_Stories_, "Leif in the Wind"

Gwern Branwen · 27 Jul 2010, 04:44 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: gwern0 at gmail.com (Gwern Branwen)
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:44:57 -0400
Subject: (urth) _Stories_, "Leif in the Wind"
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTilIwc4PCXEZr5AOAZVdpCJynH8aeAhEe4mfS6N_ at mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTilIwc4PCXEZr5AOAZVdpCJynH8aeAhEe4mfS6N_ at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimNNcAo9P8-VZ3YP8HZk8KR1zi2DDEGFvMzExas at mail.gmail.com>

On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 4:17 AM, Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I saw a book review of a new anthology of stories, called _Stories_,
> which mentioned it had an entry from Wolfe.
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Stories-All-New-Tales-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0061230928/
>
> Very little coverage so far; the only reviews of Wolfe's story I found
> in Google which were more than a line saying 'I liked/hated it' were
>
> - http://www.bevvincent.com/2010/06/in-the-kitchen-with-a-lead-pipe/
> - http://toruokada.livejournal.com/481127.html
>

A somewhat longer review: http://thisplacehere.livejournal.com/115920.html

     "Wolfe is one of the greats of science fiction, but I found this
story only averagely satisfying; it feels curiously old-fashioned to
me. The tale focuses on the three surviving members of a six-person
crew sent to explore an alien planet. One of the crew, Leif, is
outside the ship as we join the story, and apparently hallucinating.
On his return, Leif claims to have brought birds aboard ship with him;
his crewmates, Ena and Brennan, doubt him ? but soon have reason to
question their assumptions.

     ?Leif in the Wind?  revolves around the question of whether or
not Leif is actually hallucinating; there?s some ambiguity along the
way, but not enough, I don?t think, to sustain the story. And I don?t
really feel the claustrophobic atmosphere for which the tale seems to
be aiming.

     Rating: ***"

----

Also in Google Alerts was a nice review of Wolfe's essay
introducing/defending Tolkien, ?The Best Introduction to the
Mountains?:

http://www.blackgate.com/2010/07/22/wolfe%E2%80%99s-lost-road-discovering-an-author%E2%80%99s-personal-essay-on-jrr-tolkien/

-- 
gwern

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