Finding the Wolf(e)

Fernando Q. Gouvea · 15 Feb 1997, 09:18 · from whorl-v0003.mbox · original

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From: "Fernando Q. Gouvea" <fqgouvea at colby.edu>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Finding the Wolf(e)
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 09:18:30
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[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

I first found out about Wolfe from Algis Budrys' review of *The Claw of the
Conciliator*. It was such a rave, that I decided I had to find those books
and read them. But since I was living in Brazil, that wasn't easy to do!
While I was looking for a way to get the New Sun books (the SF Book Club
eventually obliged), I found *The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories
and other stories*. I remember I read it when I was home sick for several
days in a row, one enormous rush through all those amazing stories. And I
fell in love. Later, I discovered I owned a copy of *Fifth Head of
Cerberus*, which I had bought much earlier for obscure reasons. I only read
it after I'd read the New Sun books; by then, I knew what Wolfe was about,
and greatly enjoyed it.

I read lots of sf, though these days I always get the feeling that the sf I
like is a minority taste... I read Connie Willis, Howard Waldrop, Kate
Wilhelm, Kim Stanley Robinson, Iain Banks, some others. In some moods, I
like "hard sf" a la Niven or Forward. I read lots of short stories. Beyond
sf, I read Christian theology, history of mathematics, some literary
fiction, a few mysteries, and the occasional strange book that doesn't fit
any categories.

One of the things I like in Wolfe is the multi-level structure of his
work. One can enjoy the ride without plumbing the depths, or one can spend
lots of time exploring, like we do here. I think I've read everything he's
written except for Operation Ares and some of the Cheap Street stuff (which
I can't afford!).

--=20

Fernando Q. Gouvea		=09
Chair, Dept. of Math & CS		Editor, MAA Online
Colby College				http://www.maa.org
fqgouvea at colby.edu			fqgouvea at maa.org
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

Heavy, adj.:
	Seduced by the chocolate side of the force.

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