From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" 
Subject: RE: (urth) First Mail
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 11:27:59 -0700

Mantis replied...

> Hello there Dave Baird, and welcome aboard!

Second that.

> >So, a bit of guidance from those of you that know  better than I - what
is
> >the complete list of books related and what should I  read next?

> Yay, an easy question!

Actually two questions, of which only the first is "easy" (and even that
somewhat quibblesome):

> 1) THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN
> 2) THE URTH OF THE NEW SUN
> 3) THE BOOK OF THE LONG SUN (four volumes)
> 4) THE BOOK OF THE SHORT SUN (three volumes)

... plus various short stories scattered across a variety of
anthologies, collections and magazines ...

... plus THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS, which, if very unlikely to 
be set in the same universe, is at least thematically related to 
the Books of the  Sun, a/k/a the Lupiverse, a/k/a the Briah 
Cycle ...

... none of which, however, addresses Dave's _second_ question, 
"what should [he] read next?" 

Dave, if you want to continue with the main line of the Lupiverse,
you should definitely move on to the Books of the Long Sun and the
Short Sun, in that order.

tBotLS is set in the same universe, but in terms of plot, is 
related only tangentially to the adventures of Severian.

tBotSS is a direct sequel to tBotLS, and also relates more
directly to tBotNS in terms of plot than does its predecessor.

(At least one short story, "The Map," deals with a character
from New Sun. At least one, "The Night Chough," deals with a 
character from Long/Short. I believe -- though I haven't 
tracked all of them down -- that the other short stories set 
in the Lupiverse are simply that -- "set in the same universe.")

***HOWEVER***, this assumes that "what should I read next" is 
a simple question of continuing in the same universe. Wolfe has
written a number of other novels ranging from "superb" to "Huh?
What was _that_?" (and one which he himself considers an utter
stinkeroo and will not allow to be reprinted, OPERATION ARES,
though I rather like it). Which descriptions fit which of these 
novels is a matter of some debate.

If you want to branch out of the Briah Cycle, I would highly
recommend either the short story collection, "THE ISLAND OF 
DOCTOR DEATH AND OTHER STORIES" AND OTHER STORIES, or the
novels FREE LIVE FREE and PEACE. Others will have other
ideas on the subject.

--Blattid


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