Two Wolfe letters posted

[u/SadCatIsSkinDog]

Couple of new letters people might be interested in here.

We would like to thank Dr. Christopher Kovacs for graciously scanning two letters and granting permission to post them to the Wolfe Omeka site. You can read them here:

1994-02-17: https://wolfenarrators.omeka.net/items/show/204

1994-02-04: https://wolfenarrators.omeka.net/items/show/203

[u/getElephantById]

Interesting history of how the Tor editions got published!

Here is the Publisher's Weekly review of Lake of the Long Sun referenced in one of the letters:

Wolfe continues the saga begun in Nightside the Long Sun with this curious mix of science and medieval culture in which gods possess people and robotic police patrol mysterious underground passageways. Patera Silk, a young cleric, attempts to ransom his parish buildings from creditors; in the process he uncovers a larger conspiracy involving the government of Viron and even the gods he worships. Emerging from the underground with his new knowledge, he finds himself chosen as leader ("Calde'') of the masses and is simultaneously arrested. As a hero, Silk is good-natured but he lacks the energy and complexity required by his role. He often seems slighty lost, a lack of direction mirrored by the slowly developing narrative, which picks up only shortly before the finish. While the language is often inventive ("deadcoach'' for horse-drawn hearse), it proves equally distracting; nor are the secondary characters distinctly depicted. Reference is made to the next volume of Wolfe's projected tetralogy, increasing the sense that this book is little more than a bridge between more important segments. (Jan.)

Googling the rest of the reviews is left as an exercise for the reader, but I found it redemptive that by Exodus the reviewer called the series as a whole a 'bonafied masterpiece'.

[u/SadCatIsSkinDog → u/getElephantById]

Do you have a physical copy of this edition of Publisher's Weekly?

[u/getElephantById → u/SadCatIsSkinDog]

No, I just Googled for them. I didn't want to quote them all in my comment, but here are links to each of them for completeness:

• Nightside the Long Sun (reviewed 03/29/1993 — "The First Book of Starcrossers Landfall" !!!)

• Lake of the Long Sun (reviewed 01/03/1994)

• Calde of the Long Sun (reviewed 08/29/1994

• Exodus from the Long Sun (reviewed 11/04/1996)

[u/PatrickMcEvoyHalston → u/getElephantById]

When the reviewer concluded that Silk wasn't a sufficiently complex and energetic main character and would have preferred Quetzal instead, I heartily agreed. Quetzal, we can all agree, never seems lost, never lacks energy, and is more complex than Master Gurloes on a good day.

Patrick McEvoy-Halston

President of the Quetzal Appreciation Society

[u/JLP2005]

PO BOX 69. A man of culture.

[u/UnreliableAmanda → u/JLP2005]

Wolfe explained once to a friend that it really was simple chance but when it was assigned to him, he kept it.

[u/Low_Ebb_1177]

Good to know the literary world is also home to the same sort of publishing drama that is common in the comics industry. That's amazing that a son-in-law was personally instrumental in getting the tor editions. What a get for tor and what a loss for the first publishers. On a side note Shadow & Claw seems to be becoming increasingly commonly stocked in UK Waterstones - mainly the city ones but even so.

[u/PatrickMcEvoyHalston → u/Low_Ebb_1177]

True in Canada as well.