Status Updates From The Castle of the Otter

Oh it’s so refreshing to read a book I’m enjoying

Wolfe is as cagey in this as in all his other books, but the chapter on cavalry was actually incredibly enlightening on the creatures called “destriers” - what they are and why they exist.

In response to the question of what caused him to write The Book of the New Sun and how he was able to do it, Wolfe first responds, "Free will. And I own a typewriter."

I am skeptical that this book, despite being entirely about the creation of TBotNS, will provide the thorough insights I'm looking for...

In 1981, the SF newspaper Locus announced that the fourth volume of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun would be published under the title The Castle of the Otter. Of course, it’s actually called The Citadel of the Autarch. But Wolfe liked the misprint so much, he used it for this collection of essays on how the tetralogy was written.