Have to recommend 'World at War' series by Harry Turtledove. It's like watching paint dry, it repeats itself, somehow, but, what's better in a HODL, don't actively trade -environment? I love it. Enjoy the kukuriknich and all the other skits dudes. Harry for life. Guns of the South is pretty good too! I'll try this gene wolf bs, it seems great.
Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
101–110 of 145 posts
Re: Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
#102For all those who are saying now "Who's Gene Wolfe??" I strongly, strongly, urge you to read his tetralogy "The Book of The New Sun," it's one of the finest sci-fi/fantasy series I've ever read and I have a pretty damn critical taste when it comes to literature. (not trying to sound snobby by the way, I just don't praise books like these lightly or without good reason) So I love Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, M…
Haven't read Gene Wolfe (yet), but I can strongly recommend 'Hyperion Cantos' by Dan Simmons.
Sci-fi thread drinking game: take a shot every time someone recommends Hyperion regardless of context.
Re: Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
#103Gene Wolfe is one of my favourite authors, and his works more than most reward careful (re-)readings. To that end, I can highly recommend Alzabo Soup [1], a podcast delving into first Book of the New Sun (and currently Book of the Long Sun) in very deep detail (it took them a couple of years, with weekly 2 hour episodes to make it through BoNW). I reread along with the podcasts, and it was well worth it. [1] https://…
Alzabo Soup is great, as is the urth.net mailing list someone else mentioned.
https://ultan.org.uk/ is another fantastic resource for Wolfe fans.
Re: Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
#104Gene Wolfe’s work is great, and I feel he is appreciated by many HNers. But one author I think is too seldom mentioned and read is Ballard. His take on science fiction is very interesting, often working on a more psychological level.
Re: Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
#105There are plenty of other earlier SF authors that fit the bill , Swift and CS Lewis for example.
And there are plenty of New Wave authors that also fit into this Ballard and SRD (Chip Delany) especially
Re: Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
#106For all those who are saying now "Who's Gene Wolfe??" I strongly, strongly, urge you to read his tetralogy "The Book of The New Sun," it's one of the finest sci-fi/fantasy series I've ever read and I have a pretty damn critical taste when it comes to literature. (not trying to sound snobby by the way, I just don't praise books like these lightly or without good reason) So I love Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, M…
That makes sense. I didn't like Dostoyevsky, Hemingway, or Wolfe.
ah! I thought the exact same thing.
The story is original, the characters interesting but it was just a pretty hard series of books to get through for me.
Re: Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
#107Also I must add that the assertion in itself is plainly wrong. Look at "Gene Wolfe" entries in the New York Review of Books and you will find none. Gene Wolfe might be considered as "High Art" by his fans, but that only means they don't read the New York Review of Books - and don't know much about literature for most of them.
You have to be in New York Review to be considered high art? When did they became arbiter of it all? > Gene Wolfe might be considered as "High Art" by his fans, but that only means they don't read the New York Review of Books - and don't know much about literature for most of them This is super odd implication.
Indeed, the idea of "High Art" seems stupid in itself.
Re: Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
#108For all those who are saying now "Who's Gene Wolfe??" I strongly, strongly, urge you to read his tetralogy "The Book of The New Sun," it's one of the finest sci-fi/fantasy series I've ever read and I have a pretty damn critical taste when it comes to literature. (not trying to sound snobby by the way, I just don't praise books like these lightly or without good reason) So I love Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, M…
I do not think your taste is critical if you enjoy Game of Thrones prose. Gene Wolfe's is far above. GoT is average fantasy prose and nowhere near literary fiction quality.
Re: Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
#109For all those who are saying now "Who's Gene Wolfe??" I strongly, strongly, urge you to read his tetralogy "The Book of The New Sun," it's one of the finest sci-fi/fantasy series I've ever read and I have a pretty damn critical taste when it comes to literature. (not trying to sound snobby by the way, I just don't praise books like these lightly or without good reason) So I love Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, M…
Haven't read Gene Wolfe (yet), but I can strongly recommend 'Hyperion Cantos' by Dan Simmons.
Strange that you feel the need to recommend a book by an author totally unrelated to this thread when you have not even read Wolfe. You have no reference as to what someone who likes Wolfe might enjoy.
Re: Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haven't read Gene Wolfe (yet), but I can strongly recommend 'Hyperion Cantos' by Dan Simmons.
Counter opinion: Hyperion books are recommended every time some of my favorite authors are mentioned (like Gene Wolfe and Peter Watts), but I found them very mediocre. Not as bad as Vernor Vinge books that are also always mentioned in similar contexts, but still quite meh.
Agreed, they do not hold a candle to Wolfe's prose. Though, many genre readers seem completely oblivious to prose quality and read purely for story. In the case of Hyperion everything is b-movie quality.