Coover

That's The Universal Baseball Association, Inc; J. Henry Waugh, Proprietor. Also one of my favorite books. It should be required reading for "subcreators," gameplayers, and dungeoneers. -- Dave Lebling (aka vizcacha)

Ah, that's it. It's been years since I read it. Great book--much more satisfying, IMO, than Coover's short fiction. We should also throw in works used in Wolfe stories, such as "Mary Rose" and the Vidal play (can't recall the title) from SEVEN AMERICAN NIGHTS.

Coover is an amazing genius; The Public Burning is one of the Great American Novels.

Visit to a Small Planet. Incidentally, while doing some background research for a piece we ran on "Seven American Nights" a couple of years back, we at NYRSF redisovered something which John Kessel had first pointed out to me back in 1986: Vidal's play, as published, does not match up with the play as presented in "Seven American Nights". We were not able to determine if the differences could be traced to the (known) multiple versions of the screenplay--there were at least two and possibly three significantly different versions (two different televised versions, neither of which seems to be identical to the version published in book form). It is possible Wolfe based his version on one of the televised versions, or it is possible that the text "drifted" between now and the future of "Seven American Nights".

Surprised to learn Wolfe digs Coover. My favorite Coover by far is PRICKSONGS AND DESCANTS. Patrick O'Leary