Subject: (whorl) Rereading and Exodus a

From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Sat, 01 Feb 1997 17:49:00 +0000

[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

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