Gene Wolfe

Rereading "The Best Introduction to the Mountains", it occurred to me that it does a lot to inform the themes in "Peace". Consider this passage as you read chapter 5: "Progress, then, does not consist of destroying good things in the mere hope that the things that will replace them will be better (

This part contains only structural spoilers for what is covered in certain chapters, no details. I was (of course!) very sorry to hear (catching up on the podcast now that you're on recaps) that the forum is closing! I get it, too many people selling shoes (and I myself have a nice line of pumps t

I have been following and enjoying the discussion as to whether Peace is set in Kansas, Illinois or Ohio. After several months of my usual lurking, I figured it was time to settle the matter. While reading Peace for the first time, I pieced together some of the clues (river, topography, William Qua

I don't know if you guys are saving this for later but I'd like to point out that Eleanor Porter is Barbara Black's sister, and Bobby Black's aunt. There's a significance to her wanting to plant a tree on Weer's grave that's easy enough to discover and which you'll probably cover in the recap. At

I am really enjoying this chapter four of the book, where we have our protagonist in his middle age, living alone in his apartment with no company. What struck me most during this part was Weer’s have become kind of unknown in the town now, and from we have so far they were there along with the Bla

This story (originally published in 1988) starts like a record or verbal memo from a scientific expedition. The narrator is Meirax Andros (the etymology of which is something like "youth/girl" and "man" in Greek*). Wolfe uses feminine pronouns for the narrator, so not sure where he's going with th

Leave it to Wolfe to combine myth, fantasy, classical literature, and genetic engineering. Those make up two more stories in Endangered Species (the Wolfe collection I'm reading); The Woman Who Loved the Centaur Pholus and The Woman the Unicorn Loved. There are several funny lines of dialogue. Ou

I finally got around to your latest episode, and I wanted to say I enjoyed it, although I hesitated because I don't have answers to *any* of your questions! I feel like a kid who hasn't done his homework. Ah well. Still, I do have a few, almost entirely all minor, notes. First, just to note, the

I stumbled upon a book called "Memoirs from Beyond the Grave" this week and wondered if it might have helped inspire "Peace". Written by Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand, it was meant to be published fifty years after his death. Chateaubriand started by retelling the events of his life but gradually

Given how many times you've talked about Gene Wolfe's love of puns, this omission stunned me: In your discussion of Peace chapter 3 you had a protracted discussion about Julius Smart and oranges, but never once mentioned the "Orange Julius".

I certainly hope y'all will address the likelihood ("very" IMO) that when Lois drew her gun to kill Den in the pit (when she thought they'd found the gold), he killed her with his pocket knife -- probably accidentally buried with her. And the gold was actually in a hidden cellar under that stone wh

I agree with Brandon's take that Weer is a tyrant as a boss. A further piece of evidence of this is his reaction to overhearing employees talking about him in the restaurant in an earlier chapter. I'm going to posit that Weer was the person who left the employee locked in the freezer and it wasn't

Regarding Blaine's reference to Weer's age, could this mistake refer to another similar event that would have n place when Weer was older? I don't have a theory, but that would make sense to me based on Wolfe's M.O.

Thinking about “Peace” I’m reminded of an interview in which Wolfe said that (I’m paraphrasing) “Catholicism teaches that all the old gods are real, but we shouldn’t worship them”. This may seem odd, but another aspect of Catholicism is the “Catholic Imagination” which says that our imaginations all

The comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" was still in active production and syndication by it's originator, Harold Gray, not only in the 50s, but until Gray died in 1968 and beyond. I imagine anyone reading the "funny papers" in their local newspaper would be as familiar with the idea of the comic as a

This seems the right time to point out that "Barbara and Bobby Black" have a certain Amanda Ros quality suggesting, to me at least, that there is more than a bit of confabulation in Weer's retelling of the events of his fifth birthday. The painting of Uncle Joe which is somehow the inciting event o

In your coverage of chapter 4 of Peace, you talked about Aaron Gold being notable for talking a lot. However, one thing that did not come up in the discussion is that when the Biblical Aaron is introduced in the book of Exodus his defining characteristic is literally that he's a good talker. Quoting

I found this short New Yorker article about Wolfe from a few years ago. Might be of interest to some. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/sci-fis-difficult-genius

I've been trying something new. I read a lot of novels, so I have started fitting in a short story or two between them, mostly from this collection of Gene Wolfe stories. I learned a new word today, autochthon, courtesy of the story The Cat. It's in the New Sun setting, with references to Severian

Hi Guys, I've been listening to your podcast for quite a long time, and have greatly enjoyed it. (I particularly liked the reference to Arsenic and Old Lace in the latest cast). I'm very much looking forward to your continued discussion on Peace, but I have a quibble. I believe that in your first

This post contains THE spoiler for Peace. Only read further if you've either read the whole book or already been spoiled. Aldin Dennis Weer is dead, to begin with. Which is my point: we need to begin with that. Even though Wolfe doesn't. I don't recall if Brandon was at this particular part of t

I have been obsessed with the PEACE podcast. Do you have a timeframe on when you think you will be done with the podcast? I would like to recommend it to friends but want to wait until it's complete. Thanks for all the hard work!

Reading about the Romani, as they prefer to be called, in Wikipedia, I found this: "Romanies often adopt the dominant religion of their host country in case a ceremony associated with a formal religious institution is necessary, such as a baptism or funeral (their particular belief systems and i

I enjoyed this episode as it covers my favorite part of the novel. I think Wolfe, through Louis Gold, is considering the role of the novelist -- who also creates history. And also any memoirist. I think Wolfe delves deeper into this concept in the character of Latro from the 'Soldier' novels (intere

This story (published 1988, per http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?57386) is short (16 pages on my Nook), but has a lot of characters in it. I had to make a list to keep everyone straight. Reis - male, second in command Jan - female, lower officer Hap - male, captain, severely injured or dead

This is a fun story. It starts with a classic Wolfe pun: "Three with egg roll.... Soon to be four without...". Then we find out there are three crewmembers on a ship called Egg, which is rotating to provide artificial gravity. Almost as good as the start of Eyebem. Also, there's a macaw named P

I would like to keep up with the podcast again, due to circumstances I don't have access to my library of Wolfe works, except for the audiobooks and the ebooks. I own most of the short story collections, but none of them in ebook format. I would like to get just one to listen to some of the stories

Your final Chapter 3 wrap up got me thinking of the roadhouse scene. I’ve always found this scene sad. I’ll start with a quibble about calling Weer’s office a panopticon. I’ll admit that I’m going to get into the weeds! Weer’s windows overlook what he later calls the “making operation.” It’s an

I am continuing to enjoy, very much, your episodes on Peace. I think you are doing what may be the best first reading of Peace ever done. Unfortunately, Peace is to other Gene Wolfe books as Gene Wolfe books are to, well, ordinary books, in terms of the degree to which rereading unlocks its secrets.

?" No, it's not on the main GW feed, but the patron feed: but it's on a Wolfe story so this seemed the right forum to post this on. Anyway, the patron feed is full of great stuff so anyone who hasn't heard it, go toss Brandon & Glenn a few bucks and listen. All right, comments on the podcast: C