Storeys from the Old Hotel

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating and eclectic collection
Review: I am having a hard time trying to figure out what I should say in this reveiw. I think this mostly because these stories are so varied and all of them well written. I guess I'll just list my favorites: "Sightings at Twin Mounds"; "Westwind"; "Redbeard"; "Cherry Jubilee"; "Trip, Trap"; "Straw"; and "The Packerhaus Method".

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating and eclectic collection
Review: I should try to load this review down with penetrating insights into Mr. Wolfe's methods and modus, and his (to me, lofty) place in the post-modern literary world, but I get toungue (finger?) -tied and flounder and it comes off sounding lame. Suffice it to say that this short story collection is interesting in that it is comprised almost entirely of stories that were never published or published only with great difficulty. Not all, or even most, of these stories are science fiction (but then, what of Mr. Wolfe's work has ever been exclusivly SF? And who cares?) These tales form a diverse collection ranging from a various ghost stories, wide ranging fantasy pieces, a light meditation about life as seen from a train, and, as always (Mr. Wolfe's forte'), some very incisive comments on humans and why they do the weird things they do.

My own favorites are "The Sightings at the Twin Mounds," "The Death of the Island Doctor," "Redwood Coast Roamer," "A Solar Labyrinth," and "Redbeard."

If you've never read Wolfe, this is a good place to start. If you have read Wolfe and you don't have this book, then what the heck are you waiting for?

Rating:
Summary: Look at what some publishers pass up!
Review: I should try to load this review down with penetrating insights into Mr. Wolfe's methods and modus, and his (to me, lofty) place in the post-modern literary world, but I get toungue (finger?) -tied and flounder and it comes off sounding lame. Suffice it to say that this short story collection is interesting in that it is comprised almost entirely of stories that were never published or published only with great difficulty. Not all, or even most, of these stories are science fiction (but then, what of Mr. Wolfe's work has ever been exclusivly SF? And who cares?) These tales form a diverse collection ranging from a various ghost stories, wide ranging fantasy pieces, a light meditation about life as seen from a train, and, as always (Mr. Wolfe's forte'), some very incisive comments on humans and why they do the weird things they do.

My own favorites are "The Sightings at the Twin Mounds," "The Death of the Island Doctor," "Redwood Coast Roamer," "A Solar Labyrinth," and "Redbeard."

If you've never read Wolfe, this is a good place to start. If you have read Wolfe and you don't have this book, then what the heck are you waiting for?

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: The very title is a gentle pun: "storeys" rather than "stories", and it opens the door to another of Gene Wolfe's just slightly cockeyed universes. I usually read Wolfe's books with an unabridged dictionary nearby, and I am never annoyed at interrupting my reading in order to refer to it. As with all his books, reading him is a slow process, and yet that only makes me feel that I am getting more for my money.

His characters are real. While they are all characters in the other sense of the word, none seems unbelievable.

Read this book. And read "Free Live Free."

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: The very title is a gentle pun: "storeys" rather than "stories", and it opens the door to another of Gene Wolfe's just slightly cockeyed universes. I usually read Wolfe's books with an unabridged dictionary nearby, and I am never annoyed at interrupting my reading in order to refer to it. As with all his books, reading him is a slow process, and yet that only makes me feel that I am getting more for my money.

His characters are real. While they are all characters in the other sense of the word, none seems unbelievable.

Read this book. And read "Free Live Free."

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: The very title is a gentle pun: "storeys" rather than "stories", and it opens the door to another of Gene Wolfe's just slightly cockeyed universes. I usually read Wolfe's books with an unabridged dictionary nearby, and I am never annoyed at interrupting my reading in order to refer to it. As with all his books, reading him is a slow process, and yet that only makes me feel that I am getting more for my money.

His characters are real. While they are all characters in the other sense of the word, none seems unbelievable.

Read this book. And read "Free Live Free."

Rating:
Summary: A book for completists...
Review: This isn't a bad collection, but it isn't a great collection -- which means that, for Gene Wolfe, it's a lesser book. Shorter stories than is typical of Wolfe's other collections, well written but mostly lacking the punch of the stories in "The Island of Dr. Death" or "Strange Travellers." Entertaining, occasionally brilliant, very quirky, even funny in places: essential Wolfe for those to whom Wolfe is essential.