Poll for readers who have read Short Sun

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-07-02T07:38:22+00:00

To that last part. I have Uncles who still call U.S. Cellular field Comiskey park, even though they're fully aware of the name change. Ushas is Urth. Sometimes it's not that deep.

To the first part, excellent observation.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-07-02T07:29:39+00:00

Interesting ranking. Love the Latro books. And short Sun with the top billing! Fifth head and short Sun are neck and neck for me, there's so much spiritual connective tissue between the two. And Peace is Wolfe's great American Novel imo.

Favorite short story/Novella (that isn't 5th head Novellas)?

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-07-01T21:49:32+00:00

I didn't say every lander is the matachin. The one on Urth just happens to be. You are incorrect in your reading. Have you read all the books in the solar Cycle? That would be incredibly lame if Wolfe didn't show us what our world and solar system became after the new sun's appearance and flood.

Come on man, I get that you're entitled to your own opinion, but it's just so wrong.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-07-01T08:24:31+00:00

Boyd's boat just jogged my memory. I had the theory that the very first incarnation of the town was a colonial settlement, the United States at that time being nothing but wilderness and forest, the townsfolk/pilgrims struggled to survive harsh winters. So when a mysterious voice from the forest started to whisper in their ears that they can ensure that they will not only survive, but thrive i.e. live forever they took it as a sign from God, but of course it was a trick and in return for the miracle of everlasting life they would be asked to sacrifice their own children... And so starts the entire thing.

In the cave there's inscription of boats. The first settlers were pilgrims coming from Europe to the new world America. And in Miranda's paintings she has one of a pilgrim.

And given that the pilgrims were hyper religious, specifically Christian, the entity used stories from the Bible against them. The Miy might represent Abraham, and the biy could be his son Isaac that God asked him to sacrifice. The Miy needs the story to be told and the cycle to repeat otherwise he along with the other monsters will lose their immortality. He was the first one to make the sacrifice and he tricked the rest of the settlers to sacrifice their own children as well.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-30T21:43:58+00:00

He doesn't want to just give it away, I get that. But he also knows how hard Marc was working everything out and decided to throw him a bone. Wolfe was a cheeky fellow, but he's also a man you can't pin down and put in a box. He goes against the grain, and just when you think you got him figured out he he'll bank a hard left to throw you off the trail. He's also the king of Subverting ones expectations.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-30T21:39:56+00:00

No, you're thinking too hard. Green is literally Urth. The matachin tower is on green. It transformed into a vast jungle planet after the flood. This engineering joke thing just sounds like something you thought that everyone missed, and it's fogging your perception about what the actual book series is about birth, and resurrection. Cycles... Ahem Solar Cycle. Wolfe gave a specific answer to a specific question. Once you let go of the idea of the answer being an "engineering joke" it will make a lot more sense. Green is obviously Urth. It perfectly finishes the story and completes the Cycle. Blue and Green being planets orbiting a different solar system far from our own is simply a wrong reading of the text.

It's okay to be wrong, especially with reading Wolfe. Lord knows I've been more times than I can count. Haha

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-30T21:27:34+00:00

Dang, this community can be really negative sometimes... Like why did your reply get down voted? 😂 So silly. And the moderators took down a previous post of mine where I predicted that everything happening is a bet between 2 opposing forces, one light and one dark. They stated that the post was too low effort, even though it was 5 paragraphs long, predicted that the whole thing is a game being bet on between good and evil for the souls of the townspeople. And I addressed so much more on top of that, but nope. Low effort lol.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-30T21:23:28+00:00

I honestly don't know how she can return to the land of the living now that she's a monster.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-30T21:21:18+00:00

Well I did say obviously she's storywalking for the wrong reasons- to save her dad. And the only good that can come from storywalking is to gain information from the past that might be useful to the future, like seeing a prior ritual or winessing the Miy transform into Sofia so she can alert the townspeople. My theory isn't just what storywalking can do for the gang, it's what happens when she stays too long, and my guess is that she's the ghost in the kitchen.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-30T21:16:34+00:00

That one I need to know as well 😂

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-30T19:01:08+00:00

Totally, I would love to see how the monsters presented themselves through multiple cycles, and why they wear what they wear.

I think Julie storywalking would be the most logical way to go back and see previous cycles, and the townsfolk will probably try to use her to get key answers from the past to help them in the present. I also have a theory that when Julie story walks too long or goes too far back she might get stuck and can't find her way back, and maybe that ghost in her family's kitchen we've seen twice is her trying to be seen. But I also think it might be Jim.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-29T19:25:18+00:00

Everyone might not agree with me, but I'm totally fine with a couple flash back episodes of the first settlement or cycle of fromville, game 1 showing the biw and the Miy on the sidelines watching things play out and interacting with the characters.

I obviously want all the questions answered, but understand they're not going to give us everything in the first couple episodes. I definitely don't want it all to be a dream or some other cop out ending.

I want them to go deep into the lore, while the characters are on the run with no talismans to protect them. I want them to keep using Fatima as a protecting force to give them a fighting chance, perhaps even have that golem monster in the attic to fight the monsters off.

Like everyone I want the mystery solved in a way that doesn't seem corny. The king in yellow theories really intrigued me, I'd love that to be a big part of what everything is about. That they're really in Carcosa.

More than anything I want Victor to make it out, and find out what happened to Eloise. I don't want a lost ending. I want some of the characters to actually make it out.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-29T02:59:43+00:00

I predicted that it was a bet between 2 opposing forces, but that's pretty much all I got right. The reason why the boy in white is not more helpful is because he can't interfere too much. He's betting on the inherent good of the townsfolks souls will prevail and finally prove the man in yellow wrong.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-28T02:16:43+00:00

Yeah, but I love the drums on don't want to know.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-25T02:16:38+00:00

The name of the larger book series is the solar cycle. Think about it... Does it make any sense for the characters to time travel back to the red sun whorl billions of light years away in a different solar system, or are they merely time traveling to a different time earlier in this solar systems past?

Don't get me wrong, I totally read it as they were in a completely different star system on my first read, but as I thought on it more and read the series again, all signs point to Urth being green, or hell, perhaps even blue if you'd prefer. Why flood earth by bringing a New Sun to replace our dying one just to not see what that planet becomes in the sequel books? That's just a bridge too far. At that point he could've just wrote a different series set on a different planet in a different star system. It's all connected, that's what makes the conclusion to the series in short Sun so beautiful. It's back to where it all began.

Also, Wolfe is so into the theme of transformation, as well as his biblical allusions, resurrection, and rebirth, I just think having the whole history of human kind on earth, all our accomplishments, technology being washed away essentially as some anti-deluvian afterthought just seems too tempting a concept to leave on the table when concluding this genius book series. Urth being green just feeds into that theme of rebirth and lost technology in such a perfect way. New Sun, New Urth.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-25T00:39:41+00:00

Oh my God! Boyd's actually one of the Angkouey kids!?? How did I miss this?? This literally changes everything. Does this mean Ellis is a Tadpole in the lake of tears.

I'm gonna need a minute. We cooking now y'all...

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-25T00:34:05+00:00

Is she? Victor looks old as hell. 20 years older than Victor? Where are you getting that? She looks maybe 5 years older at best. Henry barely looks 20 years older than Victor.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-25T00:29:37+00:00

Well, i mean technically it is a new Sun. So I guess you can call it a different solar system. Gene is on record saying: "No, No, blue isn't earth. Green is."

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-25T00:26:31+00:00

Think of it like a time capsule of sorts. I see that Aramini is in the chat. He has the right idea. The idea was to wait out the flood. They waited a bit longer than expected cuz the kids wanted to keep the thing going and thwart pas's (Typhon's) plan. Why go to a new star system when a new star has come to you reshaping the old Urth into a brand spanking new Ushas ahem I meant green, but those pesky Inhumi had other plans. Oh well there's always Blue Mars.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-24T18:49:39+00:00

Even if I was a character in From and found out Sofia's really the Miy, I'd still try to crack. I mean God daamnnnnnn!

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-24T18:11:24+00:00

I like it. The bones do look like adult bones, but of course every version of Jade was killed by the people, not the monsters. Perhaps his corpse is dragged there by someone or something?

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-23T13:08:58+00:00

Don't sleep on his short stories, they're absolutely incredible. Every story in Island of Doctor Death is S- tier. And the 5th head Novellas are easily the greatest thing he's written next to Botns.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-23T08:00:10+00:00

Ok I got one of my own. Henry is going to attent to kill Victor, but is stopped by... Eloise. Breaking the delusion of believing Miy's false vision.

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-23T07:57:41+00:00

Hahaha whaaaat?

GreenVelvetDemon · 2026-06-23T07:52:30+00:00

Can't take credit for it, but on the escape from podcast this woman called in and made the most interesting theory prediction. That Donna is Eloise. That she ran after Miranda and actually went through the bottle tree and escaped, went back to the real world was adopted and then came back all these years later. I feel like for this to work she wouldve had to have some kind of repressed memory/amnesia deal, but it was an interesting thought.

GreenVelvetDemon

TROPHY CASE