{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4423", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 4423, "subject": "More Wolfe Blurbs", "messages": 5, "voices": 4, "first": "2005-05-16T13:50:59+00:00", "last": "2005-05-17T03:42:00+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "<03fd01c55a5a$173bd200$8fe9b8a1@yourg4lzvxou0c>", "from": { "name": "John Barach", "address": "jbarach at telus.net" }, "date": "2005-05-16T13:50:59+00:00", "subject": "(urth) More Wolfe Blurbs", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Urthers --\n\nA while back, I asked about books Wolfe recommended or books for which he had written blurbs.\n\nI've seen his blurbs on\n\n* Orson Scott Card (whom Wolfe calls \"Oar Scottson Curd\"), _Ender's Game_\n* Avram Davidson, _Treasury_\n* Sharon Baker, _Journey to Memblar_\n\nand someone mentioned that he has a blurb on \n\n* Jennifer Stevenson, Trash Sex Magic\n\nI've also discovered that this site gives a list of several (though it's far from complete). I can't say I'm familiar with any of the authors:\n\n* Robert Nathan, Portrait of Jennie (1940)\n* George Turner, Drowning Towers (1987)\n* Robert Aickman, The Model (1987)\n* David Zindell, Neverness (1988)\n* Paul Park, Coelestis (1993)\n* Terry McGarry, Illumination (2001)\n\nAnyone read these?\n\nJohn" } ] }, { "message_id": "<041101c55a5a$cfae99d0$8fe9b8a1@yourg4lzvxou0c>", "from": { "name": "John Barach", "address": "jbarach at telus.net" }, "date": "2005-05-16T13:55:57+00:00", "subject": "(urth) More Wolfe Blurbs", "in_reply_to": "<03fd01c55a5a$173bd200$8fe9b8a1@yourg4lzvxou0c>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Oops!\n\nWhen I wrote" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "I've also discovered that this site gives a list of several\n(though it's far from complete)." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I meant to include the link: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Gene_Wolfe.htm\n\nJohn" } ] }, { "message_id": "<2124d6b1050516151154f5d28d@mail.gmail.com>", "from": { "name": "pthwndxrclzp", "address": "aquastor at gmail.com" }, "date": "2005-05-16T15:11:18+00:00", "subject": "(urth) More Wolfe Blurbs", "in_reply_to": "<03fd01c55a5a$173bd200$8fe9b8a1@yourg4lzvxou0c>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "George Turner is an Australian SF author; his stuff is more\ninterpersonal than intergalactic but very good. Drowning Towers may be\nthe book with the Wolfe blurb, but I think Brain Child is his best\nwork.\n\nDavid Zindell hit mainstream SF with a smash with 1988's Neverness.\nIt's a terrific book, overflowing with wonderful ideas, settings and\nsituations. IIRC, Zindell had won a couple of awards for a short story\nentitled \"Shanidar,\" and Neverness is an expansion of that story's\nworld.\n\nNeverness presents the coming of age story of one Mallory Ringess, a\npilot in the ancient order of Mathematicians in the fabled city of\nNeverness on a barren ice planet who seeks to unravel a mystery from\nthe dawn of time, the disappearance of the long-vanished Ieldra, the\ngalaxy's first sentient race. At the same time, Ringess must find a\nway to stave off a wave of destruction that threatens to obliterate\nall that mankind has achieved. Filled with colorful aliens and\nmind-numbing meta-technologies, it is a masterful and satisfying\nexploration of man's ultimate evolution. Broken God is the first\nsequel, and unfortunately it is a bit of a disappointment. It picks\nup where Neverness leaves off and poses many more questions than it\never answers. It has that \"middle of the series\" feel, and one is\nleft hoping that Zindell will tie up the myriad loose ends in a\nsubsequent book. Unfortunately, The Wild is not that book -- it\ncontinues the quest tale of Danlo Ringess, Mallory's son, but still\nleaves us unsatisfyingly in the middle of things. 1998's The War in\nHeaven concluded the series but left much to be desired; all three\nsequels are very much in the shadow of the first book, Neverness." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 5/16/05, John Barach wrote:\n \nUrthers -- \n \nA while back, I asked about books Wolfe recommended or books for which he\nhad written blurbs. \n \nI've seen his blurbs on \n \n* Orson Scott Card (whom Wolfe calls \"Oar Scottson Curd\"), _Ender's Game_ \n* Avram Davidson, _Treasury_ \n* Sharon Baker, _Journey to Memblar_ \n \nand someone mentioned that he has a blurb on \n \n* Jennifer Stevenson, Trash Sex Magic \n \nI've also discovered that this site gives a list of several (though it's far\nfrom complete). I can't say I'm familiar with any of the authors: \n \n* Robert Nathan, Portrait of Jennie (1940) \n* George Turner, Drowning Towers (1987) \n* Robert Aickman, The Model (1987) \n* David Zindell, Neverness (1988) \n* Paul Park, Coelestis (1993) \n* Terry McGarry, Illumination (2001) \n \nAnyone read these? \n \nJohn \n_______________________________________________" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "David Duffy", "address": "david.duffy at qimr.edu.au" }, "date": "2005-05-16T15:52:26+00:00", "subject": "(urth) More Wolfe Blurbs", "in_reply_to": "<03fd01c55a5a$173bd200$8fe9b8a1@yourg4lzvxou0c>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Mon, 16 May 2005, John Barach wrote:\nI've also discovered that this site gives a list of several (though it's far from complete). I can't say I'm familiar with any of the authors:\n\n* Robert Nathan, Portrait of Jennie (1940)\n* George Turner, Drowning Towers (1987)\n* Robert Aickman, The Model (1987)\n* David Zindell, Neverness (1988)\n* Paul Park, Coelestis (1993)\n* Terry McGarry, Illumination (2001)\n\nAnyone read these?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Paul Park's _Starbridge Chronicles_ have been compared to Wolfe in the\npast, esp for the use of language -- you are halfway through _The Soldiers\nof Paradise_ (vol 1 of the trilogy) before realising \"horses\" are\nreptilian, and \"petrol\" is also edible...is was definitely influenced, I\nthink, by BotNS, but goes it its' own way. Very stylish writing.\n\nGeorge Turner is the Australian who wrote a lot of \"mainstream\" novels\nbefore writing much interesting SF later in life (he was a long term fan).\nThemes are assorted disasters, truly new societies that often interact\nwith leftovers from our times/mindsets, human engineering (social,\ngenetic), realpolitik. _Drowning Towers_ is global warming drowned,\noverpopulated Third-world Melbourne. I don't think of him as Wolfean in\nstyle.\n\nZindell is definitely worth reading -- another strong stylist, though\nthe sequelae to Nevernesse are not as tight. I think Zindell's gods\nand technology are closer to Frank Herbert than Wolfe: his narrators are\nreligious cum mathematical mystics, more lyric in tone than Wolfe\n(except in certain passages).\n\nRobert Nathan was covered recently in NYRSF." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Iorwerth Thomas", "address": "iorweththomas at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2005-05-17T03:42:00+00:00", "subject": "(urth) More Wolfe Blurbs", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: David Duffy \nReply-To: The Urth Mailing List \nTo: The Urth Mailing List \nSubject: Re: (urth) More Wolfe Blurbs\nDate: Tue, 17 May 2005 08:50:45 +1000 (EST)\n\nOn Mon, 16 May 2005, John Barach wrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "I've also discovered that this site gives a list of several (though it's \nfar from complete). I can't say I'm familiar with any of the authors:\n\n* Robert Nathan, Portrait of Jennie (1940)\n* George Turner, Drowning Towers (1987)\n* Robert Aickman, The Model (1987)\n* David Zindell, Neverness (1988)\n* Paul Park, Coelestis (1993)\n* Terry McGarry, Illumination (2001)\n\nAnyone read these?" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Paul Park's _Starbridge Chronicles_ have been compared to Wolfe in the\npast, esp for the use of language -- you are halfway through _The Soldiers\nof Paradise_ (vol 1 of the trilogy) before realising \"horses\" are\nreptilian, and \"petrol\" is also edible...is was definitely influenced, I\nthink, by BotNS, but goes it its' own way. Very stylish writing." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I'll have to keep an eye out for those; I've only read 'Coelestis', which is \nsimilar in theme to 5HoC - namely, how colonialism messes up both the \ncolonists and the natives. In this case, however, the natives have to be \nassimilated via drugs (so that they have a human worldview; originally they \nwere all but catatonic, possibly observing a reality to which humans have no \naccess) and plastic surgery. There are also the Coelestis, the original \n'masters' of the natives, who may in fact be thoughtforms created by the \nnatives in order to protect them from the invaders. The plot focuses around \nan ambassador from Earth, who is isolated by relativistic timelag from both \nthe colonists and his home planet, and an unfortunate assimilated native, \nwho is kidnapped by a militant (and human-run) native rights group. \nWhereupon her drugs begin to wear off.\n\nIt's very good; I'm not sure if that summary does it justice though. I can \nsee why Wolfe likes it.\n\nIorwerth" } ] } ] }