Gene Wolfe Books

For an anthology "based" on the style and stories of CAS, I felt most of the stories in this book were as fascinating and strange as Smith's. Without the hamperings of technical descriptions and reasonings of a "Dying Sun" scenario, the stories just naturally fall into prosaic form, dealing in the macabre and and the darkly fantastic. Better than most of the "inspired by..." anthologies. A good read!

For lovers of fantastic literature, the name Zothique no doubt revives pleasant memories of hours spent reading the stories of one of the genre's masters, Clark Ashton Smith. Smith was truly sui generis--although his work contained echoes of Howard and Lovecraft, he was in a class by himself. His short stories are more accurately described as highly compressed novels--he conveyed in short, densely detailed narratives what it would take others hundreds of pages to accomplish.

Thus, I approached THE LAST CONTINENT: NEW TALES OF ZOTHIQUE with more than a little trepidation. My worries were unfounded, however--editor Pelan has done an admirable job in assembling stories from a diverse group of authors including Gerard Houarner, Brian McNaughton, Jessica Almond Salmonson, Don Webb, Gene Wolfe, Brian Stableford, Lucy Taylor and Karl Henrik Johnsson. Most contributors wisely avoided the temptation to mimic Smith's style; to do so most likely would have proved disastrous. Instead, they chose to seize on the energy of his ideas, using them as springboards for their own tales. The result: a truly entertaining batch of stories featuring necromancers, magicians, strange diseases (remember the Silver Death?) and even stranger beasts.

I won't belabor this any more, except to say that this is an excellent collection, a fine, eminently readable tribute that can be enjoyed by Clark aficionados and neophytes alike.

The Last Continent is a collection of new tales in the theme of Clark Ashton Smith's classic "Tales Of Zothique". Gathering up such talented writers as Gerard Houarner, John Pelan, Edward Lee, Charlee Jacob, and Mark McLaughlin, The Last Continent takes us on a journey through the last continent of Zothique that was originally created by Smith.

You will feel the weak red sun as it dies, taste the dust of deserts on your lips, and tremble in the wake of strange magics. The Last Continent crosses the fantasy/SciFi/horror genres like a savage bee pollinating blood-tinged flowers, and the memory of these tales will sting you in pleasing and painful ways, perhaps even hang around awhile like a lump of swollen, poisoned flesh.

Here are the stories you will discover in The Last Continent.

1 - To Wake The Dead In Nypholos by Gerard Houarner.
A strange woman with mystic abilities visits the city of Nypholos, charming her way past the city's guardian. But when her charms are diverted from him to the Xipe Uthala, the guardian proves he is true to his city over all others.

2 - The Decibel Circus by Rhys Hughes.
The last acolyte to the demon god Drigg journeys to a cold desert where stylites pose on pillars and speak in tongues that can arouse changes in men and earth. Ximbus must use these stylites to bring his god back to life before his own body fades from disease.

3 - The Benevolent Emperor by Brian McNaughton.
An arrogant emperor discovers the consequences of arousing the wrath of the Gods, and must watch his kingdom die.

4 - Where The Past Lay Buried by David B. Silva.
When a man sets out on a journey to discover his beginnings, aroused by a prophetic vision, he discovers more than he bargained for and unleashes an unholy force on an innocent village.

5 - The Temple Of Captured Gods by David Niall Wilson.
Even a Priestess can be mistaken, and when coveting a contained God, even a King must listen first to his heart.

6 - The Connoisseur Of Corpses by Dan Clore.
A fantastic tale of a necrophiliac who gives his all to his God in order to become more involved with the dead, a deal that causes him to prosper in more ways than one.

7 - The Vainglorious Simulacrum Of Mungha Sorcyllamia by Mark McLaughlin.
Mark McLaughlin is one of my absolute favorite short story writers. He always manages to bring in a glimpse of humor to both his titles and his tales. In this tale, a gifted man becomes enamored by a painting made in his class, painted by a traveling girl with secrets to hide from him. Nevertheless, they fall in love, and Mungha eventually winds out using all of his gifts in order to see this sensual beauty once more.

8 - The Scarlet Succubus by Edward Lee and John Pelan.
Two of the most talented horror writers come together for this oddly surreal tale. One of the best in the collection. A vile King with dissatisfied vassals pushes them over the edge with his decedent indulgences. While Taquin Narr, the king's wizard, has the answer to uproot the vile king, he remains unaware of the King's secrets, passed on from generation to generation, secrets that keep the kingdom safe.
Spectacular achievement in scifi/fantasy/horror cross-genre.

9 - Hode Of The High Place by Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
A simple boy manages to infiltrate the strange, spiraled palace raised up on an impossible plateau in the midst of an ignorant, rural town. But in ignorance he rules his high place like a barbarian, and forgets from whence he came.

10 - Serenade At The End Of Time by Don Webb.
A thief or an acolyte, what will Fulbra be? Where will his desires lead him, and at what price will he be distracted?

11 - Blue Roses, Red Red Wine by t. Winter Damon.
One of my favorites. Cirdaith, strangely bound by magic to his harp called Shadowdreamer, sails off with his companions to find the City Of Blue Roses. Though they arrive in caution, they stay in decadence, indulging their physical and spiritual fantasies with the mysterious and irresistible nymphs they find there. Blood will flow and hearts will be broken, but the city will live forever with its hunger.

12 - A Traveler In Desert Lands by Gene Wolf.
Another favorite. The price of a jug of water in a desert wasteland turns into a lifelong prison of madness.

13 - Jolerarymi's Rose by Geoff Cooper.
Love knows no bounds, but can love also see through all treacheries? Stonecarver Jolerarymi wants only enough business to eek out a living and please his girl Sheleen. But Sheleen, greedy for the things Jolerarymi cannot buy her, prostitutes herself for goods and coin, making Jolerarymi very jealous. When Jolerarymi is given the contract of a lifetime, his visions of he and Sheleen together forever in a comfortable life are shattered by his murder. Sheleen takes Jolerarymi's corpse to a Necromancer to reanimate. But did she do it for Jolerarymi? Or for herself? Now that he's dead, will Jolerarymi know of her deceit?

14 - The Judgement Of Tsaran by Polagaya Fine.
A man finds his punishment to be incomprehensible, isolation on a deserted island with a strange altar that calls to him.

15 - Ashes Of Longing, Ashes Of Lust by Lucy Taylor.
Another favorite. Xi-Lan abandons his lover Gamede on their journey to the fearsome city of Cienta, leaving her in the middle of the night after a horrible nightmare. When Xi-Lan hears of Gamede's death, he vows to make the journey to collect her remains. Gamede's last wish was to have her ashes scattered from the Mountains of Arden, and for Xi-Lan the road from Cienta to Arden is fraught with horrible danger and unspeakable mutilation. In the end, will he travel with Gamede again?

16 - Love & Death At The End Of The World by Mark Chadbourn.
A band of cutthroats kidnap a beautiful girl to be used as a sacrifice to a demon isolated inside a tower of bones. But when Rathsamman decides that redemption is better than power or riches, he may discover that he is alone.

17 - The Leper King by Charlee Jacob.
Another favorite. Lyrkatra is a young witch intent on building her powers. She is a homely girl, who lives with her goatherd lover Komtai in the mountains that rise up above a fetid leper colony. Where most witches seek knowledge to destroy, Lyrkatra is a gentle soul who seeks the knowledge to create. Komtai discovers a fortune in jewels hidden within the crags of the mountains, and leaves poor Lyrkatra to become a great and wealthy king. Years later, when Lyrkatra is brought before the king to entertain him, she is able to show Komtai that creation is the most powerful magic of all.

18 - The Light Of Achernar by Brian Stableford.
Wow. This is the first story I have read by Brian Stableford, and he has earned a healthy round of applause from me. One of the longer and more stylistic stories in this collection, The Light Of Achernar is a real treat.
`Light' is a complex story surrounding the astrologer/sorcerer Giraiazal, who was exiled to the Isle of Cyntrom. Here, he performs his predictions and declarations of fate for two merchant princes, who are in reality brutal pirates. At the prince's request, Giraiazal tracks down the heirs to the palace throne, two young men whom the prince's are confident they can control.
Lysariel, as the oldest, becomes king, and his brother Manazzoryn comes to live in the palace with him. The brothers each marry a daughter of the pirates.
But Giraiazal sees only misfortune in his readings of the stars, the fell star of Achernar holding its foul sway over the futures of the new royals. Giraiazal does what he can to prevent his predictions from taking place as this complex tale of magic, love, and fate unfolds. But Fate is a tempestuous mistress.

19 - The Triumph Of The Worm by Karl Henrik Johnsson.
This last story left me feeling as though the collection had suddenly flattened out, dropping away from its consistent splendor. One of the most irritating things about this last story is that it, outside of the others, was very poorly edited. Life was constantly misspelled as Fife, many times. And the author took Smith's flowing style and turned it into a chaotic and discordant mess. Each and every sentence was so long and drawn out that the prose lost its music.
In `Worm', Zothique finally dies, leaving only a long-dead and decomposing madman to witness the sun's last throes.

The Last Continent is an original reading experience, utilizing not only Smith's vision of Zothique but his stylistic, flowing prose. These authors, like Smith, were able to breathe life into this dying world.

The book has a nice introduction, "Grim News From The Far Future", by Donald Sidney-Fryer, beautiful cover art by Rob Alexander, and intriguing sketches within the pages by Fredrik King. It is a limited edition of 500 copies, numbered and signed by each author. The layout is very nice, a friendly format, with an easy to read font and tight binding.

While the price is a bit formidable, I have hopes that this book will be picked up by another publisher and made available to the general public at an affordable price. In the meantime, if you are into rare collectibles that have actual, enjoyable content, do not miss out on The Last Continent. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Enjoy!

This is a tribute anthology inspired by the works of Clark Ashton Smith. Having not read one piece of fiction by Smith, I anticipated missing some of the underlying themes. This was not the case. John Pelan has selected stories that while being in the tradition of Smith's stylings is easily accessible to those of us not entrenched in the ways of Clark Ashton Smith's fiction. As in all anthologies there are gems, good stories and a few dogs. This collection has a higher incidence of the first two.

David B. Silva's "Where The Past Lay Buried" is an effective meditation on guilt and the price it extolls. Geoff Cooper's "The Jolerarymi's Rose", a sculptor is betrayed by his wife and he enacts revenge. Edward Lee & John Pelan's "The Scarlet Succubus" waxes poetic on politics, betrayal and some evil aquatic monsters. This one takes you one way then twists the ending so you don't know which way is up. "Ashes of Longing, Ashes of Lust" is a fast moving, beautifully written selection that made me feel I was beside the characters. Here you find a man on a mission and the toll an old girlfriend's last wish takes on him. Mark McLaughlin spins a tale of obsession in "The Vainglorious Simulacrum of Mungha Sorcyllamia". Brian Stableford turns in a stellar novella of passion, love and betrayal in "The Light of Achernar".

Other standout tales are written by Charlee Jacob, David Niall Wilson, Gerard Houarner, Dan Clore, and Gene Wolfe. The book contains some outstanding cover art by Rob Alexander and some nice interior illustrations by Fredrik King and Allen Koszowski. Highly Recommended.

The very title is a gentle pun: "storeys" rather than "stories", and it opens the door to another of Gene Wolfe's just slightly cockeyed universes. I usually read Wolfe's books with an unabridged dictionary nearby, and I am never annoyed at interrupting my reading in order to refer to it. As with all his books, reading him is a slow process, and yet that only makes me feel that I am getting more for my money.

His characters are real. While they are all characters in the other sense of the word, none seems unbelievable.

Read this book. And read "Free Live Free."

I am having a hard time trying to figure out what I should say in this reveiw. I think this mostly because these stories are so varied and all of them well written. I guess I'll just list my favorites: "Sightings at Twin Mounds"; "Westwind"; "Redbeard"; "Cherry Jubilee"; "Trip, Trap"; "Straw"; and "The Packerhaus Method".

This isn't a bad collection, but it isn't a great collection -- which means that, for Gene Wolfe, it's a lesser book. Shorter stories than is typical of Wolfe's other collections, well written but mostly lacking the punch of the stories in "The Island of Dr. Death" or "Strange Travellers." Entertaining, occasionally brilliant, very quirky, even funny in places: essential Wolfe for those to whom Wolfe is essential.

I should try to load this review down with penetrating insights into Mr. Wolfe's methods and modus, and his (to me, lofty) place in the post-modern literary world, but I get toungue (finger?) -tied and flounder and it comes off sounding lame. Suffice it to say that this short story collection is interesting in that it is comprised almost entirely of stories that were never published or published only with great difficulty. Not all, or even most, of these stories are science fiction (but then, what of Mr. Wolfe's work has ever been exclusivly SF? And who cares?) These tales form a diverse collection ranging from a various ghost stories, wide ranging fantasy pieces, a light meditation about life as seen from a train, and, as always (Mr. Wolfe's forte'), some very incisive comments on humans and why they do the weird things they do.

My own favorites are "The Sightings at the Twin Mounds," "The Death of the Island Doctor," "Redwood Coast Roamer," "A Solar Labyrinth," and "Redbeard."

If you've never read Wolfe, this is a good place to start. If you have read Wolfe and you don't have this book, then what the heck are you waiting for?

In one volume there is one of Wolfe's strongest story collections, essays on the Book of the New Sun, and a collection of entertaining miscellaceous essays. The story's are varied and all very powerful (though in different ways). The essays on New Sun are insightful without ruining the book. The other essays on literary topics are far more insightful than any snobbish literary professor's.

These stories are the work of a man with a sharp mind and a wicked sense of humor. Most of them are science fiction, but many are unclassifiable. For instance, "Forlesen," a story with many levels of meaning, attempts to sum up the twentieth century experience in forty-four pages and does it pretty well. There is non-fiction as well, including Wolfe's hilarious essay on knife-throwing. From my limited experience I'd say that Gene Wolfe is one of the most underrated science fiction writers.

Gene Wolfe's collection CASTLE OF DAYS is a must for fans, especially those who enjoyed his four-volume great work the Book of the New Sun. It consists of three parts, "Gene Wolfe's Book of Days", "The Castle of the Otter", and "Castle of Days."

"Gene Wolfe's Book of Days" is a collection of some of Wolfe's short stories, each representing a particular holiday. While these pieces are generally lighter and less substantial than Wolfe's other short stories of the late 70's and earlier 80's, there are several stories that are highly worthy. "Forlesen", representing Labor Day, is a clever jab at life in a corporation and it shows that the Dilbertesque workplace is nothing new. "The Changeling" represents Homecoming Day. A chilling and haunting piece, it takes place in the same town as Wolfe's early novel PEACE and illuminates a cryptic reference made there. This story alone makes CASTLE OF DAYS worth getting for fans of PEACE.

The second part of the book is "Castle of the Otter", named in jest after the mispelling of THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH which appeared in a 1982 issue of Locus. Subtitled "a book about the Book of the New Sun", it is a collection of essays about Wolfe's best-known work and can greatly expand one's knowledge of that world. "Words Weird and Wonderful", for example, defines all the archaic words in THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER. "These Are the Jokes" is a collection of witty jokes, each told by a different character from the Book of the New Sun. "Onomastics" explains the names of many characters. "Castle of the Otter" was written when two of the four volumes of the series had been published, so it is a bit light on detail from THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH. Nonetheless, if you loved the Book of the New Sun, this part makes CASTLE OF DAYS the next Wolfe work worth getting.

The final section is "Castle of Days", which is a collection of diverse essays from the late 1980's. I found this the least interesting section, as much deals with science fiction fandom and a few pieces are rather quaint. However, there is the highly interesting essay "The Secret of the Greeks" which explains some of Wolfe's work on the Soldier series and why classical languages and literature are a worthwhile pastime.

All in all, CASTLE OF DAYS is an essential purchase for fans of Gene Wolfe. I didn't pick it up until six years after I read and was fascinated by the Book of the New Sun, and I instantly regretted missing out on such an illuminating collection. I can't recommend this collection enough.

In a world where everything stopped, where technology is avaliable to few self-selected ones, in a world where crime is just another usual happening, Patera Silk tries to find his way. Unaware of the hidden political intrigues, of the corrputed offices of the (we may call it) Holy church, unaware of the mythical creators of the interstellar ship which he calls his home, Patera Silk tries to bring back some kind of balance beetween 'gods' and people. And how and did he succedees in it is yet to be revealed. Nightside the long sun was long and boring book, book that was used as an intro to this 'brave new world'. Lake of the long sun is more quick-paced, and better written than the first book. There are no more endless monologues, just a well designed scheme of thought and conversation. If you read the first book and didn't like it, read this one, you'll be kindly surprised

LAKE OF THE LONG SUN is the second volume of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the Long Sun, an epic story of revolution, political intrigue, and Christian allegory that is linked to his acclaimed work The Book of the New Sun. The first volume, NIGHTSIDE THE LONG SUN, was a slow and simple introduction to the Whorl, the giant starship sent out from Urth, and its inhabitants, including the protagonist young Patera Silk. LAKE OF THE LONG SUN picks up the pace significantly, and much is revealed.LAKE OF THE LONG SUN consists of several plot threads that dance around each other but never quite touch. The morning after another theophany occurs in Viron, Silk goes to a remote shrine at Lake Limna in order to confront Crane and extort money from him to save his manteion. Through a coincidental occurence, Silk is lost in the tunnels beneath the city, tunnels that go to the very outside of the Whorl. There, he meets an enigmatic woman who remembers the creation of the Whorl, and for the attentive reader the story's link to The Book of the New Sun is revealed. Meanwhile, back in Viron, political intrigue continues and everyone but Silk himself is certain that Silk must become Caldé of Viron. Auk and Chenille search for Silk at Limna, and Chenille has a run-in with another goddess.The Christian allegory is slight in LAKE OF THE LONG SUN, and the most touching moment is when Silk speaks to Crane of a scene revealed to him in his enlightenment from the Outsider. The next volume, CALDÉ OF THE LONG SUN, is the most visibly Christian of the work, but LAKE has its moments, too.

Silk, a young priest enlightened by a god, sets out in the company of thieves and prostitutes to save his temple from destruction.

Like the first book in the series, Lake of the Long Sun covers a period of about two days, giving it a plodding pace in which events and conversations are padded with an abundance of detail. Wolfe's style is not so puzzling here as in some of his other books, but still manages to be less than clear at times; happy news for some, sad for others. I read Wolfe when I want to pay close attention and still not know what just happened. Overall, the story is a political one, dealing with spies, intrigue, and the vile motives of shady leaders. Not my cup of tea, and thankfully kept mostly in the background. What fascinated me were the slowly unraveling secrets of the Whorl, all of its embedded mysteries, and the process of discovery.

Can't put it down. The intro promises that all the stories will be related to Dante's Inferno theme of Hellish portals on Earth, but they aren't all on that theme (in fact, one is a remake of the Christmas Carol). Scary and thought-provoking none-the-less.

I can't agree with the other reviewer. I found many of these stories scary precisely *because* they were based in metaphorical hells - hells we might actually live in, rather than encounter after death. Also, many stories were set in hells that were not on Earth but were also far from the fire-and-brimstone stereotype. The story "Office Space" alone makes this book worth buying.

I had seen this book at the library, and being a fan of Dante's Inferno, I checked it out. I was a bit disconcerted when I realized not all the stories take place in or near Hell, as the title suggests. Most of them occur here on Earth, where the characters are in a metaphorical hell. Surprise! Only a handful of the stories are worthy of note, including Gene Wolfe's and James Longrove's. The stories take place either in Hell, Chicago, or London. I found this last fact sometimes discouraging--i.e., I ended up skimming the story.

I recommend you get this book from the library before you spend the cash at a store.

A reasonable collection of fantasy, with a 3.55 average. The best stories being Garth Nix's very funny and clever giant monster short, and Laird Barron's horror piece.

There is a quite brief piece by the editors about the state and source of stories in general, and each individual tale is prefaced with further info.

A solid 4, this book

Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Eating Hearts - Yoon Ha Lee
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Denial - Bruce Sterling
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Fraud - Esther Friesner
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Sunbird - Neil Gaiman
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Shard of Glass - Alaya Dawn Johnson
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Farmer's Cat - Jeff Vandermeer
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Crab Apple - Patrick Samphire
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Comber - Gene Wolfe
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Walpurgis Afternoon - Deliah Sherman
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Monster - Kelly Link
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Robots and Falling Hearts - Tim Pratt and Greg van Eekhout
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Still Life with B00bs - Ann Harris
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Heads Up Thumbs Down - Gavin J. Grant
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Newbie Wrangler - Timothy J. Anderson
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Being Here - Claude Lalumière
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Mom and Mother Theresa - Candas Jane Dorsey
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Imago Sequence - Laird Barron
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Magic in a Certain Slant of Light - Deborah Coates
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Single White Farmhouse - Heather Shaw
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Read It in the Headlines! - Garth Nix
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Niels Bohr and the Sleeping Dane - Jonathon Sullivan
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Mortegarde - Liz Williams
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Inside Job - Connie Willis


Perfect magician, belt up and bonk.

3 out of 5


We're dead, stupid.

3.5 out of 5


Pregnant unicorn variation end.

4 out of 5


"I have a presentiment of doom upon me," ..."And I fear it shall come to us with barbecue sauce."

4 out of 5


Racist memory power runaway.

4 out of 5


Moggie ursa major makes troll mob minor.

3.5 out of 5


Dryad heart dump.

3 out of 5


Swiftly tilting city.

4 out of 5


Witchiness good for gardens.

3.5 out of 5


Hey, Bungalow Jim
I Might Eat Him

3.5 out of 5


Reality altering with replicating rodent robots. With a bit of mechanical criticism of the critical literary abilities of people.

3.5 out of 5


Mendicant mammaries.

4 out of 5


Sound of music is Matchless.

3 out of 5


Gud is bloody lazy, Zep Boy.

3.5 out of 5


Can't see this one, maybe that's us.

2.5 out of 5


No Aunt, just gimme shelter.

3 out of 5


Awful art lust trephination escape cave meld.

4 out of 5


Predicting dirigible desperation.

4 out of 5


Architectural pr0n, same?

3.5 out of 5


Very large Daikaiju font.

4.5 out of 5


Statue sword-slinger saves scientist.

4 out of 5


World Tree gatespeaking wyvern blood lecture dissection decision.

3.5 out of 5


Making monkeys of mediums.

4 out of 5



4 out of 5

YEAR'S BEST FANTASY 6, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, is an engaging anthology of the absurd, the fantastic, the beautiful, and the horrifying, comprising twenty-three stories written by some of the best in the industry. The tales range from light and whimsical, as in "Still Life with Boobs" by Anne Harris, to dark and chilling, as in Laird Barron's much-acclaimed novella, "The Imago Sequence," which has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award in the long fiction category for 2005.

The book comes in with a tiger in Yoon Ha Lee's elegant parable "Eating Hearts," and goes out with a tiger, in Connie Willis's smartly crafted homage to H. L. Mencken entitled "Inside Job." Kelly Link's outstanding "Monster" is a tongue-in-cheek modern-day version of Beowulf in a boys' summer camp; and Bruce Sterling's satirical "The Denial" brings to mind the genius of Isaac B. Singer. Authors include Esther M. Friesner, Neil Gaiman, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Jeff VanderMeer, Patrick Samphire, Gene Wolfe, Delia Sherman, Tim Pratt and Greg van Eekhout, Gavin J. Grant (husband to Kelly Link), Candas Jane Dorsey, Timothy J. Anderson, Claude Lalumière, Deborah Coates, Heather Shaw, Garth Nix, Jonathon Sullivan, and Liz Williams.

Award recipient David G. Hartwell is the senior editor at Tor/Forge Books, the publisher of THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION, and the author of AGE OF WONDERS.

World Fantasy Award winner Kathryn Cramer is an editor at THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION. She has also co-edited the outstanding anthologies, THE ASCENT OF WONDER, THE HARD SF RENAISSANCE, and the YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION series.

YEAR'S BEST FANTASY 6 is highly recommended reading for anyone who enjoys variety in the fantastic.

Someone once wrote of Ulysees that Joyce cannot be read only reread. I think the same is true of Gene Wolfe, and in particular the Book of the New Sun, which like Joyce's work is an intricate narrative labyrinth. Unlike Joyce, however, Wolfe, has a interesting story to tell and tells it superbly. I have read and reread the Book of the New Sun several times and each time I come away with that dreaming sense of the sublime.

I think this is so because the Book of the New Sun is a great work in the genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy, but it also transcends those vague gray boundaries and rises from the level of simple entertainment to touch the realm of art and myth. The character of Severian is as complex and intriguing as any portrait we will find in Stendahl or Tolstoy and the style is as beautiful and elaborate as a Byzantine mosaic. The story moves swiftly full of action and pathos and yet following the convolutions of the narrator's pen draws us into a world of ideas as exciting in their own way as the story itself.

Stories are, I think, gifts that we give to the larger human world. They are gifts which can shape us delight us and create and renew us as persons. This, at any rate, has been my experience of The Book of the New Sun. I can think of no higher praise.

This is the opus of one of the greatest contemporary American writers. If you have a soul, you'll love it!

First let me say that Gene Wolfe writes wonderful prose and that's the only thing that kept me going to the end. Go into this book without expectations and I imagine it could be a very good read. I went into it believing that it may be on par with the fantasy worlds of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, thanks to otherwise reliable reviewers and an abundance of 5-star ratings. It is not even close.

First off, it lacks the epic scope of those masterpieces. If Tolkien's Middle-Earth has the scope of Eurasia, Wolfe's Urth is about as big as the state of Massachusetts. In LOTR, a character had to send messages through other characters, then search for months just to meet up with someone they were looking for. On Urth, you can seemingly run into the same person (and persons) multiple times just by stepping into a building that's along your path. By the time I was into the second book, I knew that when Severian met a character, he was going to "accidentally" come across them again. It's pretty ridiculous. I think the timeline of this story is probably supposed to span half a decade, but it seemed less than half a year. More like a month. Contact between characters is contrived, and therefore the scope of the landscape seems almost claustrophobic.

In relation to this lack of time and distance, the theme of Fate seems to be Wolfe's main goal within this story. That's why Severian meets up with most characters more than once, and some characters half a dozen times. Well, Fate don't work that way. Fate has just as much to do with NOT meeting up with someone again as it does with reuniting. Sure, the narrator is looking back, but even in reminiscence, the coincidences become ridiculous. I lost my suspension of disbelief early on, and I never got it back.

The narrator, Severian, who happens to be the main character, is the main flaw of this series. I think what Wolfe was trying for was to give us an unreliable narrator who believes he has a photographic memory. It could have been an insanely brilliant concept, but it's just not taken far enough. Instead of showing us some sort of struggle inside Severian, I was shown the struggle to keep reading the words of an utter bore. Severian is a braggart and a jerk. He's in love with every woman he meets, and you're going to hear about it. He's been through the ringer, but is neither a hero nor a coward. He's pretty brave at times, but a wuss in general. He switches between matter-of-fact stoicism to whiney romanticism, from wise philosopher to naïve pawn. It sounds like it may be interesting, but it's not. And it's tough to get through four books of it all. In the end I don't care about Severian in the least. I just want him to shut up and move along to his freakin' destiny already. Leave me alone so I can go read something else.

As far as the series goes: Book one is great; Book two is a sharp turn in the wrong direction; Book three heads back the right way; but then Book four gets convoluted in tying up loose strings. In the end, it's better than a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy out there (the inane serial stuff), but not even close to the classics and the masterpieces. It's got unique concepts and nice style, but it's an insult to Tolkien to even put this set on the same shelf. And it's certainly not the best fantasy literature of the last century, as some would have you believe.

I bought all 4 books based off recognition of the authors names, the hype and awards, and the cool cover art... and have to say its one of most dissappointing series i've ever attempted to read. Other reviewers in the one star category have pretty much said it all.

Just please.. save your money.

I can't believe that Gene Wolfe isn't more known. His style and vocabulary may be over the top, but the context always lets me know what he's writing about. I just seen his picture for the first time on Wikipedia and I was amazed at his appearance and age. Then again the series is almost 30 years old. I'm overjoyed when I find a great author to immerse myself in. I can't wait to read the next two books in the series. Thank God for libraries, and librarians, those nasty old witches.

I've read nearly every Wolfe novel AND short story available today--rereading The Book of the New Sun twice, when i have never read a book twice, besides the bible. This book is about honor, the search of SELF in spite of the "help" this character (Able) receives from those he encounters; none of the characters help Able out of some noble inspiration, but, like in life, there is always a me in giving, no matter how faint. Able is used. Able is alone, searching for Knight-hood in a time when even a dog could win Knighthood. A story as real as it gets, true in the very core of the word; when misunderstanding leads the boy to think the woman named him Able of the High Heart, I got chills and closed the book and knew the play-on-words was ON again. I can only feel sorry for translations that lose this double-meaning-dual-intended that I have only seen perfected in the biblical canon. But above all, to remember that the point of view comes entirely (and not accidentally) from the mind/perspective of a youth in search of renown for the hand of the impossible love of a maiden.

Although the imagery was beautiful, I did not like this book. Among other challenges, I found it difficult to keep track of when the character was moving from one world to another. This book is not for everyone.

The basic idea here, that some ordinary modern-day kid has been transported to some other world where he is becoming a heroic knight, is creative and interesting enough to keep your attention much of the time. The character is appealing and there are some really appealing themes woven into the story, about honor and duty and bringing out the best in other people.

So, there is much to like here. But I give it 4 stars because it is really hard to read. It would be a better book if it were easier to read. I disagree with those who suggest that people who don't like the prose style are just dumb or something. I'm not dumb, and I don't like dumb writing. I even like complicated narratives, changing POVs, etc., when done well. For example, I enjoyed Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. I just didn't think this reads quite that well. Too often I had to reread or just move on despite not really grasping what the point of something was.

So anyway, definitely worth reading because it's something different, but not my favorite.

One story, then another... Oh wait and this happened... because of this... and this happened as well but we won't even go into how you should know, but it has direct impact on this... Crazy.
I believe in a story that begins, explains is coarse and follow through a series of evens to a climax. Its as if Gene Wolf worte five different novles and threw some pages out, then shuffled the remainders together. A hard read, and though some of the images provoked by the writing are beautiful at times, they are lsot in the turnig of the next chapter. Stay away from this one.

I thought this book was excellent, I am about to buy the knight wizard as we speak!
Gene Wolfe does and amazing job of creating a believable world, different from many other fantasy books but still interesting and engaging all the same!

Read this book!

I collect this series hungrily. There are always at least 10 stories that excite and amaze me, and I do feel they can honestly be called "the best" of each year. I also buy stacks of other genre anthologies, none of which demonstrate such consistent quality. How there came to be a gap on my shelf where this volume ought to be I'm not sure, but I did find out while shopping for its replacement what others have discovered: it is frustratingly difficult to get an accurate report of the contents of each of these volumes. Of the several well-written and helpful reader reviews, one refers to the 11th edition, another, while begging Amazon to represent it faithfully, nevertheless is clearly misfiled, describing the contents of the 14th. To be sure, even as I snarl and curse my way through the tangle of confusion I salute each reviewer's insights; I only wish their efforts could be properly represented. To help other benighted seekers, I'm suggesting a visit to this site, an extremely valuable and meticulously maintained resource.
locusmag.com/index/2002

I really can't be bothered doing my usual story-by-story review, since most of the stories stunk. I'm not a big Fantasy fan, so my distaste for the Fantasy side of the book shouldn't be a big surprise. I'll just reiterate my usual complaint about Fantasy Editor Terri Windling's half (More like 2/3rd's..) of the book: Waaaaayyy too much Fantasy, to the point where the Horror stories get short shrift. Ellen Datlow's Horror selections also leave a lot to be desired, as the truly distinctive voices of modern Horror fiction, like Bentley Little, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Richard Laymon, et al, continue to not be represented, while told-by-rote Victorian-era wannabes dominate the book.

(My original review was much longer, and I did single out particular stories/Authors for praise, and recommended some of the individual anthologies, but the review-censorship gang at Amazon saw fit to chop off four whole paragraphs of my review! Thanks, @ssholes!)

This latest edition contains useful discussions of fantasy and horror publications over the last year (2000-1). I've noticed that increasing attention is given to small press items which most readers will have trouble getting their hands on, as well as media, anime, etc. which are of less interest to me. It was disappointing to see that horror novels were just listed, not discussed. Still, the fantasy section described several works that I'll be seeking out.

Stories in this anthology have over the years become increasingly literary and perhaps are not the most accessible examples of the genre. Imagery and style take precedence over plot and character in most of the works reprinted here. Perhaps the best story in the volume was one about a boy who "swallows a faerie", an elegant metaphor for creativity and its repression--I regrettably forget the author but recommend the piece. Also, Norman Partridge contributed a strong work of historical fantasy.

Made it through another one!!! Once again, Fantasy Editor Terri Windling runs roughshod over Horror Editor Ellen Datlow- Windling weighs in with 26 stories, Datlow with 19. (Datlow continues to beat the drum for awful-poetry lovers everywhere, with no less than EIGHT poems...Yuck.)

As usual, the book opens with Windling's interminably long overview on The Year in Fantasy, which is really no more than a list of every book that's come out that year, along with her rambling on and on about "Magical Realism" for what seems like 5000 pages. I read one page, skimmed the rest, didn't miss a thing.

On to Datlow's Year in Horror- Slightly more interesting, but still WAAY too long. Skimmed once again...

Edward Bryant's Horror and Fantasy in the Media overview is interesting reading, but it seems as if Bryant just throws every movie he's seen into the mix. Does "In the Company of Men" really qualify as Fantasy or Horror...? Seth Johnson's Year in Comic Books overview is very interesting, and considering how much Windling drones on, I don't think it would kill them to let Johnson have a few more pages than he does.

On to the stories themselves....There are a LOT of stories that are bad, if not downright AWFUL, in this book, and most of them go on MUCH too long. Among the Awful/Overlong are: The meandering, pointless "The Skull of Charlotte Corday", "It Had To Be You", which would have been cute if had been 20 pages shorter; Charles Grant's head-scratching yawn-a-thon "Riding the Black", ... "In the Fields" was so bad I actually had to skip to the next story; I also couldn't finish Peter S. Beagle's "The Last Song of Sirit Byar"- It seemed like the song had no end.....

It's not ALL bad, though. Standout stories include "Gulliver at Home", which tells of Lemuel Gulliver's time at home between voyages; "I Am Infinite; I Contain Multitudes" has one of the nastiest scenes I've ever read, and packs a hell of a punch; Nicholas Royle's "Mbo" delivers a nasty spin on the Dracula legend; Gary A. Braunbeck's "Safe" is a moving tale of the aftermath of a gruesome mass-murder; "El Castillo De La Perseverancia" is THE weirdest story I've ever read...Mexican Wrestlers vs. Aztec monsters! It's like a Santos movie in print! "Residuals" tells the hidden history of Alien-abduction in America, and Michael Chabon delivers a ripping good H. P. Lovecraft pastiche "In the Black Mill". Christopher Fowler's "Spanky's Back!" is good sick fun, and Stephen Laws' "The Crawl" presents a far-fetched tale of road-rage that still manages to evoke a chill.

While there ARE some worthwhile reads here, the book is more pain than pleasure to read. Proceed at your own risk!

For some reason, the folks at Amazon keep posting my reviews for this series in the wrong place, so expecting that to happen again this time, let me clarify: The review is covering the FOURTEENTH edition.

Years ago, I made the mistake of taking "The Year's Best" title seriously, and rushed out and bought all the books in the series I could get my hands on. That turned out to be a BIG mistake, as Editors Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling seem to have very different ideas from me about what makes a good story. Luckily, this is the last volume I was unfortunate enough to purchase.

I'll skip the usual complaints this time out. I won't rant about the overlong year-in-review segments. I won't mention the fact that Windling's Fantasy selections monopolixe the book. I won't utter a word about Windling's bizarre penchant for poetry and rehashed versions of older-than-dirt fairy-tales. I'll concentrate on the stories that were actually readable.

Charles de Lint contributes another Newford story, "Granny Weather"; As usual, it's a good read.
Ramsey Campbell offers up two creepy little gems, "No Strings", and "No Story In It".
Jack Dann's "Marilyn" turns a young boy's sexual fantasy into a waking nightmare.
Glen Hirschberg's "Mr. Dark's Carnival" is a great haunted house tale.
Ian Rodwell & Steve Duffy's "The Penny Drops" is waaayyy too long, but the knockout ending makes the suffering worthwhile.
Bret Lott's "The Train, The Lake, The Bridge" could almost be a true story, and it's all the creepier for that.
Jonathan Carroll's "The Heidelberg Cylinder" is a hilariously bizarre tale that needs to be read to be appreciated.
Jack Ketchum contributes "Gone", a short but excellent halloween tale.
Paul J. McAuley's "Bone Orchards" is a follow up to his tale from the previous Year's collection, "Naming The Dead"; It's a real treat, and I'd love to see more with the main character.

Search out the aforementioned Authors, by all means; Just don't waste your money on this stankass series....unless you have MUCH more patience than me.

It's a slow and simple start; the action of this book takes place over only two days. However, if you've read any of the Short Sun books, or better yet all of them, you owe it to yourself to read these. You may not recognize the tone as Wolfe seems to have attempted conciliation with us mere mortals who try to comprehend his works. It is closer in style to the Knight and the Wizard books but good readers will realize that simpler style does not mean a culling of his message. Readers looking for a ripping good yarn full of action and excitement will be fully disappointed by this first book of four. Wolfe apostles will see this for what it is...just the beginning.

Gene Wolfe may be the smartest writer that SF currently has (or maybe ever, though I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on the genre), possessing prose that is of definite literary quality and able to convey subjects in a multi-layered style that forces you to do a little bit of work on your own to put it all together. He acts with the trappings of SF but presents it in such a clear-headed fashion that you could see it being genre literature in a world where the events described in his novels are quite normal. Most of the time when I read a Wolfe novel I get the impression that I'm missing stuff, not because he's a terrible write but because there are levels of allegory going on that I'm just not intelligent enough to figure out without having reference books near me to get all the hidden meanings. You don't really need to have a library near you to enjoy his books but the fact that could help deepen the experience amuses me greatly. Which is interesting because back in high school if a teacher had trumpeted that aspect of a novel to me, I would have that "That's one more question I'm going to get wrong on the test." It's a funny world sometimes. In this omnibus collecting the first half of Wolfe's "Long Sun" series, we're introduced to the Whorl and augur Patera Silk. He and his fellow pateras and mayteras both worship the gods of the Whorl and profess their teachings to the neighborhood. When it turns out that the place where they live has been sold, Silk decides to do what he can to make sure everyone can stay put. What Wolfe excels at is stringing tiny details along without explaining everything up front, so that the ins and outs of this society are revealed fully at just the right time, although astute readers could be rewarded by reading between the lines and figuring out early. The plot seems to simply meander along from moment to moment and it's not until you're decently far into it that you realize how much it's been expanding slowly and what started out simply is far vaster than it might seem at first glance. Patera Silk initially doesn't impress, he's a young man and a modest one and very religious, but he starts revealing more layers as he goes along. More capable than he lets on, he's far sharper than any of the characters realize, often keeping revelations to himself and putting pieces together faster than you'd think. It forces both us and the other characters to constantly underestimate him and yet it never feels like the author playing games with us. On his own he's fascinating and well worth spending the entire series with. Wolfe's Whorl is richly detailed, capturing the feeling of constricted societies and teeming life off the edges of the pages we can't see. His prose can take some getting used to, because it is rather lush, and things certainly don't move quickly, although there are action packed moments and tense scenes. Instead the books work as tiny explosions gradually leading to threads coming together in ways you didn't expect. All the digressions and asides eventually become relevant, not always obviously and not always immediately but it is one of those series you have to stick with before it really sinks in. Hopefully the second half won't disappoint but we'll find out when we get there.

What a great couple of books! As in the "New Sun" series written earlier, the story is told by an unreliable narrator- albeit one that is very, very different (at least on the surface) from Severian; but he shares several characteristics with other Wolfe narrators: he's forgetful; sometimes a poor observer, he seems to lie (primarily to himself), and he assumes you understand the context of what he says. The settings are amazingly drawn through the off-hand descriptions of things Patera Silk thinks of as ordinary, mundane, and generally known. Like much of Mr. Wolfe's work, this is not for the casual reader, or one who is looking for something that's easily digestible - this is a full seven course meal, with ambiance that varies from heaven to hell. Something to savor over the course of several readings.

It took me two tries, separated by a few years, to get going on this. The first time I tried to get into the book I just didn't click with the rhythm of Gene Wolfe's writing, but the second time I did, and then I couldn't put the book down - zipping through both Litany of the Long Sun (books 1 and 2) and Epiphany of the Long Sun (books 3 and 4). Yes, I actually said zipping. Reading some of the other reviews, including some of those giving this 4 or 5 stars, you might think that this book is going to be a long slog through difficult prose. Once I figured out Mr. Wolfe's style, I had had quite the opposite experience. There's nothing shattering or terribly deep about the philosophies presented in the Long Sun, but the writing is beautiful, and the plot and the character-mix are complex and entertaining. Oreb has become one of my all-time favorite literary characters; we all need a bird like him. The last image presented of him at the end of book 4 of this tetralogy, 'Exodus from the Long Sun,' (calling 'Silk? Silk? Silk?') was haunting and a little heart-breaking. Definitely worth the effort.

This book failed the one hundred pages test. Meaning if after the first hundred pages, I can write the entire plot in one small paragraph, the novel fails (to hold my interest).

So basically the book is about Father Silk who receives a vision (or imagines he does) from a God known as [the] Outsider. He interprets the vision to mean he must take personal responsibility to save his parish from being sold off from back taxes. To help his interpretation, he spends a good 30 pages buying a bird and sacrificing it. Then he decides to break into the house of the parish buyer for an ambiguous reason, but retains conviction that by doing so he will discharge his god-given task.

The above is the plot of the first hundred pages. The prose is lush and somewhat dense, approaching the level of Charles Dickens and Tolstoy. However, for a science fiction novel, I didn't notice much in the way the typical science fiction technology or settings. One of the nuns has a cyborg body and her actuators get a mention, oh and float cars.

I don't mind lush prose, evocative detail, or morality preaching. They need action, plot, and good characterization to go with them though. I didn't like this novel because the story took too long to develop, and for all it claims to be science fiction, it could as easily have been set in Victorian England if a few setting details were slightly modified.

Felt too much like historical fiction and not science fiction for my tastes. In short, this novel went extremely slow and I lost interest.