# Women read Wolfe too *The Urth list — 11 messages, 8 voices, 15 May 2008* > 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. --- ### P Konopka *15 May 2008, 20:06* I've never posted before but felt compelled to do so today. I'm a 40 year old mother of three living in Michigan and I've read science fiction and fantasy from about the age of 10. I've read most of Wolfe's works but since I can't find anyone (male or female) else that has, I subscribe to this list. I read pretty widely; with 3 kids it's my "escape" if you will. I have never read any books that my neighbors or coworkers (i.e. other women) have ever heard of, and vice versa. Not a lot of female sci-fi / fantasy fans out here in suburbia. Have any other women posted? Patty --- ### Allan Anderson *15 May 2008, 23:31 · follows P Konopka* My sister and stepmom read a lot of SF. I got my (non-step) mom to read the first New Sun book, but I think she found it too creepy and didn't follow up with it. I'll have to suggest the other stuff to the rest of my family. My wife has read a bunch of SF, too, but since she has poor eyesight she usually sticks to audio books. Sadly, I haven't seen any Wolfe in that format. My point is, you're not alone! On Thu May 15 13:06 , P Konopka sent: > I've never posted before but felt compelled to do so today. > I'm a 40 year old mother of three living in Michigan and I've read science fiction and fantasy from about the age of 10. > I've read most of Wolfe's works but since I can't find anyone (male or female) else that has, I subscribe to this list. > I read pretty widely; with 3 kids it's my "escape" if you will. > I have never read any books that my neighbors or coworkers (i.e. other women) have ever heard of, and vice versa. > Not a lot of female sci-fi / fantasy fans out here in suburbia. > Have any other women posted? > Patty > > > > _______________________________________________ --- ### Helen Algmin *16 May 2008, 01:13 · in reply to P Konopka* Thanks for posting, Ms. Konopka! I admit I was feeling a little out of place. I am 27 years old. I'm female. I live in the Chicago area. I go to the library once a week and keep a notebook with me at all times for writing down good book suggestions. I never heard of Gene Wolfe until I went to see Neil Gaiman about three years ago. Mr. Wolfe was the special guest. If anyone has seen him speak, you will know why I was so interested. I ran right out to get a one of his books. I picked up "Pandora, by Holly Hollander" of all things! My favorite Wolfe books are the Soldier series. And I consider trying to understand Peace to be a labor of love (I'm still mulling over your comments, Mr. Tallman!) I am loving Steve Brust lately. Something about his main character Vlad in the "Jhereg" series reminds me a little little bit of Latro. (Phew, I got all the topics completed in one e-mail.) P Konopka wrote: I've never posted before but felt compelled to do so today. I'm a 40 year old mother of three living in Michigan and I've read science fiction and fantasy from about the age of 10. I've read most of Wolfe's works but since I can't find anyone (male or female) else that has, I subscribe to this list. I read pretty widely; with 3 kids it's my "escape" if you will. I have never read any books that my neighbors or coworkers (i.e. other women) have ever heard of, and vice versa. Not a lot of female sci-fi / fantasy fans out here in suburbia. Have any other women posted? Patty --- ### Hmpf MacSlow *16 May 2008, 20:40 · in reply to P Konopka* > Have any other women posted? > Patty Yes. Me, among others. Although I only post very rarely, and never, so far, anything particularly insightful. I've only read TBotNS once, in 2003, and feel it needs several readings before I can start talking about it in an intelligent manner; haven't had time to re-read it with the attention it deserves since then, alas. Will definitely do so after I've finished university, which will be sometime in 2009. Sort of OT, but... if anyone around here is also interested in comics, I'm writing my M.A. thesis about some comics who I feel share some of the depth and strangeness of Wolfe's creation, although they're very different on a philosophical/ideological level. And one of them actually uses the word 'Ascian' for a nomadic people it describes! So, since we've just seem to have passed through another round of recommending authors and books, let me recommend some seriously deep, seriously weird comics: Carla Speed McNeil: Finder Website/samples: http://www.lightspeedpress.com/ A few reviews, because I'm too busy right now to give my own: http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/032_finder/032_finder.htm http://archive.salon.com/books/review/2005/08/05/mcneil/index1.html Possibly my very favourite review (you have to scroll down a bit, to the part titled 'Finding Carla'): http://www.vogelein.com/JanerBlog/2005/10/ Okay, that was actually only the moderately weird comic. Now for the seriously weird: Donna Barr: everything she's done, i.e. The Desert Peach, Stinz, Hader and the Colonel, Bosom Enemies, Afterdead I haven't found any really comprehensive review yet, so I have to do this myself: Donna Barr's been producing comics for decades now, and they're all just *barely* this side of totally insane - and fascinating, in a way that's often disconcerting. In many cases I still don't entirely know what I actually think about them. Which is a definite parallel with Gene Wolfe's work, for me! Donna Barr's world is filled with fictitious gay brothers of famous Wehrmacht generals, people who unexpectedly turn into horses, centaurs who fight in some close analogue of the First World War, rabbits who want to turn human and befriend harpies... not to mention that her latest work, the webcomic Afterdead, unites all these unusual characters in a world that is even more bizarre, namely some sort of far-future/life-after-death version of the Third Reich. All of which sounds as if it's carefully designed to offend just about everyone. And really, it's incredibly hard to recommend these comics without going 'no, no, no, it's *not* like you think!' all the time. Especially if you haven't figured out what you think yourself, yet. They're... *challenging* comics, on a number of levels, which come from a deeply personal, deeply idiosyncratic place. And, really: they're not like you think. I swear. ;-) Donna Barr's website (which includes links to free downloads of her - possibly - least weird comic, The Desert Peach, in the 'store' section): http://www.donnabarr.com/ Hmpf (really a woman, despite the gender-neutral nick *g*) --- ### aaron *16 May 2008, 22:51 · in reply to Allan Anderson* Allan Anderson, email me about some Wolfe in audio format. aaromnsingleton at gmail.com > On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 7:31 PM, Allan Anderson wrote: > My sister and stepmom read a lot of SF. I got my (non-step) mom to read the > first New Sun book, but I think she found it too > creepy and didn't follow up with it. I'll have to suggest the other stuff > to the rest of my family. My wife has read a bunch of > SF, too, but since she has poor eyesight she usually sticks to audio books. > Sadly, I haven't seen any Wolfe in that format. > > My point is, you're not alone! > > On Thu May 15 13:06 , P Konopka sent: >> I've never posted before but felt compelled to do so today. >> I'm a 40 year old mother of three living in Michigan and I've read science >> fiction and fantasy from about the age of 10. >> I've read most of Wolfe's works but since I can't find anyone (male or >> female) else that has, I subscribe to this list. >> I read pretty widely; with 3 kids it's my "escape" if you will. >> I have never read any books that my neighbors or coworkers (i.e. other >> women) have ever heard of, and vice versa. >> Not a lot of female sci-fi / fantasy fans out here in suburbia. >> Have any other women posted? >> Patty >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ --- ### aaron *16 May 2008, 22:52 · in reply to aaron* sorry, Allan, that email was wrong. it is: aaronsingleton at gmail.com > On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 6:51 PM, aaron wrote: > Allan Anderson, email me about some Wolfe in audio format. > aaromnsingleton at gmail.com > > > On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 7:31 PM, Allan Anderson > wrote: >> My sister and stepmom read a lot of SF. I got my (non-step) mom to read >> the first New Sun book, but I think she found it too >> creepy and didn't follow up with it. I'll have to suggest the other stuff >> to the rest of my family. My wife has read a bunch of >> SF, too, but since she has poor eyesight she usually sticks to audio >> books. Sadly, I haven't seen any Wolfe in that format. >> >> My point is, you're not alone! >> >> On Thu May 15 13:06 , P Konopka sent: >>> I've never posted before but felt compelled to do so today. >>> I'm a 40 year old mother of three living in Michigan and I've read >>> science fiction and fantasy from about the age of 10. >>> I've read most of Wolfe's works but since I can't find anyone (male or >>> female) else that has, I subscribe to this list. >>> I read pretty widely; with 3 kids it's my "escape" if you will. >>> I have never read any books that my neighbors or coworkers (i.e. other >>> women) have ever heard of, and vice versa. >>> Not a lot of female sci-fi / fantasy fans out here in suburbia. >>> Have any other women posted? >>> Patty >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ --- ### Dave Tallman *17 May 2008, 10:39 · in reply to Helen Algmin* > Helen Algmin wrote: > My favorite Wolfe books are the Soldier series. And I consider trying tounderstand Peace to be a labor of love (I'm still mulling over your comments, Mr. Tallman!) > > Thanks. I'd love to discuss PEACE again. --- ### Charles Reed *17 May 2008, 19:22 · in reply to Hmpf MacSlow* I haven't read anything by Donna Bar, but I absolutely love Finder by Carla Speed McNeil. My favorite story has to be "Talisman" but all of them -- especially "Dream Sequence" and "The Rescuers" -- are amazing. Finder is easily in my top 5 comics (with the others probably being Fables, Hellboy/BPRD, Sandman, and Bone). Charles > Hmpf MacSlow wrote: > Sort of OT, but... if anyone around here is also interested in comics, > I'm writing my M.A. thesis about some comics who I feel share some of > the depth and strangeness of Wolfe's creation, although they're very > different on a philosophical/ideological level. And one of them > actually uses the word 'Ascian' for a nomadic people it describes! > > So, since we've just seem to have passed through another round of > recommending authors and books, let me recommend some seriously deep, > seriously weird comics: --- ### Andy Robertson *19 May 2008, 07:11 · in reply to Hmpf MacSlow* Try - http://www.moderntales.com/comics/ballad.php http://www.texarcana.com/ http://comics.cyberneticevilstudios.com/ Never been too impressed by Barr - hartshorn --- ### Hmpf MacSlow *19 May 2008, 22:16 · in reply to Andy Robertson* > Try - > http://www.moderntales.com/comics/ballad.php I'm actually writing an article about Ballad - and about Rice Boy - at the moment! So, I second that rec. (Rice Boy: http://riceboy.jho-tan.com/ - also recommended.) > http://www.texarcana.com/ > http://comics.cyberneticevilstudios.com/ Those two I didn't know. *bookmarks* I love that the internet is full of people who want to tell me stories. > Never been too impressed by Barr What's been your 'sample(s)'? Just curious... Her stuff definitely *is* an acquired taste, and not for everybody, but I think that some of it has a slightly more general appeal than, well, other parts of it. I'm reading Hader and the Colonel at the moment, which I'd say is probably one of the more accessible of her books (if you can adjust to the harpy in a German army uniform, that is *g*). Hmpf --- ### Andy Robertson *20 May 2008, 07:04 · in reply to Hmpf MacSlow* Hmpf MacSlow writes: > Try - > http://www.moderntales.com/comics/ballad.php > > I'm actually writing an article about Ballad - and about Rice Boy - at the > moment! So, I second that rec. Coolth >> Never been too impressed by Barr > What's been your 'sample(s)'? Just curious... Her stuff definitely *is* an > acquired taste, and not for everybody, but I think that some of it has a > slightly more general appeal than, well, other parts of it. **De gustibus** I don't like the whole Germans-as-beasts vibe. It may be a comic but there's something ugly behind it. - hartshorn ---