stories in Best of Gene Wolfe

Here's the list, in order, from the table of contents of my arc: The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories The Toy Theater The Fifth Head of Cerberus Beech Hill The Recording Hour of Trust The Death of Dr. Island La Befana Forlesen Westwind The Hero as Werwolf The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton Straw The Eyeflash Miracles Seven American Nights The Detective of Dreams Kevin Malone The God and His Man On the Train

Death of the Island Doctor Redbeard The Boy Who Hooked the Sun Parkroads- a Review Game in the Pope's Head And When They Appear Bed and Breakfast Petting Zoo The Tree is My Hat Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon A Cabin on the Coast And that's it. Comment, cheer, grouse, or shrug. Don The Evangelists: a Lesser Apocrypha http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=178109961

Thanks for the info Don. I'm not familiar with all the stories in here, but it seems like he's drawing a lot from his earlier stuff - three-fourths of the Wolfe Archipelago, plus "Fifth Head" and the novellas from his first two collections. I don't see anything new in here? "Hour of Trust" — Didn't see that coming. And "And When They Appear" - people tell me that's about the bleakest thing Wolfe ever wrote. I think I read an Amazon review that said that one story made the reader stop enjoying Wolfe. No "A Solar Labyrinth" — I'm rather surprised, as it's significant (I think) and short. Still, Storeys from the Old Hotel is pretty well-represented. I like "The Recording" quite a bit - it reads a bit like Wolfe channeling fellow Illinois writer William Maxwell. Or perhaps Bradbury in a dark mood. Good story either way. I'll buy the book. -Matt

Thank you, Don, for the list of contents. That looks like a good selection, for all that I'd argue for the inclusion of some other stories too. The odd thing reading the list is that while some stories leap instantly to mind, I'd almost forgotten others. I wonder whether the decision to go with mostly early stories was dictated by criteria of quality or publishing commonsense? After all, the anthologies with the older stories are harder to get while the more recent anthologies are still relatively fresh on the shelves. Among other things, an anthology like this is a handy way of reviving the back catalogue. Nigel

I have read all these stories and own all the collections they are in. I'm not sure if Wolfe just didn't have enough uncollected material to do a 'new' collection, or if this was the publisher's idea (most likely). I suppose this will be a good intro for those new to Wolfe, but for those of us who have all the older collections already, I see little incentive for buying this. I wish they had included a couple of stories that are now near impossible to find for us older fans, but... Oh well. Can't have everything you want, huh? On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 10:00 PM, Matthew Keeley <matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com

The purpose of this sort of collection to me is to loan out to friends who are unfamiliar with Wolfe. This way, they can experience the best of Wolfe without getting detracted by some of the more difficult or middling works. Personally, I'm frustrated by a "best of" collection that does not include "Counting Cats in Zanzibar". J

Some strange choices here. Parkroads? On the Train? It's not that these are not good; they just don't seem representative. I think novel excerpts would have been good, such as the alzabo episode.

Yes, but "On the Train" is (sadly) the only Wolfe story accepted by The New Yorker, so he has a soft spot for it. Or he did when he wrote the introduction to Storeys from the Old Hotel. -Matt

I would rather have seen Eyebem and The Changeling than On the Train and Parkroads, but that's just my taste. Don't get me wrong, I can see the appeal of both stories, but just don't feel they are among Wolfe's best. It could be as you say that Wolfe considers On the Train to be good because it appeared in the New Yorker. I also miss A Solar Labyrinth and Silhouette. Oh well. I suppose the stories were not only chosen because they are his best, but because they show Wolfe's range and diversity. -Aaron

???? Mobile — (415) 786-3624 ???? Skype? stuart.hamm myspace.com/stuhamm ? ??? stuarthamm.net --- On Mon, 10/13/08, Stuart Hamm <hammstu at sbcglobal.net> wrote: From: Stuart Hamm <hammstu at sbcglobal.net> Subject: Re: (urth) stories in Best of Gene Wolfe To: kingwukong at yahoo.com Date: Monday, October 13, 2008, 9:46 PM thoughts.. Personally I would include Tracking Song Queen of the Night Blueberry....and it's counterpart but since it includes all of the DD stories and Forlesen I won't bitch too much gonna go re-read Forlesen BTW...what the heck is "Eyeflash.." all about??????? ???? Mobile — (415) 786-3624 ???? Skype? stuart.hamm myspace.com/stuhamm ? ??? stuarthamm.net --- On Fri, 10/10/08, don doggett <kingwukong at yahoo.com> wrote: From: don doggett <kingwukong at yahoo.com> Subject: (urth) stories in Best of Gene Wolfe To: "urth" <urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net> Date: Friday, October 10, 2008, 6:23 PM Here's the list, in order, from the table of contents of my arc: The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories The Toy Theater The Fifth Head of Cerberus Beech Hill The Recording Hour of Trust The Death of Dr. Island La Befana Forlesen Westwind The Hero as Werwolf The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton Straw The Eyeflash Miracles Seven American Nights The Detective of Dreams Kevin Malone The God and His Man On the Train

Death of the Island Doctor Redbeard The Boy Who Hooked the Sun Parkroads- a Review Game in the Pope's Head And When They Appear Bed and Breakfast Petting Zoo The Tree is My Hat Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon A Cabin on the Coast And that's it. Comment, cheer, grouse, or shrug. Don The Evangelists: a Lesser Apocrypha http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=178109961 _______________________________________________

There's a good bit on the wiki about this story: http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Stories.TheEyeflashMiracles In short: Oz. best, Mo # ~ # ~ # WolfeWiki now at: http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/