Wolfe at Dragon*Con (AEG)

James Wynn · 10 Sep 2009, 21:11 · from 2009-September.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:11:42 -0500
Subject: (urth) Wolfe at Dragon*Con (AEG)
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> Rian planned to attend (277).

Well, we'll see. I'm beginning to find the existence of Rian (as an actual 
son anyway) to be pretty suspect. As we agree, there is a serious problem 
with his failure to make an actual entrance in the story. This is especially 
true for a Wolfe novel.

> Klauser could not have attended, no matter
> where the wedding was held, for health reasons.

Um...that's what Reis says. If it *was* Reis. If it wasn't Reis then it was 
just a convenient excuse.

> Reis could not have had the
> ceremony just anywhere, not if he wanted the wedding to conform to his 
> dream
> of making Cassie his island queen. That is what the play was all about.

Obviously, this is not true. Cassie was not married to Reis when the 
islanders killed him, but they were happy to have her be queen afterwards 
with any suitor she chose. [p 284]

> For some reason, you want Reis *not* to have died on the island.

That's absurd. Well, now that I think about it, I did hear the author of the 
story very strongly imply that he didn't die on the island. I'd like to 
believe the author, so maybe I do. Also, I do find the ending to be pretty 
weird, narratively, so I'd like to see that resolved. I guess you are right 
indirectly, but these are my mysterious reasons.

Cassie *does* confirm to Klauser that Reis is dead. [p 296] On the other 
hand, she confirms that she is dead at the same time.

> I can only
> assume that you suggest Gideon died in his stead because Gid is the only
> viable alternative.

Not at all. It could have been Rian, right? We've had Reis claim not be 
places where he was unmistakably seen. It could have been one of those 
imposters. If Reis were being impersonated at his execution, the wizard is a 
logical candidate for many, many reasons of theme and foreshadowing; one of 
which I have already mentioned. But most compellingly, Chase is a logical 
candidate because he is one of the three central characters --the character 
whose POV started the novel-- and he precipitously dropped off the pages 
after Cassie went to Takanga. She has a conversation with him on the phone, 
and then he's just someone the characters talk about. Finally, after 
everything we know about his feelings for Cassie, is it credible that he 
would just finagle an appointment to Woldercon and leave her behind? Chase 
is a very large part that is still sitting on the concrete after the engine 
has been put back together. He's not the only viable candidate, but he's a 
logical one.

Incidentally, I've never heard Wolfe use the name Gideon Chase when he talks 
about AEG. He always refers to him as "a wizard". I don't know what that 
means if anything.

> All
> this stuff about the wedding is just your attempt to make it seem
> that the man Cassie was about to marry was not Bill Reis.

It's almost the opposite. In fact, though, the truth is on an entirely 
different plane and trajectory. Perhaps if you could get it out of your head 
that I'm running some scam with a hidden agenda, you could address these 
issues in a more objective, less knee-jerk hostile fashion. Paranoia will 
destroya.

> Neither do I think it likely that Reis, posing as Gideon Chase, was
> appointed by the sitting president as U.S. ambassador to Woldercan. No
> matter how good Reis may have been at shape-shifting, there is still the
> mass-conversion angle to account for. As for just altering one's 
> appearance,
> as Gid did to become Gil Corby, it doesn't fool mirrors (196) or cameras
> (189, 194). The wedding invitation Klauser received came with pictures to 
> be
> displayed on a computer that showed Cassie and Reis kissing (295). I dare
> say Klauser knew Reis when he saw him.

Shape-shifting is unnecessary, but a perfect impersonation is also 
unnecessary. The Woldercon appointment was probably in lieu of the $50 
million Chase was owed. I saw nothing in the President's face-to-face with 
Chase that made me think he would want to repeat it. The wedding invitation 
Klauser received was not of the wedding. It might well have been sent by the 
"real Reis" (whatever that means).

Any magic trick requires controlling what the audience sees. Gil Corby 
worked with scores of actors for weeks in tight quarters without anyone 
getting wise. Having anyone, anyone at all, impersonate Chase and go to 
Woldercon given the available tools is so easy that it wouldn't even make 
interesting story-telling. It'd be like explaining how VRT convinced 
everyone he was Marsch and got to St. Croix, or how Quetzel become 
prolocutor.

J.

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