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Amethyst posted:Reading a thousand pages of boring stuff so you can read some good stuff after it is a fool’s errand. There are plenty of great books that don’t require you to slog through rubbish. what's any of this have to do with Gene Wolfe
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Apr 3, 2019 17:11
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 15:00 |
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naw Long Sun is a wonderful and subtle story that's a bit slow at times
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Apr 4, 2019 15:10
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the greatest. rest in peace, there will never be a writer quite like you.
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Apr 15, 2019 18:45
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Peace is great. I love the whole sequence with the Chinese egg. Like what the gently caress man.
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Apr 23, 2019 14:44
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Folio Society did New Sun https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/the-book-of-the-new-sun.html Illustrations and covers are interesting, kinda emphasize what a weird book it is so I like. Yours for the low price of $595. I ordered it after much vacillating.
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May 22, 2019 22:02
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CountFosco posted:I feel like paying hundreds of dollars for a Gene Wolfe book is kind of not in the spirit of Gene Wolfe. he was involved in the project, approved all the artwork, signed 750 plates for it, and was certainly aware that they wouldn't be cheap so I gotta disagree
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May 25, 2019 15:49
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Yeah and I think Ultan's library in New Sun and the rare bookseller in Peace suggest that Wolfe appreciated the idea of physical books as art unto themselves, which often comes with limited availability and a high price tag. You can love libraries and lovely second-hand paperbacks and still value fancy books too. Woulda been interesting to know what he thought about ebooks, if anything.
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May 25, 2019 23:40
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less laughter posted:Read A Borrowed Man to find out. Will do. Probably gonna save that one as the last of his novels I'll read (until the sequel is published?) I've only read Soldier in the Mist but quite enjoyed it even though I was confused a lot. It's a good story and Latro is a wonderful character. Seemingly takes a substantial knowledge of Greek mythology and Herodotus to really "get" what's going on, but that didn't stop someone with a "read Histories once" familiarity like myself from liking it. The prose is very...casual? and in that way it's a good marker of the transition Wolfe's style took after New Sun.
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May 28, 2019 05:44
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the answer to that is "read Short Sun"
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Jun 1, 2019 02:16
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The Best of Gene Wolfe is indeed pretty good. Covers his whole career and includes many of his strongest - Fifth Head of Cerberus, Seven American Nights, Eyeflash Miracles, and many more.
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Aug 22, 2019 07:36
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Neurosis posted:There are a couple it misses. Silhouette and the HORARS of War are both very worthy tales (the latter anticipated Blade Runner much more concisely). But yes it has no dross so is a good place to start Tracking Song too. that one's great. I get that the collection needed to cover his late late stuff but some of his older are way better than "The Tree is My Hat" and some others I can't remember. Alzabo Soup's actual Gene Wolfe analysis is pretty good, they're sharp readers who often have interesting things to say. but yeah could do without the intros and attempts at humor.
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Aug 22, 2019 16:27
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not to be a downer but I don't think you're going to have much luck right now finding a set, unless it's absurdly priced. it came out so recently that I doubt many people will be trying to get rid of it. there do appear to be some on Ebay if you're willing to pay $1500+. your best bet is probably to set up alerts on Ebay, Thriftbooks, and Abebooks and hope you get very lucky. I've had some success finding rare/out of print fantasy stuff at local used bookstores too...nothing on the scale of the Folio New Sun, but you never know. go to bookstores a lot and if you're ever travelling go to bookstores there! particularly good for used sff is Chamblin's Bookmine in Florida, they had lots of Wolfe last time I was there (I got the 70s Ace paperback of Devil in a Forest).
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Sep 17, 2019 15:19
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I really like The Devil in a Forest too. I like how there is a typical Wolfe "hidden" plot going on with the woodcutters and their pagan ceremony thing but it's not heavily obfuscated and ambiguous like much of his other stories, and by the end you probably will have gotten the gist of it. Same with the double identities i.e. Wat's role as the Forester - it's hinted well and makes perfect sense in the story. There is maybe too much of the characters going "well here's why so and so could/couldn't happen" but that's a minor complaint. Mark is a good narrator. I guess this along with Pandora by Holly Holander could be considered Wolfe's YA books. Pandora is good too.
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Oct 22, 2019 23:05
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In Short Sun Merryn straight up says "he's my brother" re: Severian and I take that line as Wolfe saying "here you go. here is an answer to a puzzle!"
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Nov 4, 2019 19:49
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Horn's a loving dickhead yeah I'm rereading Long Sun for the first time rn and every time I see Horn I'm like gently caress you buddy you grow up to be an rear end in a top hat
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Nov 13, 2019 23:52
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IGJ is definitely the best part of Short Sun and yeah when they start travelling to Urth it gets real good. This Long Sun reread has got me thinking that (gasp) Long Sun is better than New Sun. At the very least it doesn't get anywhere near the attention it deserves. Silk is just a really great character. This opinion may change once I get to the second half which iirc is kinda bloated and a lot of nothing happens in a lot of pages. But Nightside and Lake are really really good.
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Nov 27, 2019 00:51
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Check out John Crowley if you haven't, Engine Summer is a good place to start for Wolfe fans
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Dec 21, 2019 01:14
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read Starwater Strains and it's a mixed bag. has some excellent stories like "Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?" and "Pulp Cover" and then "Viewpoint" which is the worst thing I've ever read by Wolfe. overall it's a good collection and I'll definitely come back to some of the stories later. "Golden City Far" reads kinda like a proto-Wizard Knight which is neat.
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Feb 10, 2020 23:35
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Long Sun benefits extremely from a reread, the parts that seem tedious (tunnels, Xiphias, talos factory and the like) are actually not that long and are way better when you read them as character-focused sequences and not plot-focused. actually that's true of the whole book. golly I love Silk, Nightside is a perfect book. Short Sun is his opus and maybe the best work of speculative fiction yet written tho yeah
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Feb 19, 2020 07:17
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there's this series of posts which are definitely some combination of the writer seeing what they want to and *something* textual being there https://paintedblindpublishing.com/2018/03/09/botns-1/ I read the first two before my eyes completely glazed over. I'm reading my Folio society edition of New Sun for the first time currently (at the part in Sword where Severian gets to the lake castle now) and its a very nice experience. the illustrations are nothing at all like I imagined any of it but they're a cool interpretation. really need to re-read Peace, maybe I'll do that next.
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May 7, 2020 02:22
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I've read An Evil Guest once and have a certain love for it, but that's because I read the whole thing on a red eye flight where sleep eluded me and that book was the only thing I had for entertainment. if you asked me what it is about I would say, no clue at all, the only thing I picked up was that Cassie was glamored by Gideon Chase to her benefit and then downfall, much like Jolenta and Dr Talos. Aramini says Gideon Chase is actually Great Cthulhu and yeah sure why not
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May 7, 2020 05:18
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Joan Gordon said something like Wolfe was definitely a "traditionalist" when it came to gender roles, and that Rosemary was too, his views would be considered quaint and sexist by modern standards but I've never perceived him as a blatant misogynist or creep like some sci fi authors. when Wolfe did write women protagonists they are pretty good, shoutout to Holly and Cassie.
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May 20, 2020 00:10
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The Liana thing came from Aramini iirc, it makes a lot of sense when the narrator starts astral projecting independent of any inhumi I for one kinda buy the whole Aramini theory about the one planet being the other planet, it offers thematic closure to the whole series that nothing else does
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May 22, 2020 18:01
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Neurosis posted:I didn't buy it at first but the thematic resonances and symbolism piled up until I've started thinking it's probably correct. Yeah I think that's the only interpretation that makes sense, there's too much discrepancy with Severian's age, Triskele, and Merryn being there and I don't think Wolfe would have made that mistake - very convenient to have an explanation of universal cycles that repeat with differences sometimes minor and sometimes major. There also seems to be some suggestion that the universe of New Sun is one where Christ the savior was never sent by God, whereas in Long Sun there's an explicit reference to Allah which implies it's maybe closer to our own, if not the same. But that then opens how Green could be Urth, if Urth wasn't submerged into Ushas in the Long Sun cycle... who knows! anyhow here's some Wolfe ephemera I got my hands on, the handout from his funeral   I love that particular quote because it's about a third of the way through Citadel so it's like, of course I like stories Severian, I've been reading this one for like a thousand pages you dummy, why would be this far into it if I don't like stories? Which! lends credence to the idea that the purpose of Severian writing the book is some kind of political tract or apologia or even that Severian intends it to be required reading in the Commonwealth despite his stated intention to stash it in Ultan's library, like why else would he expect anyone would read it and not pay attention?
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May 26, 2020 19:59
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Definitely reread, theres callbacks to all sorts of stuff that you'll want to have fresh. Urth is a very weird book! been listening to the ReReading Wolfe podcast episodes on the first Severian and oooh boy its a big recontextualization that explains a whole lot. just like Wolfe to put whats going on behind the scenes in plain sight at the very end of the book!
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Jun 24, 2020 02:45
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I struggled with Long Sun the first time around like most folks (well not Nightside, Nightside is a wonderful self-contained masterwork) but found it absolutely thrilling the whole way through the second time. Even the tunnels and the Talos factory and all.
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Aug 27, 2020 15:35
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Appoda posted:I've already restarted twice I think you should definitely jump right in Urth, it's very disorienting and bwuuhhh to do so, which is the correct way to read it
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Nov 11, 2020 23:07
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. My third reading will be vicariously through this thread, assuming I don't immediately do Urth right after.
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felicibusbrevis posted:Alzabo soup are morons hell yeah I'm glad we get to see Aramini unchained here on something awful you ARE aramini right GWLP is great but their ultimate takeaway that "there are no aliens in Fifth Head" is just weird and totally misses the point and text and I was quite disappointed. its cowardly even. poo poo like the tree reaching out and the doubled eyes makes zero sense in that interpretation
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Dec 15, 2020 07:29
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felicibusbrevis posted:Might as well continue the Aggro streak. Man of all the things I see bandied around, Gaiman’s how to read Wolfe essay gets brought up way too much. Wolves in the books wooooooooooo. Limited utility and even more limited cleverness. for someone who loves Wolfe and even collaborated with him I get the sense that Gaiman really does not understand the way Wolfe wrote at all this may be my general anti-Gaiman bias speaking tho
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Dec 19, 2020 04:26
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CommonShore posted:So what something you would point out to someone who had just finished reading Urth of the New Sun? read the part again about how he thinks he sees his own face in the crowd at the inn when zombie guy is busting in with an axe some version of Severian travels through time/different iterations of the universe observing his own life!
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Jan 10, 2021 07:19
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Folio Society put out a non-limited New Sun if you missed the limited one and want a nice set. It is split into two volumes instead of four and of course not signed but also $200 instead of $600 (and now impossible to buy), same illustrations and everything.
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Feb 24, 2021 19:44
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felicibusbrevis posted:If you email him he will send it to you. His email is just his name marcaramini at gmail. thanks for this I always hate hitting an expired pastebin link
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Jan 24, 2022 21:06
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Milo and POTUS posted:Well, just finished botns. drat good books and certainly the best written sci-fi I've read, if not necessarily the easiest to digest. I'll be thinking about it for a while. What was the emerald bench mentioned in the closing chapters? Not much of a spoiler I don't think. Was in quotation marks too but I don't know the significance of that other than suggesting it likely a metaphor I think it's just a cute nod to Jack Vance who would write stuff like that a lot. But Wolfe being Wolfe maybe its actually the key that unlocks the book.
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Jan 31, 2022 17:57
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Tokelau All Star posted:I liked Short Sun but I was extremely put off by the stuff with Seawrack. I almost gave up. yeah that poo poo sucks. there's some other lechery in the books about the girls that's pretty uncomfortable. tarnish on an otherwise flawless trilogy.
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Feb 2, 2022 01:11
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Lex Talionis posted:Speaking of problematic female love interests, does anyone have a theory as to what is going on with Hyacinth in Book of the Long Sun? Specifically Silk's undying-love-at-first-sight thing. Horn of all people says he finds it inexplicable, which suggests Wolfe is doing it "on purpose". My best guess used to be that it was supposed to be some sort of "Christ's love for the Church" analogy, but with Alzabo Soup moving slowly through Long Sun, they made it seem like Silk fell instantly in love with her while she was possessed by Kypris. That's a bit more understandable since she's the goddess of love. So is it a bait and switch: well, I sort of couldn't help falling in love with you while you were someone else, so now being Silk I'm going to be loyal no matter who you really are? Silk is a clone of Pas/Typhon whose mistress was Kypris so he was genetically programmed to fall in love with her. something like that there's more to it I'm sure.
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Feb 6, 2022 20:02
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Yeah Urth rules, it's oddly one of the more easy-to-follow Wolfe books and while there are plenty of "woah wtf is happening" moments it feels like it takes a lot less work to decipher them which is nice. Makes a boy feel smart. I've reread New Sun with and without including Urth and including it is definitely the right move.
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Feb 9, 2022 13:18
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collecting simples from the gravedirt as a cover story for me and the boys midnight fuckery just matachin things
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Feb 13, 2022 06:05
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Sailor Viy posted:Just coming back to this, I'd say this is one of the things I like about the series. It may be a little implausible, or it may not be... I have a theory on that but I'll hold off on it until I get around to reading Urth. But even just as an aesthetic choice, I really like the way Severian Forrest Gumps his way around the world and coincidentally-not-coincidentally happens to run into all the major players. I mean near the end of Citadel eidolons created by godlike aliens from above the stage descend in a spaceship and say "we are aliens from above the stage who have been guiding you", the whole story is a play and everyone is following a script. Or from the first Severian angle, the Hieros looked through time and found this torturer kid and said "yeah he'll do" and then guided narrator Severian's life to fulfill his destiny as the New Sun. The world seems smaller because it is.
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Feb 14, 2022 19:09
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Milo and POTUS posted:I thought that was sword? naw Sword has the hierodules at Baldander's Castle meeting Severian for the first time (from his perspective) and bowing to him as the savior of Urth, pissing off Baldanders and setting the stage for their big fight. In Citadel the eidolons of Malrubius and Triskele come out of a flying saucer on the beach and tell Severian there's a deus ex machine watching out for him. Gaius Marius posted:Whether that makes the story smaller or larger is purely a matter of perspective. I am reminded of a reddit post I read about a certain interpretation of Short Sun (big Short Sun spoilers ahead) where Green is Urth, the Whorl has gone in a circle, and how the poster thought that was so disappointing because it made the story "small" compared to the mentions in New Sun of galactic empires and hieros surviving universal deaths and such. I disagree very much, that reading adds thematic closure to the whole cycle and enhances all the cosmic bits - on Yesod every island is for a planet, but this isn't their stories, this is Urth's story. It's much richer for the tighter focus and unnecessary world building for its own sake.
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Feb 14, 2022 21:44
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 15:00 |
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Hammer Bro. posted:In the off-chance you'd rather not read Book of the New Sun but also have trouble listening to audio performances that aren't chill-funk hip-hop adaptations, this guy's got you covered: there's doom metal and dungeon synth and ambient music (and filk lol) about New Sun and heck if I'm not glad to see more genres taking up the banner
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Feb 23, 2022 01:30
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