new bookWhorl

Here is a message from David Hartwell concerning the new book. I asked him if we could get a group discount for advance orders. It seems to me strange that he says no--group discounts are not unusual in publishing, and Ranjit tells me that we have about 140 on the list. If even half that number ordered a book, it would be a substantial advance order. Does anyone have a connection with, say, Amazon, who might be willing to offer a group discount? It's depressing that the first book won't be till fall '99. I wonder if we can cohere till then. We've done well so far, but to hold off a full year longer than first expected will be difficult. -alga ----------- Oh sigh,I am not able to sell books at a discount. You can get discounts almost everywhere (Costco is probably the highest on books) but from the publisher. The title of new book number one is On Blue's Waters and I have tentatively scheduled it for next fall. This may change, because the second manuscript, and the third, seem destined to follow quickly--I am told that book two will be turned in perhaps by late January, and the third, Return to the Whorl, perhaps by June, and a new short story collection is coming too. I do not say for certain though what the publication dates or completion dates are, but only what I am given to understand by the agent. I need to call Gene as soon as I finish On Blue's Waters, which will probably be next week. David *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

alga:

Yes, that's ages to wait... What's the betting it'll turn into a tetrology like TBOTNS? (According to the Castle of the Otter, the planned third and final volume got too large and they had to split it). I'm very happy as while I was in Devon a week or so back (for Milford!), I found all four volumes of TBOTNS in the original UK paperbacks - a bit dog-eared and faded, but with the wonderfully evocative Bruce Pennington cover paintings, which have always defined my mind's eye view of Wolfe's landscapes. Actually I only found 3 of them, cursed my bad luck, but then Ben Jeapes pointed out that the fourth volume had strayed a few books along the shelf... Al *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

I wouldn't bet on that. Given Wolfe's habit of writing the entire series (in draft) before submitting the manuscript for the first volume--which he did with both New Sun and Long Sun, if I recall correctly--and the fast turnaround on the Short Sun books, I'd bet that Return to the Whorl is somewhere close to its final form already.

I believe those are Wolfe's favorite covers, as well. Certainly they're beautiful.

Do I remember someone having pictures of those covers on the web? I don't think I've ever seen them, and I would like to. -Rostrum *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

Rostrum:

I found Claw of the Conciliator here, without the overlaid text of the cover: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/ellison/33/bruce1.htm (a lovely scan by the way) and scans of the actual covers, with blurbs etc, here: http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~ajellis/WolfeArt.htm Real jaw-dropping stuff - Severian looking stunning in fuligin (it's the new black). Al (apologies for this not being strictly relevant to LS anymore - although isn't Severian rumoured to make an appearance in the Short Sun books?) *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.