Why Is Gene Wolfe Kicking My Behind?

[Desdichado]

Good list. Maybe add David Eddings as well.

'kay, I don't really mean to hijack, but you're not serious, are you? The rest of the authors on that list are clever, witty, and are doing something different, fresh and interesting. David Eddings, on the other hand, is smug and archaicly formulaic; he's the anti-fresh. He certainly doesn't belong on that same list.

 

[nikolai]

Wolfe has just joined my "Modern Masters of Fantasy" list...

Is The Book of the New Sun fantasy? I've never read it, but had always assumed it was Science Fiction.

 

[mmu1]

You can make arguments for classifying it as either, or both. There's a lot there that seems magical and fantastic, but that might just be a case of "...any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic", and there are definitely pure sci-fi elements as well.

 

[barsoomcore]

Yeah, it's one of those books that could go either way. In any event, it's got castles and taverns and people with swords. No laser guns or spaceships as of yet.

I don't worry too much about such distinctions.

argo: I've read one David Eddings book. I found it tedious. He is not on my list.

 

[Mallus]

No laser guns or spaceships as of yet.

No working spaceships, you mean. And isn't there a pistol in first scene [or so, its been a while] of the book?

Glad to here you like them, BTW. And thanks for being such a vocal Erikson enthusiast. I finally picked them up [almost done w/Memories of Ice] and so far I find them absurdly good.

[Please spoil something: does the talking frog art critic come back?].

 

[barsoomcore]

Not yet. But this ain't over by a long shot. And book five, of course, includes ENTIRELY new characters (only one character we've ever seen before) and takes place on a wholly new place in the world (no places we've ever seen before).

Those wacky fantasy authors.

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

Shhh... Mallus don't ruin his enjoyment in re-reading if he didn't pick up on it! Kind of stuff that makes Wolfe all the more fun.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

'kay, I don't really mean to hijack, but you're not serious, are you? The rest of the authors on that list are clever, witty, and are doing something different, fresh and interesting. David Eddings, on the other hand, is smug and archaicly formulaic; he's the anti-fresh. He certainly doesn't belong on that same list.

Hey, what makes you think that Quest for Yet Another Magic Rock vol. 12 is formulaic?

The Auld Grump, who admits to enjoying David Eddings first magic rock quest, but not the second, third, or forth, nor the prequels...

 

[Desdichado]

Hey, what makes you think that Quest for Yet Another Magic Rock vol. 12 is formulaic?

The Auld Grump, who admits to enjoying David Eddings first magic rock quest, but not the second, third, or forth, nor the prequels...

Well, yeah, me too. Don't forget; the rock has to be blue. And there has to be a smug dark-haired goddess of bad sarcasm involved somehow...

 

[Mallus]

Shhh... Mallus don't ruin his enjoyment in re-reading if he didn't pick up on it! Kind of stuff that makes Wolfe all the more fun.

You're right. My bad...