The Best of Gene Wolfe

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By Gene Wolfe

Publisher Description

From a literary perspective, this will certainly be the best collection of the year in science fiction and fantasy. Gene Wolfe, of whom The Washington Post said, "Of all SF writers currently active none is held in higher esteem," has selected the short fiction he considers his finest into one volume.

There are many award winners and many that have been selected for various Year's Best anthologies. Gene Wolfe has produced possibly the finest and most significant body of short fiction in the SF and fantasy field in the last fifty years, and is certainly among the greatest living writers to emerge from the genres. This is the first retrospective collection of his entire career.

It is for the ages.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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10 Reviews

4.0

Sean Brock

Created 14 days ago

Julian Jenkinson

Created almost 4 years ago

Ian Lewis

Created over 5 years ago

“As with most collections of short stories, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Wolfe can be very opaque and frustrating sometimes, unless you're willing to dig deep into his literary allusions. The stories that worked best are those that worked on a surface level, and then were deepened by multiple readings/research. There were a few that did not work at all, unless you were deeply familiar with his sources. The best stories seemed to always have a focus on the fallen nature of humanity and were more concerned with freedom, lives, and trials/tribulations of everyday people. Many also had a starkly Christian tone as well. As an aside "Between Light and Shadow" by Marc Aramini is a very useful tool for digging in deeper into Gene Wolfe. Anyway: 5 star stories (the usual suspects. These seem to work at all levels and deepen with more reading.): The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, The Death of Doctor Island, Death of an Island Doctor. 4 star stories : Hour of Trust, La Befana (interesting interpretation on a religious folktalke), Westwind (a nice manifestation of what prayer is for many people), The Marvelous Chessplaying Automaton, Kevin Malone (nice ghost story), From the Desk of Gilmore C. Merton, Redbeard, Bed and Breakfast (maybe 3.5?), Petting Zoo (especially if you have a fondness for Calvin and Hobbes), Straw (although I didn't see why there needed to be an SF element, I enjoyed it quite a bit), The Detective of Dreams (ending is a bit heavy handed. Read up on your parables.) 3 star Stories: The Recording, The God and His Man, The Boy Who Hooked The Sun, And When They Appear (this is an incredibly bleak story), The Tree is My Hat (very good, until the ending), Has Anybody Seen Judy Moon? 2 star or less stories: The Toy Theater, Beech Hill (seemed pointless), The Eyeflash Miracles (will make little or no sense unless you're intimately familiar with the Wizard of Oz books. Then you might enjoy it), On The Train, Parkroads - A Review, Game in the Pope's Head (maybe if I had familiarity with mass murderers, it may have made sense) Ones I have yet to make sense of: The Hero as Werwolf: Exciting story, well written, I very much enjoyed reading it. Not sure if my sympathies should lie with any character, or how to make sense of it as a whole. It seems like there should be something there, though. Seven American Nights: I need to re-read it. I enjoyed it, and thought the ending was Lovecraftian. Then I read some theories about this story. They all seemed to read a whole lot into the text that didn't seem to be there, inventing new plots seemingly whole clothe. As I said, I'll have to re-read to see if that is necessary. If so, it seems like a failing on the story's part. A Cabin On the Coast - I greatly enjoy reading this story, but it doesn't completely hold together for me. Makes it very difficult giving it a rating.”

Mark Gerrits

Created almost 6 years ago

Adam

Created almost 8 years ago

About Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe (1931-2019) was the Nebula Award-winning author of The Book of the New Sun tetralogy in the Solar Cycle, as well as the World Fantasy Award winners The Shadow of the Torturer and Soldier of Sidon. He was also a prolific writer of distinguished short fiction, which has been collected in such award-winning volumes as Storeys from the Old Hotel and The Best of Gene Wolfe.

A recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award, and six Locus Awards, among many other honors, Wolfe was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2007, and named Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2012.

Other books by Gene Wolfe

Again, Dangerous Visions

Harlan Ellison & Ursula K. Le Guin &

$9.99

The Wolfe at the Door

The Best of Gene Wolfe

Publisher Description

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10 Reviews

About Gene Wolfe

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