Subject: (urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels

From: Matthew Keeley <matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:41:11 +0000

I just realized that I've now read all but three of Wolfe's
currently-available novels. Though I have a few short story
collections still to read, I'm not sure what Wolfe I should read once
I finish with those (Yes, of course, I could always re-read). Which of
Wolfe's out-of-print books are most worth tracking down? How would you
rank the books in terms of quality? (My best guess is below)

The Devil in a Forest (best?)
Castleview
Free Live Free
Pandora by Holly Hollander
Operation Ares (worst?)

Thanks for the help.

-Matt

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From: Mo Holkar / UKG <lists at ukg.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:52:30 +0000

>Pandora by Holly Hollander

I haven't read Operation ARES, but for the others I would personally rank them:

Free Live Free (best)
Castleview
The Devil in a Forest

in terms of their depth, thought-provokingness, delving into Wolfean 
themes, etc.

All are well worth reading though!

best,

Mo

# ~ # ~ #

WolfeWiki now at:
http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/

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From: Tim Walters <walters at doubtfulpalace.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:54:31 +0000

Matthew Keeley wrote:
> How would you

I would swap Castleview and Free Live Free, but other than that you've 
captured my opinion exactly.

-- 

Tim Walters | The Doubtful Palace | http://doubtfulpalace.com

---

From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:05:14 +0000

On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 8:41 AM, Matthew Keeley

> Pandora by Holly Hollander

I didn't realize that these were all out of print! I knew "Ares" was, and
Wolfe has more or
less vowed that it will never be reprinted. Too bad, because it's actually
better (imho) than
one of the others...

Free Live Free (best)
Castleview
The Devil in a Forest
Operation Areas
Pandora, by Holly Hollander

-- the last being the only Wolfe novel I don't think I'll ever reread.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
http://www.danehyoakes.com

I once absend-mindedly ordered Three Mile Island dressing in a restaurant
and, with great presence of mind, they brought Thousand Island Dressing and
a bottle of chili sauce. -- T. Pratchett
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From: don doggett <kingwukong at yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:26:53 +0000

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. 

Don

The Evangelists: a Lesser Apocrypha                                                                        http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=178109961

--- On Fri, 10/10/08, Mo Holkar / UKG <lists at ukg.co.uk> wrote:
From: Mo Holkar / UKG <lists at ukg.co.uk>
Subject: Re: (urth) Wolfe's Out-of-Print Novels
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Date: Friday, October 10, 2008, 8:52 AM

>Pandora by Holly Hollander

I haven't read Operation ARES, but for the others I would personally rank
them:

Free Live Free (best)
Castleview
The Devil in a Forest

best,

Mo

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WolfeWiki now at:

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From: Matthew Keeley <matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:05:45 +0000

On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:26 PM, don doggett <kingwukong at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
> Don

That does look interesting, based off your take on it and the Amazon
description.

This list just exacerbates my book-buying habits, but I love it
anyway. Thanks for the implicit recommendation.

Is there a section on the WolfeWiki suggesting other books Wolfe fans
might like? I know there was quite a long thread on that subject here
recently, and I'd be especially curious to see what non-sf writers get
recommended. I just finished Muriel Spark's The Ballad of Peckham Rye,
and it struck me as something some Wolfe fans would really like. I
certainly thought it was great.

-Matt

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From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:57:50 +0000

I enjoyed all the novels on the out-of-print list - even "Operation Ares",
which Wolfe himself doesn't seem to rate. All right, it's not a masterpiece,
but there are early appearances of several distinctive Lupine themes (from
memory - alien animals naturalised on Earth as in TBotNs and rebellion as in
TBotLS) and a deep strangeness that I very much enjoyed.

"Pandora by Holly Hollander" is a fine piece of work, a pastiche and
inversion of the Nancy Drew novels with an assured use of a young female
narrative voice that is relatively unusual (unique?) in the Lupine canon.

"The Devil in a Forest" is also excellent, a well-written and accomplished
account of adolescent discovery that hovers on the boundaries of historical
fiction and fantasy.

"Free Live Free" and "Castleview" seem uneven to me, the former having its
longueurs while the latter seems overly rushed and compressed. They're both
very definitely worth reading, though "Free" might have been better shorter
and "Castleview" longer.

The completist in me says you really ought to try and read them all!

Nigel

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From: James Crossley <ishmael at drizzle.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:59:06 +0000

Not for nothing, I agree with you about the Unsworth book.  A great example
of a short novel that’s not a bit longer than it needs to be.

James

On 10/10/08 6:26 PM, "don doggett" <kingwukong at yahoo.com> wrote:

> The Evangelists: a Lesser Apocrypha
> http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=1781
> 09961
> 

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From: Mo Holkar / UKG <lists at ukg.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:56:13 +0000

>certainly thought it was great.

There isn't at the moment, but please do add one -- that would be great.

(Also, I'd like to third the recommendation of Morality Play -- 
there's a film of it too, called The Reckoning:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258816/
which bears about the same relation as the The Name of the Rose film 
to its book, ie. it gives the story and the rough idea but is rather lacking.)

best,

Mo

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WolfeWiki now at: