The Book of the Long Sun - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Book of the Long Sun is a tetralogy by Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying into the religion. He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the...

, comprising Nightside of the Long Sun, Lake of the Long Sun, Caldé of the Long Sun, and Exodus from the Long Sun. The first two volumes are published together as Litany of the Long Sun and the last two as Epiphany of the Long Sun. The working title for the series was Starcrosser's Landfall, and dust jacket mockups of the first volume were printed with that title. In the defense at the end of the final volume, the author refers to it alternately as The Book of the Long Sun, Starcrosser's Landfall, and The Book of Silk.

The saga begins with the attempt of Silk, a young priest, to save his manteion (the equivalent of a neighborhood church and school) from being destroyed by a ruthless crime lord. Silk soon, however, becomes a revolutionary leader and prophet as he learns more about his world (a vast generation ship

Generation ship

A generation ship is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels across great distances between stars at a speed much slower than the speed of light...

called the whorl): its origins and fate, and the nature of the pantheon of gods he worships. Silk soon learns to distrust those gods and grows to revere the supposedly minor god known as The Outsider, who has provided him with enlightenment.

The Long Sun series has a sequel series, The Book of the Short Sun
The Book of the Short Sun
The Book of the Short Sun is a trilogy by Gene Wolfe, comprising On Blue's Waters , In Green's Jungles , and Return to the Whorl . It is the sequel to Wolfe's tetralogy The Book of the Long Sun, and has connections to The Book of the New Sun...

. While not precisely a sequel, the tetralogy is related to Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun
The Book of the New Sun
The Book of the New Sun is a novel in four parts written by science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe. It chronicles the journey and ascent to power of Severian, a disgraced journeyman torturer who rises to the position of Autarch, the one ruler of the free world...

. This relationship becomes clearer in The Book of the Short Sun.

Original publications

Name	Published	ISBN	Notes
Nightside the Long Sun	Tor Books Tor Books Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded... , 1993	ISBN 978-0812516258	Nebula Award Nebula Award The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year... nominee, 1993
Lake of the Long Sun	Tor Books Tor Books Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded... , 1994	ISBN 978-0312854942
Caldé of the Long Sun	Tor Books Tor Books Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded... , 1994	ISBN 978-0312855833	Nebula Award Nebula Award The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year... nominee, 1995
Exodus from the Long Sun	Tor Books Tor Books Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded... , 1996	ISBN 978-0812539059

Omnibus editions

Name	Published	ISBN	Notes
Litany of the Long Sun	Orb Books Orb Books Orb Books is a publishing imprint of Tor Books. Orb Books specialises in trade paperback reprints of science fiction and fantasy works of special merit which are unavailable in mass market paperback.-Authors published by Orb:* Poul Anderson* Isaac Asimov... , April 2000	ISBN 0-312-87291-7	Contains books 1 and 2 of The Book of the Long Sun series
Epiphany of the Long Sun	Orb Books Orb Books Orb Books is a publishing imprint of Tor Books. Orb Books specialises in trade paperback reprints of science fiction and fantasy works of special merit which are unavailable in mass market paperback.-Authors published by Orb:* Poul Anderson* Isaac Asimov... , November 2000	ISBN 0-312-86072-2	Contains books 3 and 4 of The Book of the Long Sun series

Histories of the main characters

Note: Characters from Silk's home city of Viron adhere to rigid naming conventions. Male humans are named after an animal or animal product: 'Blood,' 'Musk,' 'Quetzal,' etc. Female humans are named after a plant or plant product: 'Chenille,' 'Orchid,' 'Hyacinth,' etc. Androids (known in the book as "chems") are named for inanimate minerals and rocks: 'Marble,' 'Sand,' 'Schist,' etc.

Patera Silk

Patera Silk begins the tetralogy as the 23-year-old Augur

Augur

The augur was a priest and official in the classical world, especially ancient Rome and Etruria. His main role was to interpret the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds: whether they are flying in groups/alone, what noises they make as they fly, direction of flight and what kind of...

of the Sun Street Manteion, arguably the poorest manteion in Viron. Augurs, in the religion of Silk's city, Viron, sacrifice animals to the gods, and examine the entrails of these sacrifices to seek knowledge about the future of the person who has provided the sacrifice, and the future of the augur. He believes himself to be "enlightened" by a minor deity known as the Outsider, who charges Silk to save his manteion, which has been sold to the crime lord Blood for tax reasons. His quest to save the manteion starts him on a journey into Viron's underworld. In the first book in the tetralogy, Nightside the Long Sun, Silk begins to question his own moral fiber as he engages in various "immoral" acts for the sake of this quest.

His theophanies continue, and Patera Silk eventually develops a large following because of his continued contact with the gods of Viron. He becomes a popular hero, and with the help of a spy named Doctor Crane, he is elevated to the political position of Caldé, the high administrator of Viron. It is later discovered that Patera Silk is the rightful heir to this position, having been secretly named successor by the previous Caldé, Tussah (Silk's adoptive father), before he was assassinated by the oligarchical councilors of the Ayuntamiento

Ayuntamiento

Ayuntamiento In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . is the general term for the council of a municipality, or sometimes the municipality itself, in Spain and Latin America. Historically Ayuntamiento was often preceded by the word excelentísimo , when referring to...

, another governing body of Viron.

Silk eventually marries the ex-prostitute Hyacinth and journeys with Auk to the city Mainframe

Mainframe computer

Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...

, where the whorl's main computer is housed. During this trip he goes through a brief suicidal crisis, and comes to final conclusions about the moral doubts that he possessed during the earlier parts of the series.

When The Book of the Long Sun concludes, Patera Silk's fate is unknown.

Silk is an allegorical character, as is typical for Wolfe's work. He is often associated with Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

Maytera Marble

Maytera Marble is a chemical citizen of Viron, or a "chem." This means that she is a robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

who possesses a self-aware, sentient mind. Maytera Marble was initially designed to be a maid, but as her life progressed she found a more religious calling and became one of the Sibyls at Patera Silk's Sun Street Manteion. Being over three hundred years old, certain body parts of hers have been replaced and others have worn away. At the beginning of the tetralogy, her functions have so decayed that she can no longer remember her precise age. Marble is Silk's main confidante at the manteion, Maytera Rose being too harsh for him and Maytera Mint initially too shy.

Later in the series she reclaims several prosthetic parts from the dead Sibyl Maytera Rose, which causes her to obtain some of Rose's memories, resulting in an identity crisis of sorts.

Maytera Marble eventually claims that her real name is Molybdenum, with the short nickname Moly, so that she can marry the soldier Hammerstone and begin constructing a daughter. Evidently she was originally a maid at the manteion and the death of a sibyl necessitated that she take vows. Patera Quetzal releases her from her service so that she can be wed to Corporal Hammerstone. However, as predicted by Silk, she later reveals that her name is in fact Maggie, or Magnesia, and she lied about being Moly so that Hammerstone would marry her.

Maytera Mint

Maytera Mint is one of the sibyls of the Sun Street manteion. Initially rather shy, her concern starts the relationship between Patera Silk and the sneak-thief Auk. She is eventually inhabited by a piece of the deity Kypris

Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....

, goddess of love. Kypris does not completely possess Maytera Mint, and the incomplete personality transfer gives Maytera Mint a newfound assertiveness.

At the funeral sacrifice for Maytera Rose, Maytera Mint presides over the sacrifices because Patera Silk has not yet returned from being captured by the Ayuntamiento. There is a theophany

Theophany

Theophany, from the Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of God"), refers to the appearance of a deity to a human or other being, or to a divine disclosure....

, during which the queen goddess Echidna

Echidna (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Echidna was half woman half snake, known as the "Mother of All Monsters" because most of the monsters in Greek myth were mothered by her...

appears and proclaims Mint to be her "sword" in the revolution against the Ayuntamiento. Leading a band of dissatisfied citizens, she becomes General Mint in Silk's army, facing off against the City Guard and eventually Viron's force of chem "soldiers."

Auk

Auk is introduced as a friend of Maytera Mint's from the manteion who needs spiritual guidance. When Silk speaks with him, he discovers that Auk is a criminal and involved with the prostitute Chenille. Auk counsels Silk on how to break into Blood's mansion. Later, Auk travels in the tunnels under Viron with Chenille, seeking Silk, and suffers a wound to the head. The god Tartaros

Tartarus

In classic mythology, below Uranus , Gaia , and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld. In the Gorgias, Plato In classic mythology, below Uranus (sky), Gaia (earth), and Pontus...

enters Auk's mind and fixes the damage to his brain, making Auk a prophet of Tartaros in the process. Tartaros guides Auk out of the tunnels and eventually instructs him in guiding people to leave the whorl. When Patera Silk and his retinue travel to Mainframe

Mainframe computer

, the home of the gods, Auk takes a landing craft that heads away from the Whorl.

Minor characters

In the city of Viron, biological male characters are named after animals or animal products, and biological female characters are named after plants or plant products. Chems (robots) of either sex are named after inorganic materials or items.

Blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

: The crime lord who purchases Silk's manteion. Blood is later killed by Silk during the uprising that makes Silk into the Caldé.

Musk
Musk
Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a...

: Musk is Blood's lover and an amateur falconer

Falconry

Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...

. He is killed during Maytera Rose's funeral sacrifice, when he attacks Patera Silk.

Doctor Crane
Crane (bird)
Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the order Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...

: Doctor Crane is a spy from the city of Trivigaunte. He masquerades as Blood's personal physician. He is killed during a mistaken 'rescue attempt.'

Chenille: a prostitute, and friend of Auk. She is susceptible to possession by the gods. There are strong suggestions that she was born from a frozen

Cryogenics

In physics, cryogenics is the study of the production of very low temperature and the behavior of materials at those temperatures. A person who studies elements under extremely cold temperature is called a cryogenicist. Rather than the relative temperature scales of Celsius and Fahrenheit,...

embryo

Embryo

An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...

chosen for this special ability.

Corporal Hammerstone
Hammerstone
In archaeology, a hammerstone is a hard cobble used to strike off lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone during the process of lithic reduction. The hammerstone is a rather universal stone tool which appeared early in most regions of the world including Europe, India and North America...

: Hammerstone is a low-level Soldier in Viron's chem Army. He tells tales of his lost love Moly, or Molybdenum

Molybdenum

Molybdenum , is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek , meaning lead, itself proposed as a loanword from Anatolian Luvian and Lydian languages, since its ores were confused with lead ores...

. Maytera Marble later impersonates Moly to marry Hammerstone. He is reprogrammed by Patera Incus

Incus

The incus or anvil is the anvil-shaped small bone or ossicle in themiddle ear. It connects the malleus to the stapes. It was first described by Alessandro Achillini of Bologna.The incus transmits sound vibrations from the malleus to the stapes....

to turn against the Ayuntamiento.

Maytera Rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

: one of the sibyls of the Sun Street manteion, she is a cyborg and the mother of Blood.

Hyacinth: a beautiful courtesan/prostitute, first seen by Silk when he invades Blood's mansion. He falls in love, and she becomes Silk's wife.

Mucor
Mucor
Mucor is a microbial genus of about 3000 species of moulds commonly found in soil, digestive systems, plant surfaces, and rotten vegetable matter.-Description:...

: A strange girl who has little interaction with other humans, but who has an amazing ability - she can remotely project her consciousness into other people, and speak with their voices, and gain information from them, while inhabiting them. She is mentally ill and anorexic, partly due to a botched brain surgery attempting to remove her power. Like Chenille, she was also a frozen embryo chosen for special genetic traits (i.e. this ability to possess others).

Patera Quetzal
Quetzal
Quetzals are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family . They are found in forests and woodlands, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus Pharomachrus being exclusively Neotropical, while the single Euptilotis species is almost entirely restricted to western Mexico...

: The leader of Silk's religion in the city of Viron. There are hints throughout the books that he is not human, but this isn't known to the other characters until he dies, in the last book, and it is revealed that he is an inhumu

Inhumi

The inhumi are shapeshifting, vampiric creatures native to the world of Green in Gene Wolfe's series The Book of the Short Sun...

.

Horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...

: a teenage student at the Sun Street manteion who is close to Silk, he appears only briefly in the books. At the end, he and his wife, Nettle

Nettle

Nettles constitute between 24 and 39 species of flowering plants of the genus Urtica in the family Urticaceae, with a cosmopolitan though mainly temperate distribution. They are mostly herbaceous perennial plants, but some are annual and a few are shrubby...

, are said to be the authors.

Oreb
Oreb
Oreb, a Hebrew Old Testament name meaning raven.By the time of the Judges, the Midianites, led by two princes Oreb and Zeeb were raiding Israel with the use of swift camels, until they were decisively defeated by Gideon. Oreb was slain along with Zeeb...

: a large black bird, of the kind known as a night chough

Chough

The Red-billed Chough or Chough , Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, is a bird in the crow family; it is one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax...

. Oreb is intelligent, and can talk, although he can only make two-syllable sentences (e.g. "No cut!", "Bad cat!") which usually need interpretation. Oreb was originally purchased by Silk as an animal sacrifice

Animal sacrifice

Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature...

but fell sick and was later kept as a pet. He is usually with Silk, but can and does leave at times.