{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/99",
    "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": 99,
    "subject": "Where Wolfe?",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1997-02-15T12:22:52+00:00",
    "last": "1997-02-15T12:22:52+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0003-0148@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Doug Eigsti",
        "address": "douge at nti.com"
      },
      "date": "1997-02-15T12:22:52+00:00",
      "subject": "(whorl) Where Wolfe?",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Lupine devotees unite!\n\n\tI remember reading THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS and liking the mood\nbut feeling clueless. Upon rereading (after NEW SUN) it came to life. I\nrealized Wolfe was cloaking reality from the reader in the same way it is\nhidden from the characters. It was less about reading about people having\nadventures on faraway planets, than having the adventure personally.\n\tIn times past I read, almost exclusively, what was marketed as\nScience Fiction. THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER was sitting on the shelf of a\nSF/Comics store I used to frequent. I studied the cover, trying to absorb\nthe contents for months before deciding to buy. I was into Niven, still\nam, and liked the way he frolicked on the \"Playgrounds of the Mind\"; \n(Niven's law for writers: It's a sin to bore the reader). SHADOW proved to\nbe remarkable in so many ways. I read each volume as it came out, not\nrereading the previous book, and so got a disjointed first impression of\nTHE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN. Even so I ranked it among my favorites. This\namazes me now; that a book can work well on every level (as Fernando Q. \nGouvea observed); action-adventure, stylistic quest, and the\npuzzle/mystery level that so many of us Whorling Dervishes (mantis' term)\nenjoy. Wolfe makes proper use of playground equipment.\n\tWolfe elevated my reading to the point where I could revel in\nfeeling disoriented, definitely an acquired taste. Not for everyone. As\nMaster Ultan would say \"I found that I was limiting my pleasure by only\nreading the things I enjoyed\". I was reluctant to recommend Wolfe because\nI know how hard he makes his readers work. But, after raving about his\nstuff for years, the discussion group I read with decided to sample. I\nfound success with \"The Island of Dr.  Death, and Other Stories\" and with\n\"Seven American Nights\". The latter being a good taste of uncertain\nrealities, (with each egg being equally likely as the next as the cause of\nhis bizarre experiences). With the former story I challenged the group to\nread just the first paragraph then stop and think about what they had\nlearned about Tackman Babcock. After finishing the story see if their\nfeelings were confirmed. They were, in every case. Wolfe can compress more\ninformation into a paragraph than the words alone contain. Some of the\nthings he does are so clearly difficult and obscure that one forgets this\nmagic capability he has over the English language whereby he can implant\ndetails in one's mind that are later impossible to find direct references\nto.\n\tI, too, have read about all the Wolfe I could find. I find that in\nsome of his stories he experiments with different forms, not always \nsuccessfully. But his best are triumphs. He can emulate multiple authorial \nvoices. PANDORA, BY HOLLY HOLLANDER reads like it was written by a, very \nprecocious, 14 year old girl. An amazing book. My other favorites are: \nPEACE (I need to reread that one), and THERE ARE DOORS (ditto). \n\tI think Wolfe is a puzzle to most of the SF community. He is too \nunique to be very influential. How can one copy what he does when only \nmagic can explain much of it? He is held in awe by some, myself included.\n\n=Talon=\ndouge at nti.com\n\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}