Perfect Pulp

William Ansley suggests that every now and then, like the unwatched fall of a sparrow, Wolfe makes a mistake. Well, he's actually admitted to one, on this very list. When we got to ask him impertinent questions about the Long Sun books, he admitted that a mysterious appearance of (hmm, let me think here...) Maytera Marble somewhere she wasn't, near the end of Exodus, was just an error. I remember this, however imperfectly, because I asked the question. So we can rest assured that even Jove nods. It does bring up the possibility of a "pulpification" reading of Wolfe's works. For example, Severian's memory really is perfect, but Wolfe's isn't. All the talk we hear about multiple drafts is just publicity; he races through each book like the early-career Silverberg, and lets the errors fall where they may. No doubt he takes long vacations between each one-week period when he writes a trilogy. Dave Lebling (aka vizcacha) Note: This post is not closed captioned for the humor impaired.

That may be one of the more hair-raising Gene Wolfe short stories I've read yet. -Rostrum