(urth) Shadows of the New Sun Tribute Anthology

Marc Aramini marcaramini at yahoo.com
Sat Mar 2 06:05:30 PST 2013


I was in the enviable position of seeing an advance copy of the upcoming Wolfe Tribute Anthology, Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe, edited by J.E. Mooney and Bill Fawcett.  It will be coming out August 27th.  
 
The table of contents is as follows, with a one or two small comments about probable source material, if applicable:
 
Wolfe: Frostfree - somewhere between a comedic piece and something more depressing
 
Neil Gaiman: A Lunar Labyrinth - Gaiman's story is clearly inspired by A Solar Labyrinth
 
Joe Haldeman: The Island of the Death Doctor - a slightly metafictional story narrated by Chris from Pirate Freedom
 
Timothy Zahn: A Touch of Rosemary - I can't place an exact story as inspiration, but certainly we all know a real life reason why Wolfe adopted his male animal-female vegatable naming schemes in Long/Short Sun
 
Steven Savile: Ashes - This poignant, emotional story seems to channel Bradbury a lot, too, but we all know Wolfe loves Proust's In Search of Lost Time
 
David Drake: Bedding - a companion story to Gene's "Straw"
 
Nancy Kress: ... And Other Stories - a 1st person narrative with some classic books and "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories"
 
Jack Dann: The Island of Time - also inspired by "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories", with Barsoom as the imaginative 2nd person catalyst instead of Dr. Moreau 
 
Michael Swanwick: The She-Wolf's Hidden Grin - an inversion of "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" - I wish he had done all 3 parts of the novel, this one alone is worth the price of admission  
 
Michael Stackpole: Snowchild - perhaps this story stems from Tracking Song 
 
Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg: Tourist Trap - a wonderful companion piece to "The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton" 
 
Aaron Allston: Epistoleros - the longest story in the collection, perhaps form and theme are more applicable to Wolfe than any single work as inspiration, though its epistolary structure is seen in The Sorcerer's House and Trip, Trap (and I guess The Wizard Knight, huh?).
 
Todd McCaffery: Rhubarb and Beets - this is a Fairie story, much as The Wizard Knight was
 
Judi Rohrig: Tunes from Limbo, But I Digress - a very fine 1st person story set in the world of "Home Fires"
 
William C Dietz: In the Shadow of the Gate - we all know where this fits in the Wolfe oeuvre.  A 3rd person epilogue to Shadow of the Torturer - lots of Hethor, for fans of that character (I know I am)
 
Marc Aramini: Soldier of Mercy - I'm just lucky to be in here with these guys!!!!!!!! Latro
 
Jody Lynn Nye: The Dreams of the Sea -  a 1st person coda to Urth of the New Sun, featuring a female from the Witch's Tower
 
David Brin: The Logs - an SF tale with some engineered animals, in some ways about totalitarian attitudes and perseverance
 
Wolfe: The Sea of Memory - a good way to end the anthology
 
 
Michael Swanwick did a particularly outstanding job, and my personal favorites were Nancy Kress', Neil Gaiman's, Steven Savile's, and Judi Rohrig's stories.  Nye and Dietz did an excellent job tackling the ambience and strangeness of New Sun.
 
Absent were Silk and Able, but Severian is represented. I think Forlesen or Seven American Nights would have made for some excellent stories, too.  
 
PS: I am going to continue my short story survey of Wolfe soon - my free time is mostly in the summer to devote the attention and resources it requires to do Wolfe justice
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