Has anyone read this book by Charles Harness (published by NESFA Press)?
I mention it because it's reminiscent of There Are Doors--written in a kind of magic realism with classical allusions, the same themes of lost love, death, and transcendence, etc., etc. Which may explain why Gene Wolfe was asked to provide a blurb which he did in highly laudatory fashion ("There are perhaps a thousand wonderful books. Most of us are fortunate if we so much as hear the titles of them in the course of a lifetime. Very few of us ever touch the covers of more than half a dozen. This is one of them.") Exaggerated but it's still a delightful little read. It's also a lot more overtly (ostensibly) autobiographical.
I especially enjoyed the hilarious description of the Battle of San Jacinto--the first person narrator is a Texan (as are both Harness and Wolfe, for that matter).
Ron Crown
Saint Louis University