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Index · 2 messages · 1 voice · 08 Jul – 27 Jul 2010

_Stories_, "Leif in the Wind"

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Gwern Branwen08 Jul 2010, 08:17as archived
_Stories_, "Leif in the Wind"
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
gwern
Gwern Branwen27 Jul 2010, 04:44as archived
↳ in reply to Gwern Branwen
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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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