More Wolfe Blurbs

pthwndxrclzp · 16 May 2005, 15:11 · from 2005-May.txt.gz

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From: aquastor at gmail.com (pthwndxrclzp)
Date: Mon May 16 15:11:18 2005
Subject: (urth) More Wolfe Blurbs
In-Reply-To: <03fd01c55a5a$173bd200$8fe9b8a1@yourg4lzvxou0c>
References: <03fd01c55a5a$173bd200$8fe9b8a1@yourg4lzvxou0c>
Message-ID: <2124d6b1050516151154f5d28d at mail.gmail.com>

George Turner is an Australian SF author; his stuff is more
interpersonal than intergalactic but very good. Drowning Towers may be
the book with the Wolfe blurb, but I think Brain Child is his best
work.

David Zindell hit mainstream SF with a smash with 1988's Neverness.
It's a terrific book, overflowing with wonderful ideas, settings and
situations. IIRC, Zindell had won a couple of awards for a short story
entitled "Shanidar," and Neverness is an expansion of that story's
world.

Neverness presents the coming of age story of one Mallory Ringess, a
pilot in the ancient order of Mathematicians in the fabled city of
Neverness on a barren ice planet who seeks to unravel a mystery from
the dawn of time, the disappearance of the long-vanished Ieldra, the
galaxy's first sentient race.  At the same time, Ringess must find a
way to stave off a wave of destruction that threatens to obliterate
all that mankind has achieved.  Filled with colorful aliens and
mind-numbing meta-technologies, it is a masterful and satisfying
exploration of man's ultimate evolution.  Broken God is the first
sequel, and unfortunately it is a bit of a disappointment.  It picks
up where Neverness leaves off and poses many more questions than it
ever answers.  It has that "middle of the series" feel, and one is
left hoping that Zindell will tie up the myriad loose ends in a
subsequent book.  Unfortunately, The Wild is not that book -- it
continues the quest tale of Danlo Ringess, Mallory's son, but still
leaves us unsatisfyingly in the middle of things.  1998's The War in
Heaven concluded the series but left much to be desired; all three
sequels are very much in the shadow of the first book, Neverness.

On 5/16/05, John Barach <jbarach at telus.net> wrote:
>  
> Urthers -- 
>   
> A while back, I asked about books Wolfe recommended or books for which he
> had written blurbs. 
>   
> I've seen his blurbs on 
>   
> * Orson Scott Card (whom Wolfe calls "Oar Scottson Curd"), _Ender's Game_ 
> * Avram Davidson, _Treasury_ 
> * Sharon Baker, _Journey to Memblar_ 
>   
> and someone mentioned that he has a blurb on  
>   
> * Jennifer Stevenson, Trash Sex Magic 
>   
> I've also discovered that this site gives a list of several (though it's far
> from complete).  I can't say I'm familiar with any of the authors: 
>   
> * Robert Nathan, Portrait of Jennie (1940) 
> * George Turner, Drowning Towers (1987) 
> * Robert Aickman, The Model (1987) 
> * David Zindell, Neverness (1988) 
> * Paul Park, Coelestis (1993) 
> * Terry McGarry, Illumination (2001) 
>   
> Anyone read these? 
>   
> John 
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