Best of Gene Wolfe and another thing

Sometimes, probably most times, God, or fate, or whomever or whatever, throws an unworthy dog(gett) a bone. I was perusing a box of ARCs at work today and what did I pull up from the churning depths of the Wordage Sea but an advance copy of The Best of Gene Wolfe. There are thirty-one stories total, and I'm willing to list them if there is interest and if none of the members with more editorial savy than I have find it objectionable. On An Evil Guest related note, I've just finished The Shark God, by Charles Montgomery, about his experiences in Melanesia, which is the obvious analog for the islands of the Takanga Group. I have no idea if Wolfe has read this book but it is a fascinating travel memoir, and at the end, sublimely moving. I can't recommend it enough. Don The Evangelists: a Lesser Apocrypha http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=178109961

Don writes:

Beg to differ, Takanga sounded a lot more like Tonga than it does like anyplace else. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonga In any case it is obviously a Polynesian and not a Melanesian country: Polynesians are the brown giants, Melanesians are smaller and look like Africans, more or less. On an aside, Nan Madol (http://www.pohnpeiheaven.com/nanmadol.htm) seems to have been Lovecraft's model for lost R'lyeh. .

Don Doggett wrote about "The Best of Gene Wolfe"...

I don't know what the terms are under which advance copies of books are distributed, but the prime concern of most publishers is generating interest and publicity for their books. Advance copies are geberally sent out so that they can be reviewed, so in that spirit I can't see there being any objection to your giving us a list of the stories contained in this volume. I'm certainly interested, and I'm sure others are too. Indeed, collectively, I would have thought that we constituted a prime market for this book! So... Which stories have they chosen to include, Don? Nigel

Yep, I agree - Tonga is the closest real place; Polynesian, it's a monarchy & the people are big! Wherever, it's almost certainly a Commonwealth country, judging by King Woossisname, so it should be "New Zealand High Commission", not "Consulate". Not that it matters.