Wolfe, "Book of the New Sun"

Steve Simmons · 11 Aug 1992, 15:48 · from sf-lovers.1992.mbox

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From: scs at lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons)
Subject: Re: Wolfe, "Book of the New Sun"
Date: 11 Aug 92 15:48:36 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v17-416-4 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V17 #416
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-17b

lindsay+ at cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay) writes:
>davidba at carmel.technion.ac.il (David Ben_Ami) writes:
>>I guess it will be explained in the next books but still ...  What is
>>the "New Sun", why is Earth called Urth (is it Earth?)?
>
>An important point is that it isn't a series: it's one multivolume book
>plus a sequel. Also, the SF book club put out "The Castle Of The Otter", a
>collection of essays by Wolfe that explains a few things.

Getting it all out:

Originally there were four volumes which comprised "The Book Of The New
Sun":

   The Shadow of the Torturer
   The Claw of the Conciliator
   The Sword of the Lictor
   The Citadel of the Autarch

These were followed by the essay collection "The Castle of the Otter."
Its title came from an error in LOCUS where they got the title of the last
book wrong.  Later, there was a sequel of sorts called "The Urth of the New
Sun."

"Castle" was published in only two editions I know of.  Zeisling Brothers
published a good quality limited first edition of 520 copies of which 100
were signed (I have one, signed, so phhhttt! :-)) Later it was sold to the
SF Book club in one of their typical quality printings.

"Castle" lists slightly different titles, not giving the "The" for "Sword"
or "Citadel".

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