Gene Wolfe is my Sci-Fi Jesus



Fuck. I just finished Nightside of the Long Sun (first in the "Book of the Long Sun", the sequel series to those four "Severian the Torturer" books that I'm always on about). I know that it's much funnier for me to rail against all the things I hate, but I worship at the altar of the Urth of the New Sun, and as such I must regularly pay my respects to this juggernaut of fantastic fiction.

Wolfe's use of language is unapologetically esoteric and antiquated, but simultaneously subtle and nuanced. He builds fully believable worlds in a terribly distant future, then populates them with people you recognize from your own life. He creates characters that you grow to love, but who's tragic flaws often make them hate themselves. They often believe themselves miserable failures, but in fact are incredibly capable and sometimes even superhuman. He writes protagonists that feel like you, and for me that's the mark of a truly fantastic author.
- posted by Mason @ 10:49 PM