Customer Reviews

The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction

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Some of the best, and best known, works of science fiction are neither novels nor short stories, but something in between: just long enough to fully explore an idea, yet short enough to focus on a single set of events. "The Time Machine," "Who Goes There," (a.k.a. "The Thing,") and "Flowers for Algernon," (a.k.a "Charly") are three examples of the genre adopted into movies. Others were expanded into novels or even series by their original authors: for example, Theodore Sturgeon's turning "Jefty Is Five" into "More Than Human," Isaac Asimov's linking a series of novellas into "The Foundation Trilogy," and Orson Scott Card's stretching "Ender's Game" into a cottage industry that would be the envy of Pere Dumas. I would guess more than half the science fiction novels ever published started out as something shorter (and often better.)

As far as I know, Gene Wolfe himself has done this twice: turning the bleak and brilliant "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" into a single-volume "trilogy" of interlocking mysteries, and expanding an unpublished (possibly untitled) novella into his unprecedented and unsurpassed four-volume masterpiece "The Book of the New Sun." In this, he has shown remarkable restraint. Pretty much unanimously acknowledged as the master of the novella form, Wolfe could have filled ten acclaimed careers simply expanding into novel-length the short fiction collected in this book. "The Eyeflash Miracles" could easily have been a novel, "The Cabin on the Coast" a fantasy-adventure trilogy, "Seven American Nights," what else, a seven book post-apocalyptic epic, "Forlesen," the lifetime output of a couple authors I could name.

But no, they are what they are. "The Best of Gene Wolfe" is a book of books within books, a book of seeds each of which sprouts into a sequoia, but not on the page, in your head. It saves trees by blowing minds, I guess, making this collection both a boundlessly generous feast and an exquisitely torturous tease.

Is it "The Best of Gene Wolfe?" No, the best of Gene Wolfe is still his twelve-novel (untitled) sequence of "Sun" books. ("New," "Long," and "Short," in case you don't know.) But "The Best of Gene Wolfe" is the best of the best. A paradox? Why not. It's a great place to start reading him. Or a great place to finish--then start over.

While the printing press is a marvel of mass production, the Kindle puts it to shame. As a result, the countless hours of enjoyment Gene Wolfe has provided to me over the years are completely out of proportion to the paltry sums I have paid for his books. Mr. Wolfe is certainly the finest writer of the latter half of the 20th century to grace the science fiction genre. Actually, he's probably the best writer of the last half of the 20th century, period. Nothing lasts forever, I suppose, and Mr. Wolfe's illustrious career is perhaps approaching twilight. Still, it saddens me to see a Gene Wolfe collection, even as wonderful as this, titled a retrospective.

Mr. Wolfe is a wildly prolific short story writer. In fact, he loves the form so much that he cannot refrain from inserting short stories into his full length works. So while "The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction" is a marvelous collection spanning much of his career, with award winning stories selected by the author, it's a volume or two short of being definitive.

Mr. Wolfe's work is densely alliterative, and much informed by his faith. For the church goers among us, "La Befana," "Westwind" and "The Eyeflash Miracles" are delights. Throughout his career Mr. Wolfe has displayed a fascination with forms and aberrations of memory and consciousness. Mr. Million, the unbound simulation of "The Fifth Head of Cerberus," Nicholas of "The Death of Dr. Island" and Baden of "The Tree is My Hat" are cases in point. Mr. Wolfe has a fondness for the cadences of myth and fable; "The Boy Who Hooked the Sun" is a fine example and a terrific story for young readers. (My kids enjoyed many a Gene Wolfe short story around the campfire as they grew up.) Mr. Wolfe is known for his use of first person active voice, and has made the literary device of the unreliable narrator famous. His protagonists are often impaired in some way, but nonetheless noble and likable. Sam of "Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon" is a type specimen Gene Wolfe protagonist. Mr. Wolfe evinces a genuine affection for humanity in general, and his characters in particular (even the villains). At his best, Mr. Wolfe evokes a wistful, bittersweet, almost elegiac tone in celebration of the beauty and foolishness of the human condition. "The Death of the Island Doctor" is a gem of story that chokes me up with happy tears every time I read it. Eventually all who are blessed discover that Dr. Insula had not been mistaken about the island after all.

Of course, there must be at least a second, and hopefully a third volume to complete the "retrospective." So I'll cast my votes now. As mentioned, some of Mr. Wolfe's best short fiction is embedded in his novels. I'd like to see "Melito's Story - The Cock, the Angel and the Eagle" and "Foila's Story - The Armiger's Daughter" included. Both are from "Citadel of the Autarch" and are simply marvelous fairy tales. "The Tale of the Student and His Son" from "Claw of the Conciliator" is the most wonderful transmogrification of the legend of Theseus imaginable. Finally, Mr. Wolfe has written some marvelous military short fiction. "The HORARS of War" gets my vote.

Word for word, Gene Wolfe is almost certainly the finest stylist currently active in the English language. This book demonstrates that amply. The stories here range from just a few pages to short novella length. Some have splashes of humor while others are dark and bleak throughout. What they all share though is Wolfe's unflagging imagination and ability to absorb his readers into the universe he creates for his stories, however fleeting the time the reader may spend in that universe ultimately may be. Among writers, Wolfe is an anomaly for his refusal to tell stories in a linear path, and this only adds to the awe and sense of wonder of his work, both as in this volume, in his short work and in his novel-length fiction. It's hard for me to pick a story I would consider to be my favorite or the best in the book. I would probably count Seven American Nights as the most reflective of what to expect among those included herein though. Others of note are the Island/Doctor/Death stories, Petting Zoo (probably the most elegiac of the tales), The Fifth Head of Cerberus (which will slingshot the reader directly into Wolfe's first successful long work), and The Hero as Werwolf (which goes off in a direction I was pleasantly surprised to never see coming). Overall, this is clearly the strongest representation possible of Wolfe's short fiction, but I hope it will serve only as a springboard for readers new to Wolfe into his other work. Although his work is intentionally difficult--as anyone who reads this will have to acknowledge--it is both thoughtful and rewarding, and I hope this will help catapult Wolfe into a more commercially viable place among modern-day authors. Ultimately the best thing about Wolfe's work is this: As with Robert E Howard, another great storyteller of the last century, Wolfe's best work is so powerful because he himself is in everything he writes. To those fortunate enough to come across this book and read it in the future, I can say only one more thing: You will be far from disappointed.

My three favorite living authors are Wolfe, Vance and Brust. Not one of them have pleased me with every word they have written.
I love most of Wolfes novels. I have reread the many of them several times. "Latro in the Mist," "The Wizard Knight," The Book of the New Sun," have all taken a place on my bookshelf so that I can avoid buying them again for a third or fourth time. Others have left me a little disappointed.

I am a little old fashion. I like stories that have a definitive conclusion. Many of these seem to leave more questions than answers. In "Seven American Nights," I have no clue what the young persian confronted when the lights came on. I found I could not complete "House of Trust." "The Hero as Werwolf" presented a very interesting story, but had the feel of a coming attraction chapter in the back of a book.

Again, perhaps it is me.

In this book you will find some of Wolfe's best work in short fiction and some of the best short fiction of the last 60 years. Novellas such as "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" and "Seven American Nights" showcase Wolfe's style and diversity as well as his incredible imagination. Shorter pieces such as "The Tree is My Hat" and "The Death of Doctor Island" range from psychological horror done in a journal format to the mysterious, literate SF that has become Wolfe's trademark. Whether you are new to Wolfe or a long time reader, this collection will please you. And for those who enjoy discussing Wolfe's work, visit my Wolfe forum, Useful Phrases. The url is: [...]

This was officially the best science fiction short story collection I've ever read, even beating out my previous favorite, Tangents by Greg Bear. This book is precisely why I stopped giving 5 stars to every book I like: because that would make it impossible to express the level of admiration I feel for the truly special books, the ones that you know you'll read and re-read and recommend to everyone. If you only read one SF short story collection this year, make it this one.

What can there be not to like about a Gene Wolfe Retrospective? Mr. Wolfe has included his personal favorites, with brief comments following each story, some of which shed light on the story (but don't expect too much in the way of explanation), some autobiographical. This book could serve as a good introduction to a reader new to Wolfe, and will give one a fairly good idea of the range of his shorter fiction. Although one can read Wolfe and enjoy a story on a purely intuitive level, most of his stories bear rereading for deeper layers of meaning.

The only negative is that many of the stories in this collection are included in other collections I already own. This would not be a problem for a reader new to Wolfe, while those of us who are longtime fans are quite willing to glean whatever unread works we can find.

This superb anthology lets the 31 tales sell the talent of the author to science fiction and fantasy readers; as the compilation jumps right into the stories. There are 14 from the 1970s; 11 from the 1980s; and 6 from the 1990s. Many are award winners and have appeared in the best of the year anthologies like "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" and "Petting Zoo". This reviewer's favorite in this superb collection is the related threesome: "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories", "The Death of Dr. Island" and "Death of the Island Doctor"; my suggestion is skip around and read these three one after another. Fans will appreciate how wide Mr. Wolfe's vision of a dark future is whether he writes a fantasy (see "A Cabin on the Coast") or a science fiction tale (see "The Fifth Head of Cerberus"); the road to hell can be "On the Train" or in a "Bed and Breakfast". Regardless, the audience will quickly find out you can't just read one (a night).

Harriet Klausner

I've read many of these brilliant stories in other venues, so have no doubt it is a worthy book. At the moment the electronic edition is priced at over $15, which seems quite expensive for a "virtual" book and only slightly under the $18 Amazon charges for the hardcover. Amazon promotes the Kindle partly on the idea that many new titles are available at $9.99, and while Tor doesn't seem to follow that model there are prominent publishers that do. The $9.99 price point seems a reasonable compromise between the author/publisher making a profit and the reader receiving a product that does not have paper, glue, hardcovers or a dustjacket.

Style is great---if it leads to something worth discovering---but style itself isn't enough. The postmodern tendency, begun with Dos Pasos' USA, for a writer to flex his muscles while making sure to leave the reader hanging is getting old.

Wolfe may indeed be a genius, but as an admittedly shallow and selfish reader, reading Wolfe just doesn't offer me any rewards. I want to understand. I want to care. I want to love, to hate, to feel, to live a story. Wolfe's are more like dreams---they're intense but lead to dead ends. And, like dreams, they are not easily shared.

Why should I spend time reading stories that, while well crafted, lead to no satisfying conclusion?

If you need great writing, you can have it---and satisfying stories.
Try Virtual Unrealities: The Short Fiction of Alfred Bester, and the story: They Don't Make Life Like They Used To. It will make you laugh, cry, hope, fear and leave you chilled with dread.

Or try the Triptree anthology: Her Smoke Rose Up Forever. It has all the literary style you could want---enough to leave Joyce Carol Oates green with envy---AND it is fun as hell to read.

And try this overlooked wonder by Grimson: Stainlessif you want some jaw dropping style and a cool vampire yarn.

Yup, dear reader, you can have it all. Don't settle for mere style.