(urth) More Wolfe Blurbs

David Duffy David.Duffy at qimr.edu.au
Mon May 16 15:50:45 PDT 2005


On Mon, 16 May 2005, John Barach wrote:

> I've also discovered that this site gives a list of several (though it's far from complete).  I can't say I'm familiar with any of the authors:
>
> * Robert Nathan, Portrait of Jennie (1940)
> * George Turner, Drowning Towers (1987)
> * Robert Aickman, The Model (1987)
> * David Zindell, Neverness (1988)
> * Paul Park, Coelestis (1993)
> * Terry McGarry, Illumination (2001)
>
> Anyone read these?
>

Paul Park's _Starbridge Chronicles_ have been compared to Wolfe in the
past, esp for the use of language -- you are halfway through _The Soldiers
of Paradise_ (vol 1 of the trilogy) before realising "horses" are
reptilian, and "petrol" is also edible...is was definitely influenced, I
think, by BotNS, but goes it its' own way. Very stylish writing.

George Turner is the Australian who wrote a lot of "mainstream"  novels
before writing much interesting SF later in life (he was a long term fan).
Themes are assorted disasters, truly new societies that often interact
with leftovers from our times/mindsets, human engineering (social,
genetic), realpolitik.  _Drowning Towers_ is global warming drowned,
overpopulated Third-world Melbourne.  I don't think of him as Wolfean in
style.

Zindell is definitely worth reading -- another strong stylist, though
the sequelae to Nevernesse are not as tight.  I think Zindell's gods
and technology are closer to Frank Herbert than Wolfe: his narrators are
religious cum mathematical mystics, more lyric in tone than Wolfe
(except in certain passages).

Robert Nathan was covered recently in NYRSF.



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