Plan(e)t Engineering

by Gene Wolfe, David G. Hartwell (Contributor)

Contents:
Gene Wolfe by David G Hartwell
Logology
The Books in The Book of the New Sun
In Looking-Glass Castle
The Rubber Bend
The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton
When I was Ming the Merciless
The HORARS of War
A Criminal Proceeding
The Detective of Dreams
Poems
British Soldier Near Rapier
Antiaircraft Missile Battery
Scans for the Enemy
Last Night in the Garden of Forking Tongues
The Computer Iterates the Greater Trups
The Anatomy of a Robot

Genres: Science Fiction, Poetry

155 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 1984

About the author

Gene Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic. He was a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the field.

While attending Texas A&M University Wolfe published his first speculative fiction in The Commentator, a student literary journal. Wolfe dropped out during his junior year, and was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After returning to the United States he earned a degree from the University of Houston and became an industrial engineer. He edited the journal Plant Engineering for many years before retiring to write full-time, but his most famous professional engineering achievement was a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato crisps. He lived in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

A frequent Hugo nominee without a win, Wolfe nevertheless picked up several Nebula and Locus Awards, among others, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. He was also a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/genewolfe

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This hardcover is numbered 515 of 1000 issued thus. There is also a slip=cased edition that was done 275 which are part of the 1000.

Contents:

"Gene Wolfe" by David G. Hartwell
"Logology"
"The Books in The Book of the New Sun" (original)
"In Looking-Glass Castle"
"The Rubber Bend"
"The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton"
"When I Was Ming the Merciless"
"The HORARS of War"
"A Criminal Proceeding"
"The Detective of Dreams"

Poems

"British Soldier Near Rapier Antiaircraft Battery Scans for the Enemy"
"Last Night in the Garden of Forking Tongues"
"The Computer Iterates the Greater Trumps"

"The Anatomy of a Robot" (article)

Edited by Greg Thokar
Cover art by Vincent Di Fate

[Frank Vasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll be brief, for many reasons (not the least of which is because I would be remiss if I did not indicate that the only reason I am fortunate enough to be in possession of a copy of this collection is due to an incredible effort by my partner) and these are, in addition to that in the parentheses, as follows: 1) this is a collection of Wolfe’s writing from a particular time in his career and represents an uncanny and deliberate selection that do not necessarily cater to individual tastes in poetry or short prose, 2) it is unfair to even the most avid readers of Wolfe that this collection is so difficult to procure because how can one person’s opinion of its contents but dismiss the fact the audience for these therein is so small? 3) I enjoyed this collection mightily, I am biased in general favor of everything Wolfe has ever written, and will change my mind on the individual pieces from time to time but overall I am in awe of this wonderful little book. Find it, or its selections, and read it!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Gene Wolfe! This short little collection is hard to find but a must-have for the Wolfe completist. Most of its contents can be found in other collections. The essay is interesting but my favorite story in the collection is "The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton".

[Omar Amat · Rating 2 out of 5]

some funny moments, a lot of references that went over my head.
not really memorable, the sci-fi elemets were ok.
the only thing I was left thinking about was the age of the Lady in the story, why pretend to be so young?

[Aaron Grossman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collector's piece, for sure. The great stuff in here ("The Rubber Bend", "The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton", "The HORARS of War", and "The Detective of Dreams") can all be found elsewhere (I think), and anything that can't be found elsewhere is probably not worth reading unless you're a real sicko like me.

Also you can totally find a PDF of this sucker if you just google around for a sec. This will never in a million years be reprinted so just do that instead of trying to buy a copy like my ass did.

[Matthias Hejlskov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very hard to find book, I ended up ordering it from the US to Sweden for 30 dollars, because the teo I found for sale in Europe were over 500 pounds.

Very good book though, as mentioned in the other reviews, the essay on the books in the book of the new sun was interresting, and also the map over severians world.

[Nachtkind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essay was particularly interesting.