Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 00:38:24 -0700 (MST)
From: Bratt Ian 
Subject: Re: (urth) Quetzal On Urth?

>    Question:  In the Long Sun books, is Quetzal the only
>    one of his kind on the Whorl?  Was he an original
>    passenger or a late arrival?
>
>    Gene Wolfe:  He was a late arrival.  He is not the only
>    one of his kind, but the Inhumi are rare on the Whorl.
>
> I still believe it to be relatively clear from the text that Quetzal is
> a late boarder, but maybe this will convince some of the doubters.
>  Crush, don't you have to give in now?  Or do you believe Gene Wolfe to
> be so sadistic as to outright lie about his own books?
>
Just for clarity I wanted to point out a few lines from RTTW that support
this.

RTTW pg 235:

"To Viron, yes, mysire.  Also to Grotestad.  To go to the Long sun Whorl I
would like..."
I told her it was possible she would.
"There the Vanished People went?"
I nodded.
"To greet us it was?"
"You might put it so, though they were sensible enough to find out a good
deal about us--and infect us with inhumi--"
"Bad thing!"
"Before they ventured to greet even a few of us."
"Bad it was," Vadsig agreed with Oreb.
"To leave inhumi among us?"  I shook my head. "It was a small price to pay
for two whorls, and it enabled the Neighbors to gauge much more accurately
the differences between our race and their own."
"Because our blood they drink, mysire?"

-ian




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