There are countless Gene Wolfe courses, tutorials, articles available online, but for some, having a book is still a necessity to learn. This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
1. Sword & Citadel (New Sun) (1994)
Sword & Citadel brings together the final two books of the tetralogy in one volume:The Sword of the Lictor is the third volume in Wolfe’s remarkable epic, chronicling the odyssey of the wandering pilgrim called Severian, driven by a powerful and unfathomable destiny, as he carries out a dark mission far from his home.The Citadel of the Autarch brings The Book of the New Sun to its harrowing conclusion, as Severian clashes in a final reckoning with the dread Autarch, fulfilling an ancient prophecy that will forever alter the realm known as…
2. The Urth of the New Sun: The sequel to ‘The Book of the New Sun’ (1997)
has been called “the finest writer the science fiction world has yet produced” by The Washington Post. A former engineer, he has written numerous books and won a variety of awards for his SF writing….
3. Shadow & Claw: The First Half of ‘The Book of the New Sun’ (1994)
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…
4. Latro in the Mist: Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Areté (2003)
A distinguished compilation of two classic fantasy novels, Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Areté, in one volumeThis omnibus of two acclaimed novels is the story of Latro, a Roman mercenary who while fighting in Greece received a head injury that deprived him of his short-term memory but gave him in return the ability to see and converse with the supernatural creatures and the gods and goddesses, who invisibly inhabit the ancient landscape. Latro forgets everything when he sleeps. Writing down his experiences every day and reading his journal anew each morning gives him a poignantly tenuous hold on himself, but his…
5. The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction (2020)
One of the greatest writers in genre (and literary fiction) of the 20th century, Gene Wolfe was a national treasure who produced the finest and most significant body of short fiction in the SF and fantasy field over the last fifty years. The Best of Gene Wolfe is an amazing retrospective collection of his short fiction, selected by Wolfe himself.Too many award winners and Best Of stories to list here; just as a sample we have “The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories”, “The Fifth Head of Cerberus”, “Petting Zoo”, “The Tree Is My Hat”, “Seven American Nights”, and “A Cabin on the Coast.” Incredible tales from a writer who challenged and…
6. Peace (2012)
Originally published in 1975, Peace is a spellbinding, brilliant tour de force of the imagination. The melancholy memoir of Alden Dennis Weer, an embittered old man living out his last days in a small midwestern town, the novel reveals a miraculous dimension as the narrative unfolds. For Weer’s imagination has the power to obliterate time and reshape reality, transcending even death itself. Powerfully moving and uncompromisingly honest, Peace ranks alongside the finest literary works of our time.Hailed as “one of the literary giants of SF” by the Denver Post, Gene Wolfe has repeatedly won the field’s highest honors,…
7. The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1997)
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….
8. Epiphany of the Long Sun: Calde of the Long Sun and Exodus from the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun, Books 3 and 4) (2000)
The two novels combined in this omnibus (Caldé of the Long Sun and Exodus from the Long Sun) comprise the second half of Gene Wolfe’s long novel, The Book of the Long Sun….
9. Litany of the Long Sun: Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun, Books 1 and 2) (2000)
Litany of the Long Sun contains the full texts of Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun, that together make up the first half of The Book of the Long Sun. This great work is set on a huge generation starship in the same future as the classic Book of the New Sun (also available in two volumes from Orb)….
10. Innocents Aboard: New Fantasy Stories (2005)
Gene Wolfe may be the single best writer in fantasy and SF today. His quotes and reviews certainly support that contention, and so does his impressive short fiction oeuvre. Innocents Aboard gathers fantasy and horror stories from the last decade that have never before been in a Wolfe collection. Highlights from the twenty-two stories include “The Tree is my Hat,” adventure and horror in the South Seas, “The Night Chough,” a Long Sun story, “The Walking Sticks,” a darkly humorous tale of a supernatural inheritance, and “Houston, 1943,” lurid adventures in a dream that has no end. This is fantastic fiction at its best….
11. The Fifth Head of Cerberus: Three Novellas (1994)
Back in print for the first time in more than a decade, Gene Wolfe’s The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a universally acknowledged masterpiece of science fiction by one of the field’s most brilliant writers.Far out from Earth, two sister planets, Saint Anne and Saint Croix, circle each other in an eternal dance. It is said a race of shapeshifters once lived here, only to perish when men came. But one man believes they can still be found, somewhere in the back of the beyond.In The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Wolfe skillfully interweaves three bizarre tales to…
12. The Wizard: Book Two of The Wizard Knight (2005)
A novel in two volumes, The Wizard Knight is in the rare company of those works which move past the surface of fantasy and drink from the wellspring of myth. Magic swords, dragons, giants, quests, love, honor, nobility-all the familiar features of fantasy come to fresh life in this masterful work. The first half of the journey, The Knight — which you are advised to read first, to let the whole story engulf you from the beginning — took a teenage boy from America into Mythgarthr, the middle realm of seven fantastic worlds. Above are the gods of Skai;…
Best Gene Wolfe Books You Should Read
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Genesis and download some gene wolfe books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
The Solar Generation: Childhood and Adolescence of Terrestrial Photovoltaics
Author(s): Philip R. Wolfe
Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Press, Year: 2018, Size: 111 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2227059
Extinction Studies: Stories of Time, Death, and Generations
Author(s): Deborah Bird Rose, Thom van Dooren, Matthew Chrulew, Cary Wolfe
Publisher: Columbia University Press, Year: 2017, Size: 8 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2229905
Synthesis of Heterocycles via Metal-Catalyzed Reactions that Generate One or More Carbon-Heteroatom Bonds
Author(s): John P. Wolfe , John P. Wolfe (eds.)
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Year: 2013, Size: 8 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 1005674
Network and Parallel Computing: 8th IFIP International Conference, NPC 2011, Changsha, China, October 21-23, 2011. Proceedings
Author(s): Adam Wolfe Gordon, Paul Lu , Erik Altman, Weisong Shi (eds.)
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Year: 2011, Size: 8 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 917099
Membrane Computing: 9th International Workshop, WMC 2008, Edinburgh, UK, July 28-31, 2008, Revised Selected and Invited Papers
Author(s): Vincent Danos, Jérôme Féret, Walter Fontana, Russell Harmer, Jean Krivine , David Wolfe Corne, Pierluigi Frisco, Gheorghe Păun, Grzegorz Rozenberg, Arto Salomaa (eds.)
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Year: 2009, Size: 9 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 185462
Applications of Evolutionary Computing: EvoWorkkshops 2005: EvoBIO, EvoCOMNET, EvoHOT, EvoIASP, EvoMUSART, and EvoSTOC Lausanne, Switzerland, March 30 - April 1, 2005 Proceedings
Author(s): Jesus S. Aguilar–Ruiz, Federico Divina , Franz Rothlauf, Jürgen Branke, Stefano Cagnoni, David Wolfe Corne, Rolf Drechsler, Yaochu Jin, Penousal Machado, Elena Marchiori, Juan Romero, George D. Smith, Giovanni Squillero (eds.)
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Year: 2005, Size: 14 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 348948
Please note that this booklist is not errorless. Some books are truly hot items according to The Wall Street Journal, others are drafted by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant resources you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.