Gene Wolfe

The Book of the New Sun is unanimously acclaimed as Gene Wolfe's most remarkable work, hailed as "a masterpiece of science fantasy comparable in importance to the major works of Tolkien and Lewis" by Publishers Weekly. Shadow & Claw brings together the first two books of the tetralogy in one volume: The Shadow of the Torturer is the tale of young Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession -- showing mercy toward his victim. Ursula K. Le Guin said, "Magic stuff . . . a masterpiece . . . the best science fiction I've read in years!" The Claw of the Conciliator continues the saga of Severian, banished from his home, as he undertakes a mythic quest to discover the awesome power of an ancient relic, and learn the truth about his hidden destiny. "One of the most ambitious works of speculative fiction in the twentieth century." -- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

The First Half of The Book of the New Sun

Shadow & Claw

First published in 1972, this SF masterpiece has been out of print for most of a decade. Now, this "subtle, ingenious, and poetic book" (Ursula Le Guin) entertains a new generation of readers with the story of two far-flung sister planets and a man's quest to find remnants of a lost.

Three Novellas

The Fifth Head of Cerberus

Severian, a young torturer banished for the sin of mercy is now imbued with the powers of an ancient relic as he continues his mythic journey to the city of his exile in a world a million years in the future.

The Claw of the Conciliator

Living out his final days in a small midwestern town, an embittered elderly man, Alden Dennis Weer, explores his unique imagination, which has the power to obliterate time and reshape reality. Reprint.

Peace

A Borrowed Man: a new science fiction novel, from Gene Wolfe, the celebrated author of the Book of the New Sun series. It is perhaps a hundred years in the future, our civilization is gone, and another is in place in North America, but it retains many familiar things and structures. Although the population is now small, there is advanced technology, there are robots, and there are clones. E. A. Smithe is a borrowed person. He is a clone who lives on a third-tier shelf in a public library, and his personality is an uploaded recording of a deceased mystery writer. Smithe is a piece of property, not a legal human. A wealthy patron, Colette Coldbrook, takes him from the library because he is the surviving personality of the author of Murder on Mars. A physical copy of that book was in the possession of her murdered father, and it contains an important secret, the key to immense family wealth. It is lost, and Colette is afraid of the police. She borrows Smithe to help her find the book and to find out what the secret is. And then the plot gets complicated.

A Borrowed Man

Latro, a mercenary soldier from the north, has suffered a head wound in battle but has developed the ability to see and converse with all of the invisible gods, goddesses, ghosts, demons, and werewolfves that inhabit the land

Soldier of the Mist

The Whorl, a giant starship world whose origins are shrouded in legend, is ruled by strange gods and peopled by a human race changed by time

Nightside the Long Sun

In the first two books of the series "The Book of the Long Sun," young priest Patera Silk tries to satisfy the gods living within the Whorl, a starship world sent from Urth to colonize a distant planet, while trying to save his own parish.

The First Half of 'The Book of the Long Sun'

Litany of the Long Sun

Teenager Able is transported to a magical realm that contains seven levels of reality where he is transformed into a grown man and faces both the dangers and pleasures of encounters with giants, wizards, elves, and dragons.

Book One of The Wizard Knight

The Knight

In a contemporary town in the American midwest where he has no connections, Bax, an educated man recently released from prison, is staying in a motel. He writes letters to his brother and to others, including a friend still in jail, to whom he progressively reveals the intriguing pieces of a strange and fantastic narrative. When he meets a real estate agent who tells him he is, to his utter surprise, the heir to a huge old house in town, long empty, he moves in. He is immediately confronted by an array of supernatural creatures and events, by love and danger. His life is utterly transformed and we read on, because we must know more. We revise our opinions of him, and of others, with each letter, piecing together more of the story as we go. We learn things about magic, and another world, and about the sorcerer Mr. Black, who originally inhabited the house. And then knowing what we now know only in the end, perhaps we read it again.

The Sorcerer's House

A first volume in The Book of the Short Sun trilogy follows Horn and his family, new settlers on the planet Blue, as Horn voyages in search of the lost leader Silk to convince him to return and bring prosperity. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

Volume One of 'The Book of the Short Sun'

On Blue's Waters

After becoming the first Calde in more than a century, Silk gets a glimpse into the nature of the Whorl and of his own purpose.

The Second Half of 'The Book of the Long Sun'

Epiphany of the Long Sun

In need of a new location, an American writer of travel guides journeys to a small and obscure Eastern European country where it soon becomes evident that there are supernatural forces at work, but they are not as threatening as the country's corruption and brute forces of bureaucracy.

The Land Across

Latro, a Roman mercenary soldier from the north, has suffered a head wound in battle, develops the ability to see and converse with all of the invisible gods, goddesses, ghosts, demons, and werewolves that inhabit the land, but forgets everything when he sleeps, writing down his experiences in his journal each day, in an omnibus edition containing Soldier of the MistSoldier of Arete. Original.

Latro in the Mist

To save his parish buildings, Patera Silk, a young priest, embarks on a quest that takes him on an odyssey into the hidden secrets of his world and into a huge spaceship illuminated by an artificial long sun

Lake of the Long Sun

A superb collection of science fiction and fantasy stories, The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories is a book that transcends all genre definitions. The stories within are mined with depth charges, explosions of meaning and illumination that will keep you thinking and feeling long after you have finished reading.

The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories

The long-awaited conclusion to "The Book of the Long Sun". "Wolfe may already have established himself as the definitive voice in science fantasy. If he has not, "Long Sun" is likely to do the job".--"Chicago Sun-Times". A "New York Times" Notable Book of the Year.

Exodus From The Long Sun

Young Silk, inspired by the gods, fights for survival against the shadowy rulers of the city of Viron, who command the technological wonders of the future

Caldé of the Long Sun

Ursula K. Le Guin

James Tiptree (Jr.)

Three of science fiction's most gifted young writers unleash their imaginations to present startling glimpses of humanity's future on Earth and in space.

The New Atlantis and Other Novellas of Science Fiction

Horn continues his epic quest in search of the heroic leader Patera Silk, but his odyssey has become undermined by ambiguity and shifting realities.

Gene Wolfe

About

Books

Join the club