@RUTGERS.ARPA:donn@utah-cs (05/03/85)
From: donn@utah-cs (Donn Seeley) I forgot to note in my last submission about new novels that the May LOCUS also covers Isaac Asimov's work on the Foundation/Robot series. Asimov has already finished ROBOTS AND EMPIRE, which is scheduled for a September release plus a limited edition from Phantasia Press; the events of this novel take place two centuries after those of THE ROBOTS OF DAWN. For his new Doubleday contract, Asimov plans to produce '... FOUNDATION AND EARTH, a sequel to FOUNDATION'S EDGE [aka LIGHTNING ROD], and PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION, which is about Hari Seldon as a middle-aged man. Eventually, there will be another book tying things together.' The June F&SF contains an excerpt from 'Gene Wolfe's upcoming novel', but the title of the novel is never mentioned! It's not FREE LIVE FREE, nor does it appear to be THE URTH OF THE NEW SUN, although it looks suspiciously similar to other NEW SUN material. The excerpt is a little story similar to the stories told in the Pelerines' field hospital in THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH, and it is introduced by a narrator whose locutions are reminiscent of Severian's. But the narrator's statement that he will relate as much of the story 'as I recall' and the mention of the localities of Babylon and 'Riverland' (Mesopotamia?) argue that the narrator is not Severian and the setting is not Urth. Still, time travel is an essential part of the plot of NEW SUN... Does anyone have any idea what this excerpt is really from? Still suffering from Wolfe deprivation (time to re-read CERBERUS), Donn Seeley University of Utah CS Dept donn@utah-cs.arpa 40 46' 6"N 111 50' 34"W (801) 581-5668 decvax!utah-cs!donn