Subject: REQUEST: Gene Wolfe recommendation

From: Anthony E Bible <bible at iastate.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 18:17:14 +0000

I've seen several favorable comments on the net about Gene Wolfe so I
picked up a book of his short stories (_Gene Wolfe's Book of Days_) at the
library a couple days ago, and I am enjoying it very much.  When I'm done
with it I intend to read one of his novels.  I'd appreciate suggestions
from the Gene Wolfe fans amongst ye.

Thank you.

Tony

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From: Loren Miller <loren at wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 23:06:29 +0000

sclera at milori.ccit.arizona.edu writes:
>Ah, a real topic.  It has been a while, but I think the name is "The
>Torturer's Apprentice," which starts the Urth of the New Sun series.
>These are books which will get those endolphins :) flowing.  They remind
>me of a latter-day Iliad.

Erm, that's _Shadow of a Torturer_, and it starts off the Book of the New
Sun, but besides those little problems which might make it pretty hard to
find the books you're right. It's a great book, and the main reason most
people who like Wolfe do so. The rest of them are great too. In fact,
they're the reason I joined the SFBC the last time I joined it, so I could
get the whole set.

His other series is the Soldier one, _Soldier in the Mists_, and _Soldier
of Arete_, which ends with a cliffhanger and unfortunately has not been
continued.

His short story writing is impressive and literary, and IMO boring, but his
adventure novels also tell wide-ranging stories and really get the reader's
(at least this reader's) blood flowing.

Loren Miller

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From: Dani Zweig <dani at netcom.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 00:39:58 +0000

bible at iastate.edu (Anthony E Bible):
>I've seen several favorable comments on the net about Gene Wolfe so...
>I intend to read one of his novels.  I'd appreciate suggestions

That's easy.  He's written a number of books, some of which have been well
received and some of which have not, but the towering standout among his
books is his "Book of the New Sun" tetraloy, the first book of which is
"Shadow of the Torturer".  The tale takes place so far in the future that
it is impossible to tell whether it is science fiction or fantasy.

As a second choice, if you like historical fantasy, "Soldier of the Mists"
is the 'diary' of a soldier who, during the Persian Wars, takes a head
injury which destroys his capacity for long-term memory: Every night he
forgets the events of the past day.  The injury has also given him the
ability to see the immortals who have a use for him.

Dani Zweig

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From: Patrick Nielsen-Hayden <pnh at panix.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 02:29:58 +0000

>me of a latter-day Iliad.

You're thinking of THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER, the first of four volumes
that comprise The Book of the New Sun.  THE URTH OF THE NEW SUN is a
separate work, connected to The Book of the New Sun but not part of it.

This coming April we will publish, in hardcover, NIGHTSIDE THE LONG SUN,
the first of (yes) four volumes of The Book of the Long Sun, a new work set
several thousand years earlier in the same universe.

Your recommendation of THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS and THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR
DEATH AND OTHER STORIES AND OTHER STORIES zeroes unerringly in on two books
which are currently out of print.  We actually own THE FIFTH HEAD OF
CERBERUS and will be getting it back into print by and by.  Meanwhile, fans
of Gene's short fiction can find quite a lot of it in ENDANGERED SPECIES,
STORIES FROM THE OLD HOTEL, and CASTLE OF DAYS.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden
senior editor
Tor Books

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From: Keith Warren Rickert <rickert at cco.caltech.edu>
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 04:18:22 +0000

The book titles are:
The Shadow of the Torturer
The Claw of the Conciliator
The Sword of the Lictor
The Citadel of the Autarch
and
The Urth of the New Sun

Wonderful books, the lot of them :)

Keith

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From: Matt Austern <matt at physics2.berkeley.edu>
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 05:19:53 +0000

bible at iastate.edu (Anthony E Bible) writes:
> picked up a book of his short stories (_Gene Wolfe's Book of Days_) at
> the library a couple days ago, and I am enjoying it very much.  When I'm
> done with it I intend to read one of his novels.  I'd appreciate
> suggestions from the Gene Wolfe fans amongst ye.

Well, I think you have two obvious choices.

First, you might read _The Book of the New Sun_.  It is sometimes called a
tetrology, but I think it's more accurate to describe it as a novel
published in four volumes.  Either way, though, it is very intricate, with
links backwards and forwards between different parts of the book.  The
language is also very carefully constructed.

Another choice is _Soldier in the Mist_.  This is a slightly difficult book
to describe.  We might view it as fantasy; alternatively, you could think
of it as a novel set in ancient Greece (and nearby parts of the world), but
where the ideas of what is and isn't real are those that someone of that
time might have had, not those that we have.

Both books, in my opinion, are excellent.  And, interestingly enough, an
important element in both books is the memory of the main character.

Matthew Austern
(510) 644-2618 
austern at lbl.bitnet

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From: Barry Meikle <meikle at gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1993 02:05:19 +0000

pnh at panix.com (Patrick Nielsen-Hayden) writes:
>DEATH AND OTHER STORIES AND OTHER STORIES zeroes unerringly in on two
>books which are currently out of print.  We actually own THE FIFTH HEAD OF
>CERBERUS and will be getting it back into print by and by.  Meanwhile,
>fans of Gene's short fiction can find quite a lot of it in ENDANGERED
>SPECIES, STORIES FROM THE OLD HOTEL, and CASTLE OF DAYS.

And _Castle of Days_ contains "The Castle of the Otter", which I (and a lot
of others, I guess) missed on its first small-press go-round.  I think
"Keen!" is the word I'm looking for here.

Barry Meikle                    
University of Toronto Bookstore
214 College Street
Toronto, Ont. M5T 3A1
1-416-978-7925
meikle at gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca

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From: Klaus Ole Kristiansen <klaus at diku.dk>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 13:08:44 +0000

loren at wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren Miller) writes:
>His short story writing is impressive and literary, and IMO boring,

I find them very uneven. I have only read one book of Wolfe short stories,
Endangered Species.

Some are rather boring.

Some makes litle sense, but contains fantastic quotes:
"Long ago, when the universe was old ..."
Wolfe is a great language wizard.

Some are great stories. War Beneath the Tree alone is worth the price of
the book. So is When I Was Ming the Meciless. So is In The House of
Gingerbread.

Klaus O K

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From: Kai Ivo Quale <kai at ifi.uio.no>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 20:29:18 +0000

My personal fave list:

(I have read just about everything by Wolfe, but these are the ones I
remember on the spur of the moment.)

_Book of the New Sun_    RAVE! PANT! DROOL! Easily the best he has ever
                         written. 

_The Island of Doctor    Incredible. I don't like collections; I love this
Death and other Stories  one.
and Other Stories_

_Soldier_ series         Very good.

_Free Live Free_         Good, but extremely confusing. Not for the
                         beginner. 

_Castleview_             Good, but kind of light for my taste.

_There Are Doors_        Not bad (Wolfe is never bad), but I don't think he
                         quite pulled it off this time. I kind of waited
                         for things to start rolling, and then it was over.

_Book of Days_           Ranges from the very good to the so-so. 

_Fifth Head of Cerberus_ I found this one rather disappointing compared to
                         his other work. An early effort, isn't it ?

_Peace_                  The only Wolfe I've ever found completely
                         unreadable. 

Wolfe can be very confusing. The way of reading Wolfe that works for me is
to "ride the wave": Don't worry if you haven't got the faintest clue of
what's going on - that's normal :-), just relax and enjoy the experience.
It IS enjoyable even if you don't understand a thing, sort of like Kafka.

Kai Quale
kai at ifi.uio.no

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From: Andrew Culhane <adculha at afterlife.ncsc.mil>
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 16:33:06 +0000

I'm new to this newsgroup, so pardon me if this is an old opinion.

I've read almost everything Wolfe has written.  Except for (IMO)
Castleview, and maybe Soldier of Arete, there aren't any bad Wolfe books.

But he is a very demanding writer.  If you read a Gene Wolfe story only
once, there isn't a chance of a snowball that you'll understand it.  I
reread The Book of the New Sun once a year or so, and there are still
things I discover in it.  Now it's possible that I'm just kind of dumb ...

So read anything.  Contrary to what a previous poster said, I found his
novel Peace outstanding, and I recommend it as a place to start.