Forgive me but can someone tell me which book each Infernal appears in because I cant remember(except the Lilitongue) Thanks( Must be getting old):mad:

Forgive me but can someone tell me which book each Infernal appears in because I cant remember(except the Lilitongue) Thanks( Must be getting old):mad:

OK, here we go....

1- "The Cleaning Machine" is a short right at the beginning of "Soft And Others".

2- The Lilitongue of Gefreda was in "Infernal"

3- Jacob Prather's Mystery Machine (Oz's Device) is in "Freak show"

4- The mini Tesla tower in Conspiracies is in "Conspiracies".

5- The veil was pierced in "the Barrens", but I can't say if that was timing or an Infernal. That is a short story in "The Barrens And Others".

I was unaware of "The Cleaning Machine" until this thread; I will now try to track it down and give it a read. If it's from SOFT, then it's an older story... Surely making it an Infernal must be a retcon; is it referred to as such within the story? Or is there a reference to it in another work that IDs it as an Infernal?

If it is an Infernal, why isn't "The Cleaning Machine" listed in the Secret History chronology? (Or, for that matter, "Piney Power", "Do-Gooder", and "Recalled"?)

I was unaware of "The Cleaning Machine" until this thread; I will now try to track it down and give it a read. If it's from SOFT, then it's an older story... Surely making it an Infernal must be a retcon; is it referred to as such within the story? Or is there a reference to it in another work that IDs it as an Infernal?

If it is an Infernal, why isn't "The Cleaning Machine" listed in the Secret History chronology? (Or, for that matter, "Piney Power", "Do-Gooder", and "Recalled"?)

The Cleaning Machine being an Infernal is a retcon, since the concept didn't exist at the time of the story (at least not on paper; I don't know what was in FPW's head). The concept of the Infernals didn't appear until many years later. I believe this thread is the first time FPW has explicitly verified that The Cleaning Machine is an Infernal.

As to that story not being listed in the Secret History chronology, there's another list that FPW put together here on the board somewhere showing all the short stories that are related. There are a bunch of stories in SOFT & OTHERS that fit in, to some degree, with the Secret History, and so that book should be considered essential for the Secret History completist (and essential for any fan of FPW or anyone who just likes reading in general, for that matter).

As far as "Piney Power" goes, I just think it's too new and will be listed eventually. "Do-Gooder" does not have a particular time of its occurrence, so I'm not sure it would ever be added to the chronology. "Recalled" will also probably never be added in, since it really is a part of Matheson's world.

The Cleaning Machine being an Infernal is a retcon, since the concept didn't exist at the time of the story (at least not on paper; I don't know what was in FPW's head). The concept of the Infernals didn't appear until many years later. I believe this thread is the first time FPW has explicitly verified that The Cleaning Machine is an Infernal.

As to that story not being listed in the Secret History chronology, there's another list that FPW put together here on the board somewhere showing all the short stories that are related. There are a bunch of stories in SOFT & OTHERS that fit in, to some degree, with the Secret History, and so that book should be considered essential for the Secret History completist (and essential for any fan of FPW or anyone who just likes reading in general, for that matter).

As far as "Piney Power" goes, I just think it's too new and will be listed eventually. "Do-Gooder" does not have a particular time of its occurrence, so I'm not sure it would ever be added to the chronology. "Recalled" will also probably never be added in, since it really is a part of Matheson's world.

I believe you're right about "The Cleaning Machine", I don't think it was really meant to be part of the arch we see now, but like a lot of his earlier writings, they "do" fit nicely within his arch.

To show you what I mean, "Masque" could very easily be a book based only 150 years after "Nightworld" with the main connection being the Kaze glom. That's a direct link, to the RJ series. After that, it's not much of a stretch to see the natural progression of events before we get to "The LaNague Chronicles" several hundred years later. Uncle Gurney would once again be a dang good link.



Yeah, I'm taking it to an extreme. To me, it does work. (freaking fanboys!!! )

In Piney Power Jack meets Saree for the first time... Then he meets her for the first time again in Secret Vengeance. So, it's a good story, just not canon because it'd make that plot hole.

And Do-Gooder- didn't FPW mention that he might incorporate it into something? Did I hallucinate that?

I always assumed the Klazen was an Infernal. No?

What about Glaeken's sword?

Maybe it's just that too much time has passed since I've read INFERNAL, but it's only now that some obvious details have smacked me between the eyes.

There were seven Infernals, just like there were seven of the Otherness' representatives on Earth during the First Age. Can we assume each Infernal was made by one of those seven bad guys? (That would mean one of them was probably made by Rasalom. I wonder which one.) And one of Rasalom's rivals must've been Gefreda (also seven letters, so that's consistent).

Was any of the above ever explicitly stated? Or just implied?

I'm hoping the infernals are explained somewhere, even if it's a bonus short story for an ebook edition of something. I think there could be a lot of interesting material there.