(urth) Interlibrary Loan

John Barach jbarach at aol.com
Sun Apr 28 16:09:54 PDT 2019


Here's an example of how precise Wolfe could be when it came to details in his stories.
The short story "Frostfree" was commissioned originally for a Festschrift I was editing in honor of long-time Urth member, James Jordan.  When I did the copy editing on the story, I noticed that "Frostfree" is not, in fact, the name written on the fridge.  It says "frostfree" -- lowercase.  And deliberately so.
I asked Wolfe about it and he replied, "The "frostfree" on the freezer door is not a name, it's an ad claim.  Stet."
"Stet."  That's the word that I'd like to characterize all of Wolfe's future publications.  
It's one thing for an editor to catch what he thinks might be a typo and run it past Wolfe for verification.  But it's another thing to change what Wolfe wanted, even if it's as minor as capitalizing the word on a fridge. Apparently that mattered to him.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Marc Aramini <marcaramini at gmail.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Sent: Sun, Apr 28, 2019 4:02 pm
Subject: Re: (urth) Interlibrary Loan

Yes every edition but the Ace uses the Scribner flawed printing. 
On Sun, Apr 28, 2019 at 1:58 PM PAUL RYDEEN <rydeen at bellsouth.net> wrote:

The Gollancz SF Masterworks ebook has "fifteen" (spelled out).  

On Apr 28, 2019, at 10:25 AM, Marc Aramini <marcaramini at gmail.com> wrote:


See page 161- “it must have weighed a good fifteen pounds” - I have had translators contact me and had to explain it should be fifteen hundred pounds. 

On Sunday, April 28, 2019, Ab de Vos <foxyab at casema.nl> wrote:

  I have the Charles Scribner's Sons edition of Fifth Head (New York, 1972). Is that one corrupted as well? Op 28-4-2019 om 01:16 schreef Marc Aramini:
  
 Copy editors managed to mess up the horn reveal in reprints of Long Sun and I insist the ace version of Fifth Head is the least corrupt. Wolfe was very mad about the switching of horn for I about two thirds of the way through exodus in reprints. He wanted the reveal at that dinner scene. 
 
 On Saturday, April 27, 2019, PAUL RYDEEN <rydeen at bellsouth.net> wrote:
 
  I've never been sure how much leeway an editor really has. Would they really cut whole scenes they didn't like?  Do they redo things wholesale or just fix things and make recommendations?   Since Wolfe picked this editor, can we rely on his pick?  Even if Wolfe were alive, how much of the editor's influence would make it to publication?  And if the answer is the editor has a lot of sway, how many of his edits would the author notice on review? 
  
  
 On Apr 26, 2019, at 9:55 PM, Bailey Swartz <bsswartz at gmail.com> wrote:
 
  
   I like to have faith that Wolfe (who so carefully constructed each work) anticipated the possibility of posthumourous publication and made  appropriate plans for that eventuality. 
  On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 7:51 PM Eric Bourland <eb at hwaet.com> wrote:
  
   I am wondering what result we would get if, individually and noisily, we reached out to Tor editors and implored them  to do basic proofreading on the new novel, but make no changes in its substance, and publish it as Mr. Wolfe wrote it. I am willing to act on this.   Eric       ******* Eric Bourland eb at hwaet.com https://www.hwaet.com/     From: Urth <urth-bounces at lists.urth.net> On Behalf Of Marc Aramini
 Sent: Friday, April 26, 2019 8:25 PM
 To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
 Subject: Re: (urth) Interlibrary Loan   One hopes. Yes that’s how I feel about those who would edit Wolfe.he can create meaning in so many ways that every  reader will certainly miss, especially in his post 2000 work.    (I’m glad cell phones made top posting the de facto response - I remember the days of the list when it was a  sin.) I have always preferred it. 
 
 On Friday, April 26, 2019, Evan Pickett <picketter at gmail.com> wrote: 
    I'm reminded of a scene from The Insider, although Mr. Wolfe would  probably not ever take this tone:   https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/724e8b4b-0515-48cf-b7f2-e49501158ca4       Surely any editor would know by now that Gene Wolfe chose his words with  care?       Best,   Evan                On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 3:48 PM Marc Aramini <marcaramini at gmail.com> wrote:  
   
  
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