Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Gene Wolfe

This is topic Gene Wolfe in forum Discussing Published Hooks & Books at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Wordcaster (Member # 9183) on :

In all of the discussions of f/sf authors, I am shocked to not see much on Gene Wolfe. The man is absolutely brilliant. The Book of the New Sun has to be one of the most underrated series in all of literature.

I was curious if anyone else had any thoughts about him and why his name escapes a large number of f/sf fans.

Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :

I think I have seen one or two of his books but not that many.

But isn't he known for other genre? Or is that another Wolfe?

Posted by History (Member # 9213) on :

I agree.
The first 4(of 5) novels that compose The Book of the New Sun are masterworks.
His work Peace is also excellent.

Respectfully,
Dr. Bob

Posted by Wordcaster (Member # 9183) on :

I have read a number of his works, but haven't read Peace. I have heard high regard for that novel as well.

Gene Wolfe is definitely a sf/f writer. What triggered this post was when I was relistening to one of the writing excuses podcasts and an editor commented that there was little need to edit his works because he considered GW a genius, and himself not.

Anyway, if he is a foreign author, I recommend jumping right in with Shadow of the Torturer.

Posted by Josephine Kait (Member # 8157) on :

Okay... so this isn't an author I know, but I'm thinking that maybe I want to get to know him. My question is this. If the only the first 4 of 5 are really great, what happened with the 5th?

Posted by Reziac (Member # 9345) on :

I really liked The Shadow of the Torturer (great cover too) but found the rest of that series downright tedious reading. Concept masturbation without end.

I tried a couple other Wolfe books and ... well, more of same. Didn't finish them. Gave up on him for a loooong time.

In frustration at the library's paltry SF/F selection, I recently pulled a newish Wolfe off the shelf -- Pirate Freedom. And damn, this one is good. It actually goes somewhere, it doesn't just navel-gaze.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Freedom

But I wouldn't want to read this sort too often.

Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :

I have seen the name but I also think of it as being from another genre. I think there's an old time detective named Wolf that could be getting us confused.

But either case I've seen few of his books. Next time I go to B&N I may look him up--that might be this weekend since I have a 20 percent off coupon on top of my usual 10 percent. I may have just been missing his books. That happened with Card.

Off hand I can't say that I have read any of his stuff but I haven't always paid that much attention to the writer's name beyond a couple like Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein.

Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :

quote:

In frustration at the library's paltry SF/F selection, I recently pulled a newish Wolfe off the shelf -- Pirate Freedom. And damn, this one is good. It actually goes somewhere, it doesn't just navel-gaze.

Of course a story about Pirates should navel-gaze.

What else are they going to gaze at.

(ducks and heads out of the room)

Posted by Grayson Morris (Member # 9285) on :

Well, there's Tom Wolfe -- are you thinking of him? He wrote fiction and non-fiction (1960s pop-culture journalism).

(The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, ...)

Posted by Wordcaster (Member # 9183) on :

I never read the fifth entry (urth of the new sun). It is a coda to the tetralogy that takes place many years after the events in the four-volume series that almost read as one long, complete novel.

I didn't read it because it was panned, although it did earn hugo and nebula nominations.

Posted by Wordcaster (Member # 9183) on :

Just another note about Wolfe -

His writing is not as approachable as someone like OSC or Robert Jordan or Jim Butcher or Dean Koontz, whose works I can read through at a fast speed with my wife watching tv in the same room.

It is more like Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner, or sometimes Heinlein (I struggled through A Stranger in a Strange Land), where you grab a cup of coffee in solitude and read it at a nice, pleasant pace.

I need to mix my fiction. Despite my love for Wolfe's (Gene, not Tom - although I want to read him too) writing, I need to mix it up with authors who write with broader appeal.

Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :

Checked him out at my local B&N. Found two both part of his wizard Knight series.

The blurb on the back made it sound like a YA adventure somewhat interesting until I got to the part about the land with five different realities- levels or whatever that word was.