Gene Wolfe's Book of Days

by Gene Wolfe

Contents:
How the Whip Came Back (1970)
Of Relays and Roses (1970)
Paul's Treehouse (1969)
St. Brandon (excerpt from "Peace") (1975)
Beautyland (1973)
Car Sinister (1970)
The Blue Mouse (1971)
How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion (1973)
The Adopted Father (1980)
Forlesen (1974)
An Article about Hunting (1973)
The Changeling (1968)
Many Mansions (1977)
Against the Lafayette Escadrille (1972)
Three Million Square Miles (1971)
The War beneath the Tree (1979)
La Befana (1973)
Melting (1974)

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Collections

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

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.

The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.’ Wolfe joins the Grand Master ranks alongside such legends as Connie Willis, Michael Moorcock, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Joe Haldeman. The award will be presented at the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA, May 16-19, 2013.

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 is 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 has 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 is also a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

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

Reviews

[Jaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Date Due (1981) 10/8-23 (4 stars)
How the Whip Came Back (1970) 27/4-23 (4 stars)
Of Relays and Roses (1970) 28/4-23 (3 stars)
Paul's Treehouse (1969) 26/4-23 (4 stars)
St. Brandon (excerpt from "Peace") (1975) 27/4-23 (4 stars)
Beautyland (1973) 29/4-23 (4 stars)
Car Sinister (1970) 27/4-23 (3 stars)
The Blue Mouse (1971) 27/4-23 (4 stars)
How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion (1973) 30/4-23 (3 stars)
The Adopted Father (1980) 30/4-23 (4 stars)
Forlesen (1974) 29/4-23 (5 stars)
An Article about Hunting (1973) 30/4-23 (3 stars)
The Changeling (1968) 25/4-23 (5 stars)
Many Mansions (1977) 29/4-23 (5 stars)
Against the Lafayette Escadrille (1972) 30/4-23 (4 stars)
Three Million Square Miles (1971) 30/4-23 (3 stars)
The War beneath the Tree (1979) 29/4-23 (4 stars)
La Befana (1973) 29/4-23 (3 stars)
Melting (1974) 30/4-23 (5 stars)

[Nathan Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

More in depth review to come later, but Forlesen might be the best short story I've ever read.

[Yórgos St. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend the Book of Days only to the die-hard Gene Wolfe fans. Most of the stories compiled in The book of days are early published efforts and lack some of the key elements that you can find in classic Wolfe stories.
"Forlesen" is the strongest story of the compilation without doubt. Other highlights were: How the whip came back, of relays and roses, the adopted father and war beneath the tree.

[Yev · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Castle of the Otter - Gene Wolfe (1982)

I read this as part of Castle of Days (1995). Maybe sometime I'll read the rest of it, or not, either way. It's a series of essays ostensibly regarding the Book of the New Sun. It was worthwhile, but if you want to read it specifically for Book of the New Sun info, you'll find less than you probably had wanted.

The Feast of Saint Catherine
Wolfe says that he didn't submit the first book until the entire story was in its second draft. I wonder how common that practice is. Michael Sullivan has also said that he doesn't submit a first book until the entire trilogy has been finished so that there's no chance that it goes into limbo. It's nice for the readers at the least.

Rather than four novels it became, BotNS was originally intended as a maximum length novella, basically a novel. He describes what that would've been like.

Helioscope
His idea of relating Jesus to torturers, is one that I don't think I've seen before. I wouldn't be surprised if he had many other heterodox beliefs.

Wolfe also presents his views on fan conventions, reader views on writers, what it means to be an writer, and the wonderful benefits and advantages of not being a full-time writer. I don't really personally agree with most of them, but they're understandable.

Sun of Nelioscope
There's some about his life and what he believes, especially regarding religion, and how people believe the series to be much more religious than was planned. He also criticizes those same people who believe it to be religious of not knowing about Christ and being afraid to learn the truth.

I found his criticisms of people not accepting various narrative forms as science fiction to still be relevant considering how many people still read this series as being predominantly fantasy, if not entirely.

His criticisms of those who decry using the past as the future are less convincing, but I don't mind that practice in most cases. Some people really do unreasonably abhor or feel dismissive of the practice. I find that to be unfortunate for them.

Hands and Feet
Wolfe discusses his epigraphs.

Words Weird and Wonderful
Wolfe provides some meanings to his words. This has been superceded by the Lexicon Urthus.

Onomastics, the Study of Names
Wolfe states that his naming rule is simple: "Everything is just what it says it is." So it is. Videogames and other media use a lot of mythology, even obscure stuff, often lazily just to have interesting names, so I was familiar with that aspect.

Cavalry in the Age of Autarch
Wolfe explains in detail how truly great calvary is with math, statistics, examples, and states that the future is genetically engineered cavalry, possibly in the form of centaurs.

These Are the Jokes
Wolfe has his characters tell jokes. I didn't find them to be that amusing overall.

The Rewards of Authorship
Wolfe starts with a Q and A of himself. As a college dropout, he takes a dim view of writing courses by those who aren't successful authors and somewhat similarly of the entire experience. Though, he isn't much keener on those that are taught by successful professionals.

When I read older works, which I don't like saying of something published in the same decade that I was born, I find it interesting to see which names still have cultural presence and which have faded into obscurity. The further one goes back, the more collegial and interconnected the authors seem to be, but that's probably only because there were far fewer sff writers back then. There's modern similarities with groups on social media, but I don't know that it's much the same. Possibly the closest I've seen, but don't have involvement with, are the authors of the Progression community.

He then goes on to say that fandom has been taken over by those not interested in reading, but rather movies and tv. A relevant term would be "secondaries". Fandom was so much better in the 1930s he proclaims, though since he was born in 1931, I'm not sure how personally applicable that would be to him. I haven't looked at what he later said, but based on this this he probably really didn't/wouldn't like fandom as it is now. As some older authors would say, they aren't trufans.

I don't think Wolfe would like indie/webnovel/self-publishing/etc because he provides a strong defense of bookstores and publishers that states "If bookstores or publishers go down, they'll drag writing down with them." I don't think that's the case. I don't have the exuberance for self-publishing, where some think it will overthrow traditional publishing. I also don't have the same for traditional publishing either though. They both have their place.

The Castle of the Otter
This is about the publishing process, but mostly it's about Wolfe's self-congratulations about what a great author he is. He notes that "I do it out of shameless vanity."

Beyond the Castle of the Otter
Claw was knocked out of the top selling spot by God Emperor of Dune, which he says was the last Dune book. It would later prove not to be, but it should've been.

There was a brief aside about how one of his children went to the same university that I did. I'm always mildly surprised when I see any references to my region, but maybe I shouldn't be.

[EmBe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ziel erreicht, an einem Feiertag angefangen, an einem Feiertag beendet. Am Ende, letzte 70 Seiten wurde es noch einmal richtig gut, kurze Geschichten mit Pointen und/oder Biss. Science Fiction kann man sie nicht alle nennen, einige waren schlicht fantastisch, die Story "Drei Millionen Quadratmeilen" war zum Beispiel nichtphantastisch. Aber gut und hintersinnig waren sie alle, so dass ich auch 4 Punkte vergeben hätte können. In vielen der hier versammelten Stories stand Wolfe der New Wave näher als dem Hauptstrang der SF. Er teilte auf jeden Fall die literarischen Ambitionen der Bewegung. Mal waren sie ausgesprochen satirisch wie "Ein Artikel über die Jagd", die von einer grotesken Bärenjagd als vermeintliche Naturschutzaktion handelt. Mal waren sie einfach nur seltsam.
Der Originaltitel "Gene Wolfe's Book of Days" zeigt, dass es nicht nur um Festtage sondern auch Erinnerungstage geht. Zu jedem gibt es ein Geschichte, die dazu irgendwie passt, angefangen von Lincolns Geburtstag (Thema Sklaverei) bis zu Silvester (Eine Party mit Gästen aus verschiedenen Zeiten).
Lesenswert? Für Freunde ambitionierte SF auf jeden Fall.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gene Wolfe's second short story collection unites some of his earliest published efforts from the 1960's and 70's together under a loose theme, with each story being assigned to its own red letter day, be that a universally recognised one (Halloween, Christmas Day etc) or one specific to America (Armed Forced day, Thanksgiving etc).

Anyone, like me, who came to Wolfe through his ambiguous and complex 80's output first of all may be a little surprised by how relatively literal some of the pieces here are, or by the concentration of stories with war as the main theme or setting. Wolfe served for a while in Korea, his experiences there clearly left a mark.

There are eighteen stories in all (nineteen if you read the introduction!), of which the highlights include 'La Befana', a delightful little Nativity tale set on a distant planet, and 'The Changeling', the story closest to containing all the elements of classic Wolfe - an unreliable narrator, confusion over identities, and lots of difficult clues arising from names dates.

'Forlesen' is by far the longest piece and also the best. The eponymous narrator awakes and his name is the only thing about his life that he can remember, although the world he finds himself in is keen to inform him about all the other details of his life.

All the stories leave you with something to remember or to think about though.

[Carl Barlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quirky collection of short stories. There's quite a strong Ray Bradbury feel to much of the collection, but Wolfe gleefully twists things about in something of an almost f*** you fashion, unconcerned whether or not his readers actually understand what's going on. There's a lot of humour, but it's wry, sardonic, where it isn't downright black (though there is also fun: WWII resolved in a car race based upon the function of transistors, anyone?). There's melancholy. There's quite a bit of social comment (familial disintegration, the loss of humanity in the face of modern life, historical ignorance begetting a return to historical horrors). And there are bloodthirsty, desperate toys battling beneath a Christmas tree long before Pixar.

An entertaining, quite unconventional, read.

[Daniel Polansky]

Always love Wolfe's short stories. I've probably read Forlesen like 10 times over the years and it still stands out.

[WadeofEarth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeing how Gene here generously gave us a collection of short stories for many of our holidays, I decided to read them throughout the year. It was a ton of fun, I was astounded at some stories, puzzled at other, and fairly ambivalent to a few, but I have come to realize that Wolfe is a master of the dubious art of short story telling. The challenge is to tell a story in a few pages, that subtly reveals a much bigger picture. Like I said, on some of these I was totally lost, but some of these little stories have really stuck with me. Another thing I like about this medium is that it gives creatives opportunities to explore wild ideas without the pressure of having to write hundreds of pages about it.

I will come back to this book, of not for the whole, than at least some of my favorite stories.

Here are some thoughts I had on a few of the stories:


The Changeling: an interesting story that takes a fascinating turn. This one will likely bear sever rereads. The whole idea that a story almost demands to be reread is an interesting one that Wolfe seems to revel in.


Many Mansions is the Halloween story and it is an interesting one, revealing only one side of the dialogues to us and while much is revealed in its 10 pages, much more is left to speculation.



The War Beneath the Tree

This was a fun, somewhat creep story of a kids toys, all of which are autonomous, in Christmas Eve they are all preparing for something, we find out later they have to do battle with the new toys under the tree to see which group gets to stay. can't help but wondering if it was somewhat inspirational for Toy Story...



The last two stories I read we're really nuts, one about the return of indentured slavery to solve the incarceration problem, just sell the prisoner contracts to rich people. The second about how the perfect online dating service is ruining the economy!



Read "St Brandon" on Saint Patrick's Day. It was strange and made little o no sense to me... huh... wonder if the short story makes more sense in the bigger work "Peace" it was originally published in?



Wow, reading "Beautyland" on Earth day almost brought tears to my eyes. I want to keep away from spoilers, but this story basically illustrates our propensity towards destruction in a way that I found moving, and, eerily, imminent...


I loved the Memorial Day story, it is an alternate history where WW2 takes on the form of a somewhat Axis and Allies-type board game as well as a Automotive showdown between Britain and Germany to see who's new car is the most practical for city driving!"

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Gene Wolfe's short fiction, thematically arranged by holidays. Most are quite interesting, but nearly all of them require (de rigueur with Wolfe) external reading and analysis to unlock everything he's secreted away.

As an aside, I'd recommend Between Light and Shadow by Marc Aramini as a companion. Aramini has performed quite the feat there.

Enjoyable, but - as with The Castle of the Otter - perhaps better reserved for those who know what they're biting off.

[Arthur B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent collection of early short stories, hampered by the fact that the cream of the crop from this era had already been earmarked for The Island of Doctor Death And Other Stories And Other Stories. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...

[Christopher McCaffery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very early stories, some quite memorable.

[Brit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forlesen, which I think showcased a fun amount of wit and intrigue, was this compilation’s saving grace.

[my name is corey irl · Rating 3 out of 5]

they’re mostly bad/mediocre until “forlesen”, which is really good. and then they’re pretty good from there

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three of my ( now favorite ) Gene Wolfe's short stories are in this book.

Forlesen
Many Mansions
Melting

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever had a holiday you liked, Gene Wolfe is here to ruin it for you.

[Jennifer Worrell]

Paul's Treehouse (1969) and Three Million Square Miles (1971) are standouts.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

[from my old What Do I Read Next? days]

Plot Summary: a collection of stories, each of which is attached to a particular holiday or celebration day (e.g., Christmas Eve, Homecoming Day, Armistice Day). furthermore, as per the author's introduction, each story should be read only when in the mind frame of one celebrating such days. being part lemming [that's what my last name means], i first read the Thanksgiving story, "Three Million Square Miles," since i'd purchased the book in late November. i'm glad i didn't stop there, because i had yet to experience the literary and human beauty of "Forlesen" (the longest and BEST work in the collection)—mundanely, but accurately, slated for Labor Day—the prophetic "Paul's Treehouse" (Arbor Day of course), or the wait-til-they-read-the-last-sentence light bulb of "The War Beneath the Tree" (Christmas Eve).

i suppose a few story synopses are in order: "Three Million Square Miles" is the tale of a man who doggedly searches for the elusive, untamed three million square miles of land left in America; "Forlesen" gives us a day in the life of Emanuel Forlesen, a man who wakes up—along with his wife—completely unaware of who what where when why how etc. but who is given several instruction manuals, some material goods, and—apparently—instincts to survive (i sigh in remembrance of this exquisite, tip of the cerebellum, edge of the existential———*ahem*sorry about that *ahem*———onward!); "Paul's Treehouse" is about Paul (natch), an eight-year-old boy who decides to live permanently in the treehouse he has constructed 50 feet from the ground; and "The War Beneath the Tree" tells us of young, rich, Robin and his android toys/friends on the night when ideally not a creature should be stirring.

though these stories cover a wide range of themes, styles, voices, and greatness, and though most don't sound science-fictional in synopsis—every one is science-fiction or fantasy (some you might wish to classify as horrific?).

Main Characters: Emanuel Forlesen (eponymous central character of most substantial story in the collection)

Locale: all over the place, but mostly America

Time Period: all throughout time, but mostly modern times

Any Other Info -- such as Subjects, Genres, Series Name, Your Opinion of Book, etc.:
ATTENTION: anyone who ever lived and loved a story, read "Forlesen"! i can't remember a short story ever having as much of an effect on me; that haunted me spiritually, intellectually, and metaphysically this much; that urged me to read it again this frequently. (am i gushing?)

ATTENTION: anyone who ever tried to read Gene Wolfe but quit because he was inaccessible, start with these stories. admittedly, they are not as straightforward and as easily understood as, say, Vonnegut, but they're not anywhere near as dense as the two novels i've read (The Shadow of the Torturer and The Fifth Head of Cerberus).

only a few of the pieces were worth less than the price of admission and of the remainder, almost every one of them was an epiphany.

Gene Wolfe's Book of Days is no longer in print under that title, but it is available as part of Castle of Days.

Orb's edition of Castle of Days includes the entire text of Gene Wolfe's Book of Days as well as sections entitled Castle of the Otter (writings on Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun series) and Castle of Days (various Wolfe pieces on writers, writing, and books).

[Simonfletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's written by Gene Wolfe. Of course you should read it.

A wonderful collection of varied stories, each story based around a memorial day of some kind, be it thanksgiving, christmas, new years, Armistace day, Gene consistently pulled something new and thought provoking out of his magicians hat.

What I learned from gene Wolfe:
- Creativity cannot be contained. He once said in an interview (while talking about letting your imagination run wild on any theme or idea) that he could write a story based on every letter of the alphabet or every colour of the rainbow, and each of them be unique.
- People don't give backstory/info dump in real life conversation, so it's unatural for characters and narrators to do so in fiction. The reader should discover the fictional world for themselves rather than be force fed 'how things work now' or 'what a person is like'
- Gene Wolfe likes to play when he writes
- Gene Wolfe like to dress a wolf in sheep's clothing. There is a particular story about the hunting of a bear in this collection which is unsettling as there is half a hint somewhere at the begining of the story, that the bear is not really a bear, and this idead hangs in your subconscious, taunting you, even when the narrator seems to forget his observation. Though we never find out for sure.
- With Gene Wolfe nothing is explained, and if a narrator or character is explaining something to you, they are likely to be misleading you in some way.

- Gene Wolfe is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Always remember that.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. It was pretty different from the Gene Wolfe that I'm used to as there was very little fantasy and mysticism, but still a good read. The following are the ones I enjoyed:
"How the Whip Came Back";
"Paul's Treehouse";
"The Changeling";
"Against the Lafayette Quadrille;" and
"The War Beneath the Tree."
"Forelesen" and "Three Million Square Miles" were brilliant. What made "Forelesen" so good was that Wolfe took the time to draw the story out to its natural conclusion, whereas I felt that some of the other stories were brought to an end too soon or lacked enough structure to be completely coherent. "Three Million Square Miles," however, was kept at a perfectly short length and said all that needed to be said with no wasted words whatsoever.
I would recommend this to most people, but if you do read it, keep in mind that Wolfe's style is not for everyone.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book of Days is not Gene Wolfe at his best, but it is reassuring to note that the stories are all from the beginning of Gene Wolfe's career as a writer. Some of the earliest stories are actually quite bad, but the later stories are much improved. Still, I think there are three memorably strong stories here with deep and interesting subtexts: "The Adopted Father", "Forlesen", and "The Changeling". "Many Mansions" and "Against the Lafayette Escadrille" were also favorites of mine. Overall, a fairly weak collection of short stories that only die-hard Gene Wolfe fans should read.

[Nachtkind · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not that I didn't like the stories, but I didn't like them together.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the years this is a book I keep coming back to.