Castle of Days: Short Fiction and Essays

I own most of Wolfe's books already, and this one has a lot of stuff that's already published elsewhere. But, it's definitely the easiest way to get your hands on a lot of it. For example, if you want to read the Book of the New Sun related material from Castle of the Otter, this is your best way in.

Book arrived quickly. I am very pleased with my vendor choice as the book is in near excellent condition. (The book appears to have been left open someplace in the middle at one point.) Exceeds expectations. The book content is, of course great. This book is by Gene Wolfe, one of the very best American authors in the last hundred years. Many thanks.

This is a collection of essays/ruminations. The first section deals with holiday-related stories/topics. The second deals with themes in some of his fiction. The third deals with writers, the art of writing, and topics related to publishing and the sci-fi/fantasy genres. An indispensable book for people who would like to sample the full range of Gene Wolfe's talents and diverse threads of thought.The book appeared in a timely fashion, and in the advertised condition. I would favorably recommend this merchant.

Insight into the motivations of the author and into his best known works. In particular, the conversational tone helps close the gap between the author and his readers. Would love to have read this as a teenager, when I struggled with the Book of the New Sun for the first time. Still all these years later I am very glad someone thought to combine these essays and short stories into a single volume.

This book was really fun to read. For me, a few parts were sort of boring, hence the four star rating. The pieces are so varied though, that there is something for everyone. If you loved the Book of the New Sun, then this collection is worth a few bucks.

This is a book. I bought it for the words inside so I could read them. Read the introduction. There is a bonus story in it.

These stories are the work of a man with a sharp mind and a wicked sense of humor. Most of them are science fiction, but many are unclassifiable. For instance, "Forlesen," a story with many levels of meaning, attempts to sum up the twentieth century experience in forty-four pages and does it pretty well. There is non-fiction as well, including Wolfe's hilarious essay on knife-throwing. From my limited experience I'd say that Gene Wolfe is one of the most underrated science fiction writers.

Great short stories, my favorite being Forleson and essays on writing. There's also some interesting information about the The Book Of The New Sun.