(urth) A Question

[Tim Walters]

A lot depends on who's getting the recommendation. Much of the pleasure 
of BotNS and later fiction lies in the way Wolfe treats and/or subverts 
standard sf and fantasy tropes, and someone who hasn't read much in the 
genres may not get that.

I don't quite remember my first encounter with Wolfe--it was back in the 
Seventies, I think, since I remember being very excited when _Shadow_ 
came out--but it was almost certainly a short story in an Orbit or 
Nebula collection, possibly "The Death of Doctor Island." To this day I 
prefer his stories above all, and I think _Island..._ might be the best 
introduction, unless the receiver is one of those surprisingly numerous 
people who just doesn't like short fiction at all.

But to the Joyce/Eliot fan I gave _Fifth Head_. Not that he ever read it.

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Tim Walters | The Doubtful Palace | http://doubtfulpalace.com