Endangered Species [Hardcover]

Gene Wolfe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1989

Wolfe, whose tetralogy The Book of the New Sun was the most acclaimed science fiction work of the 1980s, offered his second collection of short fiction in 1990 to universal acclaim. This is a hefty volume of over 30 unforgettable stories in a variety of genres-- SF, fantasy, horror, mainstream-many of them offering variations on themes and situations found in folklore and fairy tales, and including two stories, "The Cat" and "The Map," which are set in the universe of his New Sun novels. Wolfe's deconstructions/reconstructions are provocative, multilayered, and resonant. This embarrassment of literary riches is a must for all Gene Wolfe fans, and anyone who loves a good tale beautifully told.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wolfe, whose tetralogy The Book of the New Sun was the most acclaimed science fiction series of the 1980s, offers his second collection, a hefty volume of over 30 stories in a variety of genres--SF, fantasy, horror, mainstream. Many of them are variations on themes and situations found in folklore and fairy tales; Wolfe's deconstructions/reconstructions are provocative, multilayered, resonant. Occasionally, too, they seem intentionally enigmatic. Two of the stories, "The Cat" and "The Map," are set in the universe of his New Sun novels. "A Cabin on the Coast" tells of a promising politician who loses his lover to the fey folk living in the sea. He strikes a bargain for her return, promising to undergo 20 years of servitude. When his lover finally returns, he has lost his youth, and with it, we assume, his future. "In the House of the Gingerbread" is a variation on "Hansel and Gretel" rewritten as a contemporary detective story; and "The Detective of Dreams" is an Arabian Nights tale as told by G. K. Chesterton--its spiritual subtext is made explicit in the end. A predominance of excellent stories makes this a rewarding book.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Genetic engineering brings mythology to life in "The Woman Who Loved the Centaur Pholtus" and "The Woman the Unicorn Loved," while a college experiment in social systems goes dangerously awry in "When I Was Ming the Merciless." Wolfe's second collection of short stories exemplifies the sometimes elusive, always challenging vision of an author whose love of language exceeds the boundaries of genre. For most libraries.-- JC
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 506 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (March 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312931549
• ISBN-13: 978-0312931544
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,073,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gene Wolfe is winner of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and many other awards. In 2007, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. He lives in Barrington, Illinois.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bach, Milton, and ..., January 21, 2006

By 

Lady Ash (Spartanburg, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Endangered Species (Paperback)

Wolfe! Three intense pleasures!

I would advise readers not to read straight through *any* collection of short stories, but to savor them. More to the point, in his preface to his collection _Book of Days_ (also printed in _Castle of Days_) Wolfe advises his readers not to read his stories the way we eat potato chips (one right after the other), but to read, reflect, reread, consider. In this collection, too, Wolfe has a thoughtful, intriguing, and all-too-brief introduction.

I don't know another way to read Wolfe. The man taught me how to read.

The stories in the collection:

A Cabin on the Coast
The Map
Kevin Malone
The Dark of the June
The Death of Hyle
From the Notebook of Dr. Stein
Thag
The Nebraskan and the Nereid
In the House of Gingerbread
The Headless Man
The Last Thrilling Wonder Story
House of Ancestors
Our Neighbor by David Copperfield
When I Was Ming the Merciless
The God and His Man
The Cat
War Beneath the Tree
Eyebem
The HORARS of War
The Detective of Dreams
Peritonitis
The Woman Who Loved the Centaur Pholus
The Woman the Unicorn Loved
The Peace Spy
All the Hues of Hell
Procreation ( i -- Creation; ii - Recreation; iii - The Sister's Account)
Lukora
Suzanne Delage
Sweet Forest Maid
My Book
The Other Dead Man
The Most Beautiful Woman on the World
The Tale of the Rose and the Nightingale (And What Came of It)
Silhouette

Some notes:
"The Map" and "The Cat" happen in the world of the "New Sun" series (Urth)
"The Dark of the June" "The Death of Hyle" "From the Notebook of Dr. Stein" and "Thag" form a sequence
"Woman Who Loved the Centaur Pholus" and "Woman the Unicorn Loved" are linked.
The titular "Nebraskan" of "The Nebraskan and the Nereid" also appears in Wolfe's "The Eleventh City" (available in his _Innocents Aboard_) and in his "Lord of the Land" (available in his _Starwater Strains_.)
"War Beneath the Tree" also appears in Wolfe's _Book of Days_ (pb in _Castle of Days_)
"The Detective of Dreams" shows the influence of G.K. Chesterton
"When I Was Ming the Merciless" is thought by many readers to have been inspired by the Stanford prison experiment.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most underrated collection since Borges., September 9, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Endangered Species (Hardcover)

Gene Wolfe is a thinker. His intricate fiction demonstrates a mind that is crammed with ideas which hurl themselves into the souls of his characters and the ideals of his stories with forceful abandon. So insightful and varied that it usually defies the overapplied label of science fiction, Wolfe's work is not for the shallow reader; for those who desire food for thought, on the other hand, this is the richest of feasts. Yet in spite of his subtly interwoven social commentary and his consinstently profound innovations, Wolfe's most valuable trait is his skill as a pure storyteller. The quality of the material in these stories and the adeptness with which their themes are transferred to prose is enough to entice even the most bored bookworm

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind the veil, a loud voice that is never seen, September 24, 2005

By 

Hugo M. Gomez "zematus7378@yahoo" (Turlock, Ca) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Endangered Species (Paperback)

How is it this man is not better known! Perhaps short stories, mr. mcdorman, aren't meant to be read by the plenty. I for one can't help placing the book down after reading a great one (and that applies to almost every story in this collection) to sit back in wonder as the story unfolds again in my mind. Enjoy this,you, anybody. And find the rest of his stories, which none are small or without ardor.