I think the only New Sun short story you're
forgetting is "The Cat" in ENDANGERED SPECIES. And even though it isn't really a short story, we always forget "These Are the Jokes" from CASTLE OF THE OTTER (now also CASTLE OF DAYS) at the same time we always remember the Urth jokes. (PLAN[E]T ENGINEERING has a map and an article "The Books in THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN" but no Urth fiction.)
Yes, the chapbook supplement you refer to ("Additions, Errata, &cetera" [1995]) has been followed by a second volume of all new material ("Additions, Errata, &cetera--Volume 2" [1996]). And the next one is already beginning to form in the magic mirror, so e-mail your notes asap--contributors get a free copy.
Purchasing v1 and/or v2:
for a copy of either one, send
--$2 (dollar bills or uncanceled postage stamps)
or
--$1 + SASE (self addressed stamped envelope, 6x9 size, with 55 cents postage)
for a copy of both, send
--$4 (dollar bills/stamps)
or
--$2 + SASE (6x9 with $1.01 postage)
to me at the usual address:
Sirius Fiction
P.O. Box 460430
San Francisco CA 94146
=mantis=
Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com