The ebook version of The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive
Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction is on sale for the month of
February. A sale price of $2.99 for a book running a length of 224 thousand
words and collecting more than 30 short stories, it’s a hard deal to pass up.
Despite having read only two books and a handful of his stories, Gene Wolfe
looms large in my pantheon of favourite writers. I find his work to be
difficult and frustrating (probably the reason I haven’t read many of his
works), but his mastery of prose sucks me in every time. It’s alluring and
hypnotic in the way good fiction can be, but what makes it great is that the
time I spend rereading large passages and sometimes entire chapters or stories
is greatly rewarded. It’s challenging, but worthwhile.
As I’ve been doing
with other anthologies, I’ll be writing about the stories I read here at SUR.
It’ll undoubtedly make my progress through the book laboriously slow. However,
I trust it will be a labour of love and like the strongest of loves will
require a lot of work and dedication. Pick up your copy and join along. Wolfe
writes the kind of fiction that generates discussion and interpretation, so do
not be shy about leaving comments.
