From: "Oren Douek" 
Subject: Re: (urth) Greetings!
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 23:02:24 +0200


Alice K. Turner  wrote:


> From Oren:
>
> > I'm new to this list. I actually stumbled upon it while googling for
> > Crowley a few months ago. I was reading Little, Big back then (great
> book!)
> > and was looking for answers to some questions I had about it (I still
have
> > some actually, and might post them here a bit later, if it's alright;
> > haven't read the FAQ yet I must admit). I was surprised I found such a
> > lively discussion about Crowley on this board, and answers to some of my
> > questions!
>
> Hi Oren,
> Nice to have someone who falls upon a list by accident feel so curious
that
> he (a) signs up and (b) starts right in reading a new author--do you
realize
> that you have committed to a huge number of books in this Wolfe sequence?!

Hello Alice! Well actually I had started collecting the Fantasy Masterworks
series from Gollancz, so I got The Book of the New Sun and Little, Big at
the same time, and would have come eventually to anyhow :-)I had never heard
of Gene Wolfe before I started collecting the Fantasy Masterworks to tell
the truth. Oh, god, I guess it's like heresy to say something like that
here! But then again, another friend of mine, who is a real bookworm and had
read tons of sf and fantasy books hadn't heard about him either until I told
him about his existence! Oh, well. It's like that, unfortunately, with a lot
of excellent writers and musicians. I have some British friends who had
never heard about Michael Moorcock. I have friends from Toronto who had
never heard about Rush (probably greatest band in the galaxy, located in...
Toronto!). So I had stopped trying to find any logic concerning these
things!

I do realize what a commitment I took by starting reading Wolfe. I believe I
can hold up to it! Thinking about it, the longest sequence of books I've
read is probably Zelazny's Amber series or (although more loosely connected)
Moorcock's Eternal Champion cycle.


> One of the reasons there's a lot about Crowley here is that Michael
> Andre-Driussi (mantis) and I, drawing on the help of four other members of
> the list (and many outsiders) put together a big, pretty serious book
about
> him. But if you want a small *cheap!!* prototype of that book, write to
> Michael directly at mantis@sirius.fiction.com. $5 plus, probably, some
> shipping, will make you a wise man.

Is there a description of the contents of the book somewhere?

> > Anyhow, I've just started reading my first Gene Wolfe novel, Shadow of
the
> > Torturer. And I have a question about something on the first page
actually
> > 
> >
> > Who were the characters who said the following two phrases:
> >
> >     "And try to get through the barbican without a safe-conduct? They'd
send
> > to Master Gurloes."
> >     "But why would the guard leave?"
>
> This happens to be a very intelligent question. It has been asked before,
> and I was never one who answered it, so I will leave it to the
> others--perhaps it shouldn't be answered.

Thanks. I feel better now. I thought it might be a dumb one! :-)
>
> -alga

Cheerio, Oren


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