What are
/r/genewolfe's
favorite Products & Services?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
The most popular Products mentioned in /r/genewolfe:
The most popular Services mentioned in /r/genewolfe:
The most popular Android Apps mentioned in /r/genewolfe:
The most popular reviews in /r/genewolfe:
As a long-time Wolfe reader and re-reader, I found myself wanting a detailed summary of the Book of the New Sun. Something without any analysis or conjecture - just the facts ma'am. So, I wrote one for me and thought others might enjoy. This is the first in the series with the remaining installments in the works.
Feel free to pick up a paperback or Kindle copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093DZJHQ5/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_1QQEG3K80NRQZ6V5JRWG
Also, I recognize that MAD has published a BotNS Guide (which is fantastic), but this is much more granular in terms of plot. His is a great resource for research and understanding the allusions, etc. The more Gene Wolfe books on my self, the better!
Enjoy!
(I'm not necessarily the best person to ask, but who knows, really?)
It's really better to read the whole series and form your own opinions first, because the way some things look is almost treated as privileged information until it's outright stated, but here goes:
[I'm fairly sure you're correct about the stars always being visible. That suggest a real duskiness to the world, to a greater extent than I usually imagine. The sun is dim enough that it can be looked at directly without consequence, because someone mentions (in a later book) that they heard myths saying that the New Sun would be "so bright you can't look at it".](/spoiler)
[ I personally imagine that The Citadel is probably some sort of old "starport" sort of thing, considering what the Machatin Tower actually is, surrounded by the Citatel Wall and mixed with other more recent structures.](/spoiler)
[Nessus is way bigger than any modern city. Mind-bogglingly big. As Shadow says the wall is high enough that few birds can pass it, and the city has existed for so long that it's moving. We have very little info on it's actual appearance.](/spoiler)
Not sure. I do think most of the official covers are crap aside from the hardcover omnibus. I always quite liked this, though obviously that feels too... m.c. escher-ish, almost, possibly too ruinous, but I prefer it over other depictions I've seen.
[The mountains have literally been carved in the image of past Autarchs. Possibly not all mountains, but quite a lot of them. Potentially all representations of one Autarch in particular.](/spoiler)
The Amazon link for the "Silk for Calde" is finally live: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H2VQQC1
I tried to make the design look art nouveau, like a political poster from the 1930's. My intention was to symbolize the long sun and whorl in the design.
I also made a General Mint design that looks vaguely like Che Guevara, but it's still under review. I'll post the link when (if) it passes the review!
Naturally, this will be the third in the series of no-spoiler chapter guides. Thanks to everyone who has been so gracious to pick up a copy to date.
A redditor asked for a preview of the chapter guide, so here it is - happy to share! Here's the original post for content, along with a link to the paperback and Kindle versions.
As a long-time Wolfe reader and re-reader, I found myself wanting a detailed summary of the Book of the New Sun. Something without any analysis or conjecture - just the facts ma'am. So, I wrote one for me and thought others might enjoy. This is the first in the series with the remaining installments in the works.
Feel free to pick up a paperback or Kindle copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093DZJHQ5/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_1QQEG3K80NRQZ6V5JRWG
Also, I recognize that MAD has published a BotNS Guide (which is fantastic), but this is much more granular in terms of plot. His is a great resource for research and understanding the allusions, etc. The more Gene Wolfe books on my self, the better!
Enjoy!
Lexicon Urthus: A Dictionary for the Urth Cycle, which is an encyclopedia of people, places, and terms used in BotNS, has a summary of all the Severians. It also has a lot of commentary and analysis that might not be obvious upon one's first read, so it's a book I recommend all Wolfe fans get, alongside others like Solar Labyrinth.
A few folks reached out and said they couldn't get far enough into the Amazon preview to see the book's actual content. Here is a fix!
This is the second in the series of chapter guides to the New Sun Cycle with the remaining installments in the works.
Oh! you're in Shadows of the New Sun. I have that on audiobook but have yet to listen to it. Will get to it soon.
EDIT: For those who don't know: https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-New-Sun-Stories-Honor/dp/0765334585
I also recommend getting Lexicon Urthus: A Dictionary for the Urth Cycle, which is an encyclopedia of people, places, and terms used in BotNS. It includes a lot of commentary and analysis that might not be obvious upon one's first read. The same author also wrote an excellent chapter guide that provides a lot of insight, such as allusions to other works that may have escaped the reader. Turns out Wolfe makes a lot of them.
I own this complete copy of New Sun. I got it for $11.67 on Amazon, so the price fluctuates wildly.
It's a complete copy.
Nice find!
> Atwood said he was drawn towards the book for its collection of short stories, which ironically talks about a person stealing from the library in the first short story.
Here is the story if anybody would like to read it, you can read the introduction for free by just clicking on the preview since it is only 3 pages long.
I have to say, Wolfe could write some amazing forewords!
These chapter guides might be helpful - they are very detailed - https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Torturer-Chapter-Guide-Guides-ebook/dp/B093DZJHQ5/ref=sr_1_4?crid=31Y4AHWYTYN6A&keywords=chiarello+matthew&qid=1669349094&sprefix=chiarello+matthew%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-4
I strongly recommend it as a companion to Gate of Horn, Book of Silk: A Guide to Gene Wolfe's The Book of the Long Sun and The Book of the Short Sun
I'm glad to report the arrival of the third installment in a Book of the Long Sun chapter guide series. Feel free to pick up a paperback or Kindle copy of Caldé of the Long Sun chapter guide with my sincere appreciation.
As a long-time Wolfe reader and re-reader, I found myself wanting a detailed summary of the Book of the New Sun. Something without any analysis or conjecture - just the key plot points. So, I wrote one for myself and thought others might enjoy it. I have been humbled by the positive reception and have been plugging away at Long Sun.
A sample page from Nightside is pictured for reference.
As a long-time Wolfe reader and re-reader, I found myself wanting a detailed summary of the Book of the New Sun. Something without any analysis or conjecture - just the key plot points. So, I wrote one for myself and thought others might enjoy it. I have been humbled by the positive reception.
I'm glad to report that I've returned to the whorl and published the second installment in a Book of the Long Sun series. Feel free to pick up a paperback or Kindle copy of Lake of the Long Sun chapter guide with my sincere appreciation.
As a long-time Wolfe reader and re-reader, I found myself wanting a detailed summary of the Book of the New Sun. Something without any analysis or conjecture - just the key plot points. So, I wrote one for myself and thought others might enjoy it. I have been staggered by the positive reception.
I'm glad to report that I've returned to the whorl and published the first installment in a Book of the Long Sun series. Feel free to pick up a paperback or Kindle copy of Nightside the Long Sun chapter guidewith my sincere appreciation.
This chapter summary book might be exactly what you need. Bite size (one-page) summaries for every chapter in the series. No spoilers. https://www.amazon.com/Book-New-Sun-Chapter-Guides/dp/B09ZCYX5PG/ref=sr\_1\_6?crid=1WQPY310JWBHX&keywords=matthew+chiarello&qid=1654574306&sprefix=matthew+chiarell%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-6
I think you have to take it in the context of the fiction, and the historical accounts it draws from. Firstly, she is not a woman as such she is basically a faerie - characterised in folklore as amoral trickster intelligences, see also nymphs dryads etc. These may well reflect pre-modern ideas of women and sexuality that are distasteful to modern people, but Wolfe here is drawing on these conceptions. Having said that there is no doubt a sexual titillating element to it, and fetishization of Disiri and co. Secondly, there are also parallels to the reports of succubi who feed on sexual energy, and many historical accounts from witches of having sexual congress with their familiars. I recently read this for example:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845190793/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Lastly, it raises some interesting issues as one of the central themes is that Abel is a child in a man's body . Although if I recall correctly there are some allusions that he may only recall being a child and has lived longer in this other world (perhaps to adult hood).
So, it's complex, appreciate where you are coming from though and sorry to hear of your experience.
I loved the first book, didn't finish the second - it became wilfully obtuse for me, it's like Wolfe always has the temptation to give you precisely what you don't want, and sideline the narrative into something a bit tedious or skip over vast tracts of time when it was just getting exciting. I adore his conception of other worlds in this series though. Particularly, that they races from worlds above are hyper-real and akin to Gods to those down below. Probably my favourite conception of planes of existence in any fiction.
This is my last publication for a little while... the complete Book of the New Sun Chapter Guide. This handsome hardcover edition consolidates the four softcover chapter guides that I've written and published over the last year. Amazon has a pretty nice preview of the contents, if you're interested in seeing more.
If you purchased some of the individual guides (thank you!) and would like a break on this version, DM me, happy to oblige.
Thanks for all of the support this year. I'm working on Urth now and making my way through Long Sun after that. Plenty of great Wolfe ahead.
u/Seriously86, u/SiriusFiction quite literally wrote the book on Gene Wolfe not making up any words for BotNS...
The rereading Wolfe podcast is an excellent companion. As is Alzabo Soup. You also can’t go wrong with Andre-Druissi and Aramini.
Shameless plug, but I’ve published some chapter guides that might be helpful to you here
I bet others will say this, though, the best thing you can do is read, reread, and reread. Come to your own conclusions and immerse yourself.
Well, friends, the first phase of my Solar Cycle project is complete. The Citadel of the Autarch Chapter Guide is out now.
As a long-time Wolfe reader and re-reader, I found myself wanting a detailed summary of the Book of the New Sun. Something without any analysis or conjecture - just the facts ma'am. So, I wrote one for me and thought others might enjoy.
Feel free to pick up a paperback or Kindle copy with my sincere appreciation, here.
As before, I recognize that MAD has published a BotNS Guide (which is fantastic), but this is much more granular in terms of plot. His is a great resource for research and understanding the allusions, etc. The more Gene Wolfe books on my shelf, the better!
As always, thank you all for the support and positive feedback over the last year.
Onward to Urth.
Come to think of it, you might also like J. G. Ballard. He's a terrific prose stylist, and several of his novels veer into the fantastical. Of particular note is The Crystal World. He also has a number of great short stories. In particular, I would mention "Dream Cargo" and "A Question of Re-Entry", and the Borgesian "Report on an Unidentified Space Station", which is a classic. (Later novels are largely realistic and contemporary.)
Jorge Luis Borges' "Death and the Compass" (available in English in the collection Labyrinths) is Wolfeian, though that's probably because Wolfe was influenced by Borges. (Ultan, the blind librarian in The Book of the New Sun, is widely accepted as being a reference to Borges, who was blind and worked as a librarian.) Other stories, such as "The House of Asterion", "The Aleph", and "The Shape of the Sword", will probably strike you as something Wolfe could have come up with.
Hard to tell the contents of these chapter guides, so here is a page flip showing the level of detail. Copies of the first three volumes are available here. Citadel is well underway! Again, thanks to this community for such positive feedback and support to date.
This guide has some answers to these questions - hope it helps! Sword really picks up pace as it goes.
For those as confused as I was, this is an omnibus collection of books one through four of Book of the New Sun. Amazon Link
No chapter guide but Michael Andre-Driussi did a lexicon that includes some illumination on themes and literary allusions.
The Wizard Knight Companion: A Lexicon for Gene Wolfe's The Knight and The Wizard https://www.amazon.com/dp/0964279533/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_2SBM4NT9G6HWGMMJJYQD
I love Devil, it was my first Lafferty and it blew my mind. But it's not the most accessible for sure and maybe not the best point of entry for everyone.
Definitely he's most famous for his short stories, and there's a new collection out. Really really great stuff. His earlier collections are not super easy to find, but if you can find one at a used bookshop or on ebay definitely snap it up! 900 Grandmothers is legendary.
The Botanical Garden may well have been set up as an elaborate Virtual Reality exercise by 'those behind the scenes and pulling the strings', it is possible that it existed only for those few hours that Severian was there.
PS you may wish to read 'Attending Daedalus: Gene Wolfe, Artifice and the Reader' (https://www.amazon.com/Attending-Daedalus-Artifice-Liverpool-University/dp/B005Q7GMRW)
I am so late with this one - but which book are you referring to? Is it this? If not, has it been published or is it yet to come?
Lexicon Urthus: A Dictionary for the Urth Cycle and Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun: A Chapter Guide by Michael Andre-Druissi are both excellent and highly recommended. The first one is an encyclopedia (not just a dictionary) of terms, characters, and places. The second is a chapter-by-chapter guide that makes a lot more explicit.
For example, Wolfe references a lot of groups of people (cacogens, hierodules, etc.) who are in fact aliens, but aside from one or two throwaways akin to "they traveled to Urth from the stars", Wolfe never explains what they are.
He also connects a lot of dots, like who Hethor and Jonas really are.
It didn't show as available at all for me on Amazon if this is what you're talking about: https://www.amazon.com/BOOK-FANTASY-BIRTHDAY-LIBRARY-COLLECTION/dp/B0078PU1Y0/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?
Try looking it up on abebooks.com using the ISBN number and any information about the edition or printing.
Can you buy from the US Amazon where you live? I see paperbacks for both copies for not unreasonable prices.
To answer your other question, yes you can just read the first four and get a complete story. Urth is more of a coda and just shows more explicitly some things that are alluded to in the previous four books.
Haven't read it, but found it:
Thank you. Yes, I didn't think Lexicon Urthus was supposed to be official. I thought it was more a fan work but I don't have a copy. Heck, it looks like from the amazon preview I can read most of the good stuff. These maps, different maps & pictures, a foreward by Wolfe & some Severian Synopsis at the end. Just cuts out the boring dictionary in the middle. I was fine with interpreting the jargon I didn't understand exactly as a constructed language anyways & just getting the gist of it. https://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Urthus-Dictionary-Urth-Cycle/dp/0964279517
I wonder if one map came first & gave inspiration to the other or if the Lexicon map was able to get so close just from the text it managed to match the more official version that well.
Mark V. Ziesing/Ziesing Bros. published some limited edition hardcover Wolfe books in the 1980s. In '84 he put out The Wolfe Archipelago that included the stories: The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories; The Death of Dr. Island; The Doctor of Death Island.
I have my original, signed, limited 1st edition that I would never part with, but you can find some fairly cheap copies on Amazon these days: https://www.amazon.com/Wolfe-Archipelago-Gene/dp/091748813X
Just FYI, the other Wolfe books put out by Ziesing were Free Live Free and The Castle of the Otter.
That's very kind of you! I want to edit a collected version at the end and submit it to the website, Ultan's Library, but I don't want to make money directly off of the work of Mr. Wolfe, or any other writer--unless it's my own we're talking about! If you want to support the blog and you like Gene Wolfe's work, you might like my novel, The Lightning Stenography Device. It has one more day at 99 cents, if you haven't already grabbed a copy!
Here. It's expensive, and I don't know if it's official. You can also find other copies, reputable and otherwise, by searching for the title/ISBN.
There's not really one consolidated spot for all of that. Some things will become clear as you continue reading. Wolfe's puzzles often have many pieces though, and it's not even clear how many mysteries are in this book.
As far as figuring out major mysteries that aren't revealed by reading the book through once, there's a "sequel" called Urth of the New Sun. Apparently Gene thought he was sufficiently clear, but his editor disagreed and pushed him to write out events that he only implied in the main four books. I continue to reread BotNS, but I only read UotNS once to get those extra threads tied up.
Another helpful resource is Lexicon Urthus, a dictionary/encyclopedia for the books which gives you the context for major mysteries, theories, and events.
And then finally, just come back and read all the cool conversations people have on here. Once you've read all the material, there's a lot of awesome theories you can wrestle with. I've had some of my biggest epiphanies years after finishing the books. People point out a subtle allusion or reference, propose an elegant theory, and it completely changes some part of my understanding of the books.
See, this is why I love this shit. It's so rewarding.