{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/5174", "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": 5174, "subject": "Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "messages": 9, "voices": 7, "first": "2008-10-10T15:41:11+00:00", "last": "2008-10-13T10:56:13+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "<44fb53d10810100841i61a74162k41bb523e4a5de2e3@mail.gmail.com>", "from": { "name": "Matthew Keeley", "address": "matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com" }, "date": "2008-10-10T15:41:11+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I just realized that I've now read all but three of Wolfe's\ncurrently-available novels. Though I have a few short story\ncollections still to read, I'm not sure what Wolfe I should read once\nI finish with those (Yes, of course, I could always re-read). Which of\nWolfe's out-of-print books are most worth tracking down? How would you\nrank the books in terms of quality? (My best guess is below)\n\n\nThe Devil in a Forest (best?)\nCastleview\nFree Live Free\nPandora by Holly Hollander\nOperation Ares (worst?)\n\nThanks for the help.\n\n-Matt" } ] }, { "message_id": "<20081010155221.C134A48043@diego.dreamhost.com>", "from": { "name": "Mo Holkar / UKG", "address": "lists at ukg.co.uk" }, "date": "2008-10-10T15:52:30+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "in_reply_to": "<44fb53d10810100841i61a74162k41bb523e4a5de2e3@mail.gmail.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At 16:41 10/10/2008, you wrote:\nThe Devil in a Forest (best?)\nCastleview\nFree Live Free\nPandora by Holly Hollander\nOperation Ares (worst?)" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I haven't read Operation ARES, but for the others I would personally rank them:\n\nFree Live Free (best)\nCastleview\nThe Devil in a Forest\nPandora by Holly Hollander\n\nin terms of their depth, thought-provokingness, delving into Wolfean \nthemes, etc.\n\nAll are well worth reading though!\n\nbest,\n\nMo\n\n\n# ~ # ~ #\n\nWolfeWiki now at:\nhttp://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/ " } ] }, { "message_id": "<48EF7AB7.9040908@doubtfulpalace.com>", "from": { "name": "Tim Walters", "address": "walters at doubtfulpalace.com" }, "date": "2008-10-10T15:54:31+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "in_reply_to": "<44fb53d10810100841i61a74162k41bb523e4a5de2e3@mail.gmail.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Matthew Keeley wrote:\nHow would you\nrank the books in terms of quality? (My best guess is below)\n\nThe Devil in a Forest (best?)\nCastleview\nFree Live Free\nPandora by Holly Hollander\nOperation Ares (worst?)" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I would swap Castleview and Free Live Free, but other than that you've \ncaptured my opinion exactly." }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "Tim Walters | The Doubtful Palace | http://doubtfulpalace.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "<1f7617370810100905m7243a453w4e494c4b94ffdf5c@mail.gmail.com>", "from": { "name": "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes", "address": "danldo at gmail.com" }, "date": "2008-10-10T16:05:14+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "in_reply_to": "<44fb53d10810100841i61a74162k41bb523e4a5de2e3@mail.gmail.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 8:41 AM, Matthew Keeley\nwrote:\nThe Devil in a Forest (best?)\nCastleview\nFree Live Free\nPandora by Holly Hollander\nOperation Ares (worst?)" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I didn't realize that these were all out of print! I knew \"Ares\" was, and\nWolfe has more or\nless vowed that it will never be reprinted. Too bad, because it's actually\nbetter (imho) than\none of the others...\n\nFree Live Free (best)\nCastleview\nThe Devil in a Forest\nOperation Areas\nPandora, by Holly Hollander\n\n-- the last being the only Wolfe novel I don't think I'll ever reread." }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant\n-----\nhttp://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer\nhttp://www.danehyoakes.com\n\nI once absend-mindedly ordered Three Mile Island dressing in a restaurant\nand, with great presence of mind, they brought Thousand Island Dressing and\na bottle of chili sauce. -- T. Pratchett" } ] }, { "message_id": "<67226.36658.qm@web32407.mail.mud.yahoo.com>", "from": { "name": "don doggett", "address": "kingwukong at yahoo.com" }, "date": "2008-10-11T01:26:53+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "in_reply_to": "<20081010155221.C134A48043@diego.dreamhost.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Devil in a Forest was a bit disappointing to me, mainly because I couldn't help comparing it to Barry Unsworth's Morality Play, which is incredible. \n\nDon\n\nThe Evangelists: a Lesser Apocrypha http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=178109961\n\n--- On Fri, 10/10/08, Mo Holkar / UKG wrote:\nFrom: Mo Holkar / UKG \nSubject: Re: (urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels\nTo: \"The Urth Mailing List\" \nDate: Friday, October 10, 2008, 8:52 AM" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At 16:41 10/10/2008, you wrote:\nThe Devil in a Forest (best?)\nCastleview\nFree Live Free\nPandora by Holly Hollander\nOperation Ares (worst?)" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I haven't read Operation ARES, but for the others I would personally rank\nthem:\n\nFree Live Free (best)\nCastleview\nThe Devil in a Forest\nPandora by Holly Hollander\n\nin terms of their depth, thought-provokingness, delving into Wolfean \nthemes, etc.\n\nAll are well worth reading though!\n\nbest,\n\nMo\n\n\n# ~ # ~ #\n\nWolfeWiki now at:\nhttp://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/ " } ] }, { "message_id": "<44fb53d10810101905u403d394eh81acbb02d62e4d46@mail.gmail.com>", "from": { "name": "Matthew Keeley", "address": "matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com" }, "date": "2008-10-11T02:05:45+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "in_reply_to": "<67226.36658.qm@web32407.mail.mud.yahoo.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:26 PM, don doggett wrote:\nDevil in a Forest was a bit disappointing to me, mainly because I couldn't\nhelp comparing it to Barry Unsworth's Morality Play, which is incredible.\n\nDon" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "That does look interesting, based off your take on it and the Amazon\ndescription.\n\nThis list just exacerbates my book-buying habits, but I love it\nanyway. Thanks for the implicit recommendation.\n\nIs there a section on the WolfeWiki suggesting other books Wolfe fans\nmight like? I know there was quite a long thread on that subject here\nrecently, and I'd be especially curious to see what non-sf writers get\nrecommended. I just finished Muriel Spark's The Ballad of Peckham Rye,\nand it struck me as something some Wolfe fans would really like. I\ncertainly thought it was great.\n\n-Matt" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Nigel Price", "address": "nigelaprice at talktalk.net" }, "date": "2008-10-11T10:57:50+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "in_reply_to": "<44fb53d10810101905u403d394eh81acbb02d62e4d46@mail.gmail.com>", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I enjoyed all the novels on the out-of-print list - even \"Operation Ares\",\nwhich Wolfe himself doesn't seem to rate. All right, it's not a masterpiece,\nbut there are early appearances of several distinctive Lupine themes (from\nmemory - alien animals naturalised on Earth as in TBotNs and rebellion as in\nTBotLS) and a deep strangeness that I very much enjoyed.\n\n\"Pandora by Holly Hollander\" is a fine piece of work, a pastiche and\ninversion of the Nancy Drew novels with an assured use of a young female\nnarrative voice that is relatively unusual (unique?) in the Lupine canon.\n\n\"The Devil in a Forest\" is also excellent, a well-written and accomplished\naccount of adolescent discovery that hovers on the boundaries of historical\nfiction and fantasy.\n\n\"Free Live Free\" and \"Castleview\" seem uneven to me, the former having its\nlongueurs while the latter seems overly rushed and compressed. They're both\nvery definitely worth reading, though \"Free\" might have been better shorter\nand \"Castleview\" longer.\n\nThe completist in me says you really ought to try and read them all!\n\nNigel" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "James Crossley", "address": "ishmael at drizzle.com" }, "date": "2008-10-11T17:59:06+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "in_reply_to": "<67226.36658.qm@web32407.mail.mud.yahoo.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Not for nothing, I agree with you about the Unsworth book. A great example\nof a short novel that’s not a bit longer than it needs to be.\n\nJames" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 10/10/08 6:26 PM, \"don doggett\" wrote:\nDevil in a Forest was a bit disappointing to me, mainly because I couldn't\nhelp comparing it to Barry Unsworth's Morality Play, which is incredible.\n\nDon\n\nThe Evangelists: a Lesser Apocrypha\nhttp://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=1781\n09961" } ] }, { "message_id": "<20081013105605.71F5610005@diego.dreamhost.com>", "from": { "name": "Mo Holkar / UKG", "address": "lists at ukg.co.uk" }, "date": "2008-10-13T10:56:13+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels", "in_reply_to": "<44fb53d10810101905u403d394eh81acbb02d62e4d46@mail.gmail.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At 03:05 11/10/2008, you wrote:\nOn Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:26 PM, don doggett wrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "Devil in a Forest was a bit disappointing to me, mainly because I couldn't\nhelp comparing it to Barry Unsworth's Morality Play, which is incredible.\n\nDon" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "That does look interesting, based off your take on it and the Amazon\ndescription.\n\nThis list just exacerbates my book-buying habits, but I love it\nanyway. Thanks for the implicit recommendation.\n\nIs there a section on the WolfeWiki suggesting other books Wolfe fans\nmight like? I know there was quite a long thread on that subject here\nrecently, and I'd be especially curious to see what non-sf writers get\nrecommended. I just finished Muriel Spark's The Ballad of Peckham Rye,\nand it struck me as something some Wolfe fans would really like. I\ncertainly thought it was great." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "There isn't at the moment, but please do add one -- that would be great.\n\n(Also, I'd like to third the recommendation of Morality Play -- \nthere's a film of it too, called The Reckoning:\nhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258816/\nwhich bears about the same relation as the The Name of the Rose film \nto its book, ie. it gives the story and the rough idea but is rather lacking.)\n\nbest,\n\nMo\n\n\n# ~ # ~ #\n\nWolfeWiki now at:\nhttp://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/ " } ] } ] }