(urth) Wolfe at Dragon*Con (AEG)

[Roy C. Lackey]

James Wynn quoted and wrote:

> > I really don't care why Reis might have assumed Gideon's identity: I'm
> > saying that it didn't happen,
>
> I know. But you should bother to come up with glaring evidence that it
> didn't happen or be able explain what *is* going on in the story that
makes
> it happening unnecessary. You can't.

You've got me there: I concede that I cannot prove a negative.

> > Reis had ample wealth to get to Woldercan without resorting to bad gold,
> > as
> > evidenced by the diamonds he gave Cassie, the sale of which gave her the
> > money for the big hopper.
>
> What???? You don't KNOW this.

Yes, I do, and so should you.

> Reis's bad gold is repeatedly presented as the
> foundation of his fortune. I could just as well assume that he was so
> leveraged that his empire could not survive a month without it.

Reis was a wealthy man before he ever went to Woldercan as President
Ingstrup's ambassador. He was a contractor: "Become a contractor himself,
an' was smart enough to see the big money went to them that had friends in
high places."(14)  "He was a major contributor to President Ingstrup's first
campaign. Also to his second, though that doesn't really come into it. Major
contributors are often given ambassadorships." (15-16)

The added wealth he acquired from bad gold after returning to Earth was
icing on the cake. Anyway, the bad gold was converted to clean assets, such
as diamonds and cash. My point stands: Reis did not need to resort to
somehow taking Gideon's place as the new ambassador. He had the means to buy
a hopper that would get to Woldercan, just as Cassie did -- provided he was
alive to do it.

> > Besides, he was presumed dead,
> > which he was, and his body missing, as was the case for many of the
> > thousands who died in the storm.
>
> So what? You don't think the government checks out the background of
people
> who go to Woldercon?

Oh, I do believe the government makes such checks, particularly of State
Department personnel. I am even naive enough to believe that the FBI and
other government agencies involved were competent enough to distinguish
between the big bad man they were looking for and the smaller man who was
sent to find him, with or without an amputated leg.

> However, let me say this flatly: IF Wolfe had Reis go to Woldercon as
Chase
> (and if Reis is on Woldercon that *is* a very likely explanation since
he's
> the only other character presented as going there), THEN Wolfe did it for
> one reason -- Good story construction. It was simply more interesting at
> that point in the story than having Reis create a brand new identity that
> the reader was not familiar with.

It is the Reis-as-Ambassador Gideon Chase part I balk at. There must be
another explanation for Wolfe's comment.

And, since there seems to be some confusion, in Wolfe's book it is
"Woldercan", not "Woldercon".

-Roy