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Otherwise: Three Novels
The Deep
In a twilight land, two warring powers -- the Reds and the Blacks -- play out an ancient game of murder and betrayal. Then a Visitor from beyond the sky arrives to play a part in this dark bloody pageant. From the moment he is found by two women who tend to the dead in the wake of battles, it is clear that the great game is to change at last.
Beasts
It is the day after tomorrow, and society has been altered dramatically by experimentation that enables scientists to combine the genetic material of different species, mixing DNA of humans with animals. Loren Casaubon is an ethologist drawn into the political and social vortex that results with Leo -- a creature both man and lion -- at its center.
Engine Summer
A young man named Rush That Speaks is growing up in a far distant world -- one that only dimly remembers our own age, the wondrous age of the Angels, when men could fly. Now it is the "engine summer of the world," and Rush goes in search of the Saints who can teach him to speak truthfully, and be immortal in the stories he tells. The immortality that awaits him, though, is one he could not have imagined.
In a twilight land, two warring powers -- the Reds and the Blacks -- play out an ancient game of murder and betrayal. Then a Visitor from beyond the sky arrives to play a part in this dark bloody pageant. From the moment he is found by two women who tend to the dead in the wake of battles, it is clear that the great game is to change at last.
Beasts
It is the day after tomorrow, and society has been altered dramatically by experimentation that enables scientists to combine the genetic material of different species, mixing DNA of humans with animals. Loren Casaubon is an ethologist drawn into the political and social vortex that results with Leo -- a creature both man and lion -- at its center.
Engine Summer
A young man named Rush That Speaks is growing up in a far distant world -- one that only dimly remembers our own age, the wondrous age of the Angels, when men could fly. Now it is the "engine summer of the world," and Rush goes in search of the Saints who can teach him to speak truthfully, and be immortal in the stories he tells. The immortality that awaits him, though, is one he could not have imagined.
560 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
54 people are currently reading
430 people want to read
About the author
John Crowley
131 books839 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
John Crowley was born in Presque Isle, Maine, in 1942; his father was then an officer in the US Army Air Corps. He grew up in Vermont, northeastern Kentucky and (for the longest stretch) Indiana, where he went to high school and college. He moved to New York City after college to make movies, and did find work in documentary films, an occupation he still pursues. He published his first novel (The Deep) in 1975, and his 15th volume of fiction (Endless Things) in 2007. Since 1993 he has taught creative writing at Yale University. In 1992 he received the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
His first published novels were science fiction: The Deep (1975) and Beasts (1976). Engine Summer (1979) was nominated for the 1980 American Book Award; it appears in David Pringle’s 100 Best Science Fiction Novels.
In 1981 came Little, Big, which Ursula Le Guin described as a book that “all by itself calls for a redefinition of fantasy.”
In 1980 Crowley embarked on an ambitious four-volume novel, Ægypt, comprising The Solitudes (originally published as Ægypt), Love & Sleep, Dæmonomania, and Endless Things, published in May 2007. This series and Little, Big were cited when Crowley received the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature.
He is also the recipient of an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant. His recent novels are The Translator, recipient of the Premio Flaianno (Italy), and Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land, which contains an entire imaginary novel by the poet. A novella, The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines, appeared in 2002. A museum-quality 25th anniversary edition of Little, Big, featuring the art of Peter Milton and a critical introduction by Harold Bloom, is in preparation.
Note: The John Crowley who wrote Sans épines, la rose: Tony Blair, un modèle pour l'Europe? is a different author with the same name. (website)
John Crowley was born in Presque Isle, Maine, in 1942; his father was then an officer in the US Army Air Corps. He grew up in Vermont, northeastern Kentucky and (for the longest stretch) Indiana, where he went to high school and college. He moved to New York City after college to make movies, and did find work in documentary films, an occupation he still pursues. He published his first novel (The Deep) in 1975, and his 15th volume of fiction (Endless Things) in 2007. Since 1993 he has taught creative writing at Yale University. In 1992 he received the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
His first published novels were science fiction: The Deep (1975) and Beasts (1976). Engine Summer (1979) was nominated for the 1980 American Book Award; it appears in David Pringle’s 100 Best Science Fiction Novels.
In 1981 came Little, Big, which Ursula Le Guin described as a book that “all by itself calls for a redefinition of fantasy.”
In 1980 Crowley embarked on an ambitious four-volume novel, Ægypt, comprising The Solitudes (originally published as Ægypt), Love & Sleep, Dæmonomania, and Endless Things, published in May 2007. This series and Little, Big were cited when Crowley received the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature.
He is also the recipient of an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant. His recent novels are The Translator, recipient of the Premio Flaianno (Italy), and Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land, which contains an entire imaginary novel by the poet. A novella, The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines, appeared in 2002. A museum-quality 25th anniversary edition of Little, Big, featuring the art of Peter Milton and a critical introduction by Harold Bloom, is in preparation.
Note: The John Crowley who wrote Sans épines, la rose: Tony Blair, un modèle pour l'Europe? is a different author with the same name. (website)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 19, 2019
Three early short novels by John Crowley. I loved all three novels, but I have to say the last one, Engine Summer, blew my socks off. Such originality...it's just stunning. Crowley is hard to describe to the uninitiated. He seems to be a sci-fi/fantasy writer, but he's so much more than that. Of course, all sci-fi/fantasy fans want to trumpet their favorite sci-fi/fantasy writer as "transcending the genre", but in this case - it's well, sort of true. I say sort of because I don't really think that he even belongs in that category at all. I think it's just kind of coincidental that the subject matter he tends to dwell on has some similarities with genre fiction. To save myself from babbling further and confusing you even more, I'll just point to this article. As a final note , I will say this - Crowley's novels read slowly. They are dense with detail and subtlety. He can be ponderous and challenging, and requires a bit of patience from the reader. Not exactly "beach reading".
December 22, 2023
Attempting to figure out the association between these 3 novels, as to why they were published in one volume, the best I can do is assign them a temporal association. The Deep codifies the brutal past, where blood feuds went to absurd lengths to seize dominance.
- while overtly futuristic, Beasts deals with some unforseen results of present day genetic experiments currently underway.
- Engine Summer is intricately post-apocolyptic.
Every story depends on all the stories being known beforehand. p384 Engine Summer
So these separate works can be regarded as warnings. Clean up your act, consider the consequences: otherwise the future is over.
the ancient war of man with the world if not still fought at least remembered....they no longer struggled to hold back the world p483
At any rate, although I had ordered only one of the few John Crowley books on offer, this came, quite the bonus even if I had already read Engine Summer. I once lived in that book, and thought I might skim it after enjoying the first two. To my surprise, I was drawn in again by the fact it all seemed so fresh. My memory retained transfigured highlights only
JC seems to be highly underrated and largely forgotten; not to his devoted following. It's obscene that it is so difficult to get his back list.
4.5 upped to 5 for GR
6/7..
- while overtly futuristic, Beasts deals with some unforseen results of present day genetic experiments currently underway.
- Engine Summer is intricately post-apocolyptic.
Every story depends on all the stories being known beforehand. p384 Engine Summer
So these separate works can be regarded as warnings. Clean up your act, consider the consequences: otherwise the future is over.
the ancient war of man with the world if not still fought at least remembered....they no longer struggled to hold back the world p483
At any rate, although I had ordered only one of the few John Crowley books on offer, this came, quite the bonus even if I had already read Engine Summer. I once lived in that book, and thought I might skim it after enjoying the first two. To my surprise, I was drawn in again by the fact it all seemed so fresh. My memory retained transfigured highlights only
JC seems to be highly underrated and largely forgotten; not to his devoted following. It's obscene that it is so difficult to get his back list.
4.5 upped to 5 for GR
6/7..
December 20, 2019
John Crowley United
It’s hard to say how much I love John Crowley’s novels. These three are especially wonderful. Crowley is a poet among storytellers. I often bitch and moan about the most of us not having enough imagination to solve the hot mess of problems we’ve got ourselves into. Then I read Crowley and think, Here’s someone who can imagine the ramifications of everything from technologies to emotions and back again, so why don’t we just elect him world leader? At least, read his novels? “Engine, Summer” is maybe his best, though he’s consistently wonderful. “Beasts” is a new favorite, an old work, but so relevant now, in the sixth extinction with genomicists scrambling. I think the single thing I admire most about Crowley is his ability to imagine a completely-other mind and to then give it quotidian voice and story without descending to the merely human. Novelists are only ever allegedly the keepers of voices. If you want the true voodoo, listen to Crowley. He is magic.
It’s hard to say how much I love John Crowley’s novels. These three are especially wonderful. Crowley is a poet among storytellers. I often bitch and moan about the most of us not having enough imagination to solve the hot mess of problems we’ve got ourselves into. Then I read Crowley and think, Here’s someone who can imagine the ramifications of everything from technologies to emotions and back again, so why don’t we just elect him world leader? At least, read his novels? “Engine, Summer” is maybe his best, though he’s consistently wonderful. “Beasts” is a new favorite, an old work, but so relevant now, in the sixth extinction with genomicists scrambling. I think the single thing I admire most about Crowley is his ability to imagine a completely-other mind and to then give it quotidian voice and story without descending to the merely human. Novelists are only ever allegedly the keepers of voices. If you want the true voodoo, listen to Crowley. He is magic.
June 28, 2013
Giving this 5 stars for Engine Summer, 3 stars for the others (that's the trouble with compilations, I guess). The Deep and Beasts are worthwhile stories, but Engine Summer is wonderful and heartbreaking, the most gentle post-apocalypse story you're ever likely to read.
May 18, 2020
I tore through The Deep and Beasts, but I hit a wall when I got to Engine Summer. For some reason (I don’t know why) I thought it was about sentient engines and had been building it up in my mind before I read it trying to figure out how Crowley was going to pull it off. It’s actually about real people and unrequited love and a bunch of other things I’m not sure I fully grasped set on a post apocalyptic earth hundreds (thousands? I don’t even know) in the future. The writing was beautifully melancholic but I just couldn’t make myself care about Rush That Speaks or Once A Day or why he was so in love with someone it was clear was unable to love him in return. The confusing plot points and the way the characters speak did make sense (sort of) in the very end, but it was often infuriating up to that point trying to make sense of what the hell all of the characters are talking about. Definitely don’t start with this, or read the first two novellas and skip Engine Summer if you haven’t read John Crowley before.
March 12, 2018
I really like how John Crowley writes. He's very good at pulling you into a story. He doesn't just spell things out for you either. I had to really think and I still am not quite sure what was going on! Which means I'll have to read these 3 novellas again.
September 14, 2024
The Deep: Pulchritudinous and weird. A winding fantasy pathed through reds and blacks all sleeping and warring and killing together and all indiscernible with an odd observing ovum being.
Maybe I won't read the other stories.
Maybe I won't read the other stories.
March 4, 2013
Weltenbauer Crowley
Über alle drei Kurzromane in diesem Band ist zu sagen: Ich, mit meinem eher altmodischen Schubladendenken, hätte alle drei ohne weiteres Nachdenken in die Kategorie Science Fiction gesteckt und wäre nie auf die Idee gekommen, diese Romane als "Fantasy" zu vermarkten. Aber da Science Fiction in den letzten 20 Jahren wohl auf die gleiche Weise Popularität verloren hat wie Fantasy sprunghaft beliebt geworden ist, ist es scheinbar einfacher, alles, was irgendwie auch nur am Rande ein fantastisches Element hat, als Fantasy zu deklarieren.
Wer Werke von Philip José Farmer oder Ursula K. LeGuin gelesen und gemocht hat, wird auch dieses Buch von John Crowley mögen - es ist m.E. "soft" Science Fiction mit starkem psychologischem Einschlag, ähnlich dem Werk der beiden vorgenannten.
The Deep
Wie schon von anderen Rezensenten bemerkt, ist dies ein sehr seltsames Stück Text. Für mich war es recht schwer zu lesen, was sowohl an den ungenau abgegrenzten Protagonisten als auch an der allgemeinen Erzählweise lag: abgehackt, unzusammenhängend, stark springend. Den Dialogen kann man kaum folgen, der Plot ist stellenweise sehr schwer verständlich. Trotzdem ist es irgendwie faszinierend, die Stimmung, die erzeugt wird, ist packend und die Welt, die beschrieben wird, lässt einen nicht los. Keine leichte Lektüre, eher was für experimentierfreudige Leser. Man merkt aber auch, dass es sich um das Erstlingswerk eines Autors handelt, es sind doch einige Macken drin, die ein erfahrener Schreiber anders gemacht hätte.
Beasts
Beasts ist eine sehr ballardesque Novelle. Eine Welt, die der unseren sehr ähnlich ist, aber durch ein paar Details abgewandelt wird. Einige Ideen klingen sehr nach Ballard, wie die Kolonie Candy Mountain oder die Beschreibung, wie alle Menschen, die mit den "Leos" zusammentreffen, immer mehr in den Sog ihrer Faszination hineingezogen werden. Insgesamt sieht man deutlich die schriftstellerische Weiterentwicklung Crowleys im Vergleich zu "The Deep" - sehr viel lesbarer, flüssiger und strukturell besser aufgebaut. Diese Novelle hat mir sehr gut gefallen, insbesondere die Schilderungen der Fremdartigkeit, die von den Leos ausgeht, ist sehr beeindruckend und gelungen. Kurz: Deutlich besser als "The Deep".
Engine Summer
Bei dem von vielen Rezensenten als sein bestes Kurzwerk gesehenes "Engine Summer" bin ich zwiespältig. Einerseits ist die erste Hälfte der Novelle sehr sehr ansprechend und verzaubert den Leser mit seiner sehr gelungenen Charakterisierung und einem überaus angenehmen Lesefluss, andererseits ist die zweite Hälfte meines Erachtens übermäßig künstlich kryptisiert, was dazu führt, dass der angesprochene Zauber der ersten Hälfte fast völlig wieder verlorengeht. Ich halte nicht viel davon, den Leser mit immer geheimnisvolleren Andeutungen und immer noch kryptischeren Textteilen dazu zu verführen, zu denken, es werde hier ein philosophisch tiefer Text angeboten, insbesondere, wenn es, wie hier, eindeutig nicht der Fall ist - es ist zwar ein netter Twist am Ende, aber das hätte viel schöner und besser funktioniert ohne diese ganze Pseudokrypto-Erzählung der zweiten Hälfte, die den Lesefluss enorm hemmt. Trotz allem - ein sehr schöner SF-Roman, besonders die erste Hälfte.
Insgesamt möchte ich sagen, dass diese Zusammenstellung dem Leser einige sehr unterhaltsame Stunden mit viel Besinnlichkeit und Sprachzauber schenken wird. Manche handwerkliche Mängel muss man dem Autor attestieren, aber diese werden bei weitem durch seine Fähigkeit, eine Welt plastisch erstehen zu lassen, aufgewogen. Empfehlenswert.
Über alle drei Kurzromane in diesem Band ist zu sagen: Ich, mit meinem eher altmodischen Schubladendenken, hätte alle drei ohne weiteres Nachdenken in die Kategorie Science Fiction gesteckt und wäre nie auf die Idee gekommen, diese Romane als "Fantasy" zu vermarkten. Aber da Science Fiction in den letzten 20 Jahren wohl auf die gleiche Weise Popularität verloren hat wie Fantasy sprunghaft beliebt geworden ist, ist es scheinbar einfacher, alles, was irgendwie auch nur am Rande ein fantastisches Element hat, als Fantasy zu deklarieren.
Wer Werke von Philip José Farmer oder Ursula K. LeGuin gelesen und gemocht hat, wird auch dieses Buch von John Crowley mögen - es ist m.E. "soft" Science Fiction mit starkem psychologischem Einschlag, ähnlich dem Werk der beiden vorgenannten.
The Deep
Wie schon von anderen Rezensenten bemerkt, ist dies ein sehr seltsames Stück Text. Für mich war es recht schwer zu lesen, was sowohl an den ungenau abgegrenzten Protagonisten als auch an der allgemeinen Erzählweise lag: abgehackt, unzusammenhängend, stark springend. Den Dialogen kann man kaum folgen, der Plot ist stellenweise sehr schwer verständlich. Trotzdem ist es irgendwie faszinierend, die Stimmung, die erzeugt wird, ist packend und die Welt, die beschrieben wird, lässt einen nicht los. Keine leichte Lektüre, eher was für experimentierfreudige Leser. Man merkt aber auch, dass es sich um das Erstlingswerk eines Autors handelt, es sind doch einige Macken drin, die ein erfahrener Schreiber anders gemacht hätte.
Beasts
Beasts ist eine sehr ballardesque Novelle. Eine Welt, die der unseren sehr ähnlich ist, aber durch ein paar Details abgewandelt wird. Einige Ideen klingen sehr nach Ballard, wie die Kolonie Candy Mountain oder die Beschreibung, wie alle Menschen, die mit den "Leos" zusammentreffen, immer mehr in den Sog ihrer Faszination hineingezogen werden. Insgesamt sieht man deutlich die schriftstellerische Weiterentwicklung Crowleys im Vergleich zu "The Deep" - sehr viel lesbarer, flüssiger und strukturell besser aufgebaut. Diese Novelle hat mir sehr gut gefallen, insbesondere die Schilderungen der Fremdartigkeit, die von den Leos ausgeht, ist sehr beeindruckend und gelungen. Kurz: Deutlich besser als "The Deep".
Engine Summer
Bei dem von vielen Rezensenten als sein bestes Kurzwerk gesehenes "Engine Summer" bin ich zwiespältig. Einerseits ist die erste Hälfte der Novelle sehr sehr ansprechend und verzaubert den Leser mit seiner sehr gelungenen Charakterisierung und einem überaus angenehmen Lesefluss, andererseits ist die zweite Hälfte meines Erachtens übermäßig künstlich kryptisiert, was dazu führt, dass der angesprochene Zauber der ersten Hälfte fast völlig wieder verlorengeht. Ich halte nicht viel davon, den Leser mit immer geheimnisvolleren Andeutungen und immer noch kryptischeren Textteilen dazu zu verführen, zu denken, es werde hier ein philosophisch tiefer Text angeboten, insbesondere, wenn es, wie hier, eindeutig nicht der Fall ist - es ist zwar ein netter Twist am Ende, aber das hätte viel schöner und besser funktioniert ohne diese ganze Pseudokrypto-Erzählung der zweiten Hälfte, die den Lesefluss enorm hemmt. Trotz allem - ein sehr schöner SF-Roman, besonders die erste Hälfte.
Insgesamt möchte ich sagen, dass diese Zusammenstellung dem Leser einige sehr unterhaltsame Stunden mit viel Besinnlichkeit und Sprachzauber schenken wird. Manche handwerkliche Mängel muss man dem Autor attestieren, aber diese werden bei weitem durch seine Fähigkeit, eine Welt plastisch erstehen zu lassen, aufgewogen. Empfehlenswert.
September 26, 2014
Its says a lot that I read straight through this omnibus and began on Crowley's fourth novel Little, Big immediately afterwards. Of the three I would pick the wistful and evocative Engine Summer as my favorite - a dreamy, post apocalyptic story about, well, stories, or a myth about myths if you like. It is a deeply human, sad and wonderful tale with a metaphysical turn that could be obvious but ends up not being so.
While Engine Summer garners the 5 star for this omnibus The Deep and Beasts are well worth a read too. The premiss of The Deep is something like the war of the roses blended with mid-seventies weird Sci Fi, which sounds kinda naff but really isn't. At less than 200 pages it should feel brief but ends up feeling epic. I'm no fan of the swords and sandals side of the fantasy genre, which some might slot this into, but The Deep has all the qualities, lyric and full of strangeness, of an ancient epic poem. Beasts is a different kettle of fish altogether - nearly said different beast there but that would be one beast too many. Again the premiss sounds kind of ridiculous but ends up being really quite enthralling, throwing together various political themes with the nature/psychology of man and other animals - I'm guessing that Crowley is a cat lover because there is a preoccupation with the feline mind that runs through from Beasts into Engine Summer.
While Engine Summer garners the 5 star for this omnibus The Deep and Beasts are well worth a read too. The premiss of The Deep is something like the war of the roses blended with mid-seventies weird Sci Fi, which sounds kinda naff but really isn't. At less than 200 pages it should feel brief but ends up feeling epic. I'm no fan of the swords and sandals side of the fantasy genre, which some might slot this into, but The Deep has all the qualities, lyric and full of strangeness, of an ancient epic poem. Beasts is a different kettle of fish altogether - nearly said different beast there but that would be one beast too many. Again the premiss sounds kind of ridiculous but ends up being really quite enthralling, throwing together various political themes with the nature/psychology of man and other animals - I'm guessing that Crowley is a cat lover because there is a preoccupation with the feline mind that runs through from Beasts into Engine Summer.
December 19, 2016
I've only finished the first one, The Deep, but if The Deep is supposedly his first novel, I guess it only gets better from here. I've always heard so many good things about Engine Summer, that I am keeping off reading it for as long as I can. But I was awestruck by The Deep. It has a few problems, largely stemming from how much Crowley tries to say within such a short time. It's epic structure involving two warring factions and a strange visitor (who reminded me of Martian Manhunter) seemed best suited for a larger work, but having finished it, I can tell you that paradoxically, the book's best moments shine because it's such a short novel. Crowley ends up saying something quite profound through this book, and his use of language is spectacular.
Want to read
February 18, 2009I'm about done with the first novel in this collection - The Deep. It picked up toward the end, and Crowley's imagery is (as always) sublime, but my big caveat is that most of the characters in the story have VERY SIMILAR NAMES. Now, I'm no writer, and I have trouble naming characters in games, but if an author does something like this, all that happens is that I can't tell people apart and I have little idea what's going on.
Update 1: The second novel, Beasts, was much more enjoyable. Lion-human hybrids struggle to survive in a disunited post-apocalyptic America. Not as cheesy as it sounds from the outside, not in the least. Lyrical in typical Crowley fashion.
Update 1: The second novel, Beasts, was much more enjoyable. Lion-human hybrids struggle to survive in a disunited post-apocalyptic America. Not as cheesy as it sounds from the outside, not in the least. Lyrical in typical Crowley fashion.
February 23, 2009
I think John Crowley is quite a good writer (vivid descriptions, poetic turns of phrase), but these stories were just not interesting to me.
They're nicely told, but sort of slow and languorous, and I didn't particularly care about any of the characters or what happened to them.
Hey...that sounds like something I would write!
They're nicely told, but sort of slow and languorous, and I didn't particularly care about any of the characters or what happened to them.
Hey...that sounds like something I would write!
January 25, 2014
John Crowley's writing is wonderful, but his characters all seem archetypal, full of portent, and almost anonymous as people. The stories are stately and slow-moving, but the writing carried me along, and the endings pay off.
August 31, 2015
The Deep: 3.5/5
Beasts: 3/5
Engine Summer: 4.5/5
all in all, an interesting collection, but it's one that really just foreshadows the excellence of Little, Big.
Beasts: 3/5
Engine Summer: 4.5/5
all in all, an interesting collection, but it's one that really just foreshadows the excellence of Little, Big.
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May 20, 2015Science-Fiction
February 12, 2024
***** The Deep (1975)
**** Beasts (1976)
***** Engine Summer (1979)
**** Beasts (1976)
***** Engine Summer (1979)
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews