Similarities between TWK and "Golden City Far"

I haven't seen any mention of it (I've been lurking since the beginning of The Wizard postings), and I couldn't pull up anything in a search of the archives, so I thought I'd bring it up here. For any who might have missed it, "Golden City Far" is the last story in the 'Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy' anthology, which I think was just published in trade paperback, as well as another upcoming Wolfe collection, Starwater Strains. Anyway, the similarities are too many to be coincidence. Is "Golden City Far" the extract version (like condensed, but moreso)? Was it a jumping off point for TWK? Is there any relation to Castleview? Or am I just reading too much into it?

I hadn't read the story before, but now that I have I agree that the correspondence with TWK is striking. Still, I don't believe the works are related; that is, I don't believe the "dream" world entered into by Bill is the same world as that entered into by Art in TWK. GW may have been riffing off one of his own ideas when he wrote the short story, which was copyrighted in 2004. The story is also like CASTLEVIEW in so far as the supernatural elements intrude into our "real" world. What might be profitable to pursue are the stages whereby Bill, like Art, is transformed, with very little effort on his part, from a nondescript fifteen-year-old student into a Hero. The personages he encounters in the process might also inform the relationships Art makes with similar characters along the way in TWK. Then again, maybe not. Could Gylf talk for the same reason that Shep could? I don't know, but I doubt it. Welcome to the list. -Roy