Catholic Sci-Fi from Fighting Texas Aggie Catholic Gene Wolfe

1,206 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Terminus Est
Terminus Est
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I don't know if anyone else on the board is an Epic Fantasy/ Sci-Fi guy, but wanted to give a recommendation for Gene Wolfe's Books of the New Sun series.

For those of you who don't know Wolfe, he is the most criminally underrated writer of all time. He has been described as "the best writer alive" and "the Herman Melville of sci-fi" by award winners such as Neil Gaiman, Patrick O'Leary and Michael Swanwick

I was recommended to him by a fellow Catholic and didn't realize he was a fellow Ag until after he died a few years ago. His books while not explicitly religious, are heavily influenced by his devout Catholicism.

The Books of the New Sun are the story of Severian the Torturer, a journeyman torturer who is exiled from his guild for showing compassion to one of his victims. The world building is insane, and Wolfe writes in such a way as I've never before seen, where you will have a "Memento" or "Prestige" OMG moment where random details mesh together into a gigantic reveal.

Before diving into the series if you want a short work which will get you used to Wolfe's writing style I recommend "the fifth head of cerberus".
Zobel
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Zobel
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AG
Great series. Pretty intense reading, and very surreal, but I enjoyed it. I'm not sure I understood 30+% of what went on, but I enjoyed it.
Terminus Est
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Zobel said:

Great series. Pretty intense reading, and very surreal, but I enjoyed it. I'm not sure I understood 30+% of what went on, but I enjoyed it.


You have to read it like 3 times. Have you read Cerberus? I did BOTNS, then Urth of the New Sun, then Ceberus (totally unrelated to the others) and then his writing style clicked in my head, so I went back and reread the first 4, and everything made sense.

There is a saying that your 2nd reread of Wolfe is actually your first read
File5
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AG
Will check it out!
swimmerbabe11
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kinda like Loki season 2, no clue what is going on but I really really like it
Terminus Est
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swimmerbabe11 said:

kinda like Loki season 2, no clue what is going on but I really really like it


When it clicks into focus, you'll be floored
PeekingDuck
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AG
I had no idea he was an Aggie.
Zobel
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AG
Apparently he also invented the machine that makes Pringles.
Terminus Est
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Zobel said:

Apparently he also invented the machine that makes Pringles.


He also looks like the pringles guy himself

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