Connor Rooke > Recent Status Updates

"Revenge is a wheel, and it turns backwards"

Oh this is a fun one

Silk, a character in a Gene Wolfe novel, considering the tricks that one can play with words and realizing that he had thought he had been told one thing when he actually hadn't been told anything of the sort. Next he'll look at the camera and say "it's time for... an Exodus From the Long Sun!"

I keep forgetting that Wolfe is a funny writer too. He uses it like a scalpel, so I guess it's easy to forget

"I owe you a great deal, Blood" Oh this is a good little line

"Another's blood - another's life - had let him live"

Oh I cannot shake the feeling that Mayera Mint is in even more danger than it seems

This is so much more blatant than Book of the New Sun. Blatantly fantastical at least, I wouldn't say Long Sun's story is any less obscured and layered, but damn, there's some wild stiff happening and it's not hidden behind Severian's familiarity or manipulations

He what his what now

The Adopted Father, for Father's Day - I'm not pulling all the pieces together for this one, I think, but it's sad and it's sweet.

How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion, for Memorial Day - did you know Gene Wolfe was an engineer?

The Blue Mouse, for Armed Forces Day - This one is a little haunting. It also feels like there's enough of a world here to support more than a short story, but I don't know what kind a novel it would be. This one's going to roll around in my head for a while, I think.

Car Sinister, for Mother's Day - far and away the silliest Wolfe stort I've yet read, and also feels a little underbaked. Fun enough read, though.

Paul's Treehouse, for Arbor Day - this one felt like a dream. Not a good one, just one you remember really well after you wake up.

Chance of pewter cup playing a role: not 0%

Oh, this is a nice little touch

Sanderson has never written anything as funny as this book

Oh, so steel pushes and iron pulls? Ya don't say

Beautiful illustration, fantastic work

Beautyland, for Earth day - this one is sharp, and sad, and a little more cynical than I think is really warranted, but not by much.

You sonofa

Oh, this is an absolute homerun moment

"St. Brandon", for St. Patrick's Day (yes, I'm late, shush). This is such a lyrical little story, I would love to read it out loud, except that I don't think I would be able to resist dipping into an absolutely abominable Irish accent.

Valentine's day: "Of Relays and Roses". Probably the simplest Wolfe story I've read, and definitely the sweetest.

Lincoln's birthday: "How the Whip Came Back". Dark, and probably darker than Wolfe thought it would be.

"I think"

Awfully invested in this being LEGAL, friend

BRANDON. Did you go on a Discworld kick while writing this?

I gotta reread Secret History