Gene Wolfe Gene Wolfe (born May 7, 1931) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusion-rich prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, which he adopted in marrying a Catholic. He is a prolific short story writer as well as a novelist, and has been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and World Fantasy Award multiple times. Wolfe fought in the Korean War and after returning to the United States became an industrial engineer. For many years he edited the engineering review "Plant Engineering" before retiring to write full-time. (One little known engineering achievement of Wolfe is that he is the co-inventor of the machine used to make Pringles potato chips). Works His best-known and best-regarded work is the multi-volume The Book of the New Sun, set in a distant future and detailing the life of Severian, an apprentice torturer, as he ultimately becomes a messiah. The work is composed of the novels The Shadow of the Torturer (1980), The Claw of the Conciliator (1981), The Sword of the Lictor (1982), and Citadel of the Autarch (1983). A coda, The Urth of the New Sun (1987), wrapped up some loose ends but is generally considered a separate work. In the 1990s, Wolfe published two more works in the same universe as The Book of the New Sun. The first, The Book of the Long Sun, consists of the novels Nightside the Long Sun (1993), Lake of the Long Sun (1994), Caldé of the Long Sun (1994), and Exodus From the Long Sun (1996). These books cover political intrigue and revolution on a generation starship sent from Urth to colonise a distant planet. Wolfe subsequently wrote The Book of the Short Sun, which is composed of On Blue's Waters (1999), In Green's Jungles (2000) and Return to the Whorl (2001), and deals with the colonists who have arrived on the planets Blue and Green. These three works, The Book of the New Sun, The Book of the Long Sun, and The Book of the Short Sun form an oeuvre often called the Solar Cycle. Although not a best-selling author, Wolfe is extremely highly regarded by critics and fellow writers, and considered by many to be one of the best living science fiction authors. His fans regard him with considerable dedication, and one Internet mailing list dedicated to his works has amassed six years and thousands of pages of discussion and explication; similarly much analysis and exegesis has been published in fanzine and small-press form (e. g. Lexicon Urthus). The writers Neil Gaiman and Patrick O'Leary have both credited Wolfe for inspiration. One of Wolfe's most common tropes is the unreliable narrator. Sometimes this is a person who isn't particularly smart (There Are Doors) or not particularly observant (Severian of The Book of the New Sun); in other cases, the narrator is damaged (amnesiac Latro in Soldier in the Mist) or naive (Pandora by Holly Hollander, The Knight). While the casual reader won't detect the unreliability of the narrator and may become quite confused, the careful reader can find a deeper layer of the story. Therefore, it might be said that Wolfe does not write for readers, but for re-readers. Bibliography Novels Operation Ares (1970) The Fifth Head of Cerberus (1973) Peace (1975) The Devil in a Forest (1976) The Book of the New Sun The Shadow of the Torturer (1980) The Claw of the Conciliator (1981) The Sword of the Lictor (1982) The Citadel of the Autarch (1983) Free Live Free (1984) The Urth of the New Sun (1987) The Soldier series Soldier of the Mist (1986) Soldier of Arete (1989) There Are Doors (1988) Castleview (1990) Pandora, By Holly Hollander (1990) The Book of the Long Sun Nightside the Long Sun (1993) Lake of the Long Sun (1994) Caldé of the Long Sun (1994) Exodus From the Long Sun (1996) The Book of the Short Sun On Blue's Waters (1999) In Green's Jungles (2000) Return to the Whorl (2001) The Wizard Knight The Knight (2003) The Wizard (2004) Story collections The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980) Gene Wolfe's Book of Days (1981) The Wolfe Archipelago (1983) Plan(e)t Engineering (1984) Bibliomen (1984) Storeys from the Old Hotel (1988) Endangered Species (1989) Castle of Days (1992) Strange Travelers (2000) Innocents Aboard (2004) Other works The Castle of the Otter Letters Home Shadows of the New Sun: Essays A Walking Tour of the Shambles (with Neil Gaiman) (2002) External links Paul Duggan's extensive Wolfe site Ultan's Library, critical essays of Wolfe's work The Urth Mailing List, for discussion of Wolfe's work Overview of Wolfe's work in Washington Post Book World by the SF critic Nick Gevers Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. 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