# Gene Wolfe -comparable SF authors?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 12, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922 "2007-02-12T21:27:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/1 "2007-02-12T21:27:30Z")
I’ll admit up front that I am a huge Gene Wolfe fan. I’m also pretty widely-read in the SF/Fantasy genre.
I happen to think that GW might be one of the better authors out there, regardless of genre.
Does anyone out there have some legitimately comparable authors?
My items of comparison:
[ol]
[li]Depth of plot[/li][li]Value of the re-read.[/li][li]Urge to look outside of book for linkages/explanations (inscrutability?)[/li][li]Style[/li][/ol]
Help me, SDMB Brethren! (And Sistren!)
-Cem
---
### Author:  [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/2 "2007-02-12T21:38:22Z")
Ever read any R.A. Lafferty? His writing is not for all tastes (neither is Gene Wolfe’s, of course), but those of us who like Lafferty like him very much indeed.
---
### Author:  [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/3 "2007-02-12T21:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud]
Ever read any R.A. Lafferty? His writing is not for all tastes (neither is Gene Wolfe’s, of course), but those of us who like Lafferty like him very much indeed.
[/QUOTE]
Huh…looking in Amazon, I think maybe I’ll try him out for size.
More, people!
-Cem
---
### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/4 "2007-02-12T21:55:13Z")
Roger Zelazny ?
---
### Author:  [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/5 "2007-02-12T21:57:19Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
Roger Zelazny ?
[/QUOTE]
I enjoyed 9 Princes…
C’mon, Der Trihs…I mentioned I’m widely read.
Everyone’s read Zelazny at some point…dig deeper!
Thanks,
Cem
---
### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/6 "2007-02-12T22:59:49Z")
Neal Stephanson?
---
### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/7 "2007-02-13T00:30:43Z")
M. John Harrison. He can write as well as Wolfe, which few others can say.
His style is distinctly different, though enough of a similar sensibility that I could compare them, unlike, say, Neal Stephenson, whom I greatly admire but isn’t a bit like Wolfe in any way.
Start with [Light](http://www.amazon.com/Light-M-John-Harrison/dp/0553382950/sr=1-2/qid=1171326334/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-5625761-1946464?ie=UTF8&s=books). A sequel, [Nova Swing](http://www.amazon.com/Nova-Swing-Gollancz-M-John-Harrison/dp/0575070277/sr=1-3/qid=1171326334/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/002-5625761-1946464?ie=UTF8&s=books), has just appeared so I haven’t read it. (Neither has anyone else, judging by Amazon US & UK.)
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/8 "2007-02-13T00:33:47Z")
There’s no one really out there like Wolfe. Love him or hate him, he is a unique stylist. However, I’d second M. John Harrison. Check the Virconium books.
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/9 "2007-02-13T00:38:16Z")
Oh, and [Mervyn Peake](http://www.amazon.com/Gormenghast-Novels-Mervyn-Peake/dp/0879516283/sr=1-1/qid=1171327009/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-0311196-8412466?ie=UTF8&s=books) might be up your alley, if you don’t mind older authors.
---
### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/10 "2007-02-13T00:39:10Z")
I can’t think of a Sci-Fi author who makes such good use of unreliable narrator techniques, but Dan Simmons’ _Hyperion_ comes close on this and your other points. Vernor Vinge is also worth a read.
---
### Author:  [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/11 "2007-02-13T03:31:19Z")
I’ve only read Wolfe’s “Book of the New Sun” series, but the two authors that strike me as achieving the same sort of effect and nailing those parameters that you mentioned are Mervyn Peake (especially the Gormenghast books) and China Mieville.
---
### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/12 "2007-02-13T03:35:46Z")
It used to be that **Jack Vance** fans looking for more were sent to the **Gene Wolfe** shelves, so maybe a return trip … ?
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/13 "2007-02-13T03:41:33Z")
[QUOTE=Askance]
It used to be that **Jack Vance** fans looking for more were sent to the **Gene Wolfe** shelves, so maybe a return trip … ?
[/QUOTE]
I met Wolfe at a convention, and when someone asked where they should start with him, I blurted out “The Dying Earth!” Fortunately for me, Wolfe took this with good humor and was very gracious when I got him to sign my firsts.
---
### Author:  [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/14 "2007-02-13T04:09:00Z")
I second R.A. Lafferty, not because he reminds me of Gene Wolfe – he doesn’t – but because he shares Wolfe’s unique ability to write the type of story that doesn’t remind you of _anyone_. (In fact, Wolfe himself is a Lafferty fan.) And a lot of his work has been reprinted in the last few years, so it’s much easier to find than it used to be. I’d recommend trying his short stories before throwing yourself into a novel, though – his bizarre style/pacing is much better suited to the short form. **Nine-Hundred Grandmothers** is an excellent collection to start with.
Another SF writer in the “defies-categorization category” is Cordwainer Smith. You can get all his short fiction in a single collection, **The Rediscovery of Man**. Definitely worth the money!
---
### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/15 "2007-02-13T07:44:28Z")
[QUOTE=Cemetery Savior]
I enjoyed 9 Princes…
C’mon, Der Trihs…I mentioned I’m widely read.
Everyone’s read Zelazny at some point…dig deeper!
Thanks,
Cem
[/QUOTE]
Have you read _Creatures of Life and Darkness_? If you’re looking for inscrutablity, it’s got it in spades. You should also read his short stories - _Last Defensed of Camelot_ is excellent, as are _Four for Tommorrow_ and _Fire and Ice_.
I second the vote for Neal Stephenson and Dan Simmons. The latter’s latest work - \*Illium \* and _Olympos_ - are his densest, most literary yet. They don’t always work (and fall apart completely at the end), but they’re never less than fascinating reads.
---
### Author:  [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/16 "2007-02-13T11:55:06Z")
**Robert Irwin** ’s _The Arabian Nightmare_, perhaps. I guess it could be called historical fantasy…
And another vote for **M.John Harrison**.
And there’s also **John Crowley** , of course.
---
### Author:  [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/17 "2007-02-13T16:01:26Z")
I’m on the last of the 4 books in the series, “Otherland” by Tad Williams. This is my 3rd re-read and I’m having a ball.
---
### Author:  [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/18 "2007-02-13T17:52:54Z")
All:
Great suggestions!
I’ve read Simmons, Vance, and Peake (took me a couple of tries at the Gormenghast, though!). I’ve read Light (Harrison), and have read Neal Stephenson (to be honest, I’ve already tried his trilogy a few times…never seems to grab me like Cryptonomicon did).
I will definitely try Lafferty and Cordwainer Smith.
I tried Crowley, and loved Little, Big. Maybe I’ll check out a few more of his works.
I enjoyed Tad Williams.
How about out-of-genre? If there are Gene Wolfe fans here, you must enjoy other genres…what hit you outside of SF/Fantasy? Why?
Thanks much,
-Cem
---
### Author:  [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/19 "2007-02-14T00:11:55Z")
I agree with everyone who said that nobody writes \*like \*Gene Wolfe. Some authors that you might be ready to try if you are really widely read in modern SF/Fantasy, you like the Fantasy end of the spectrum, and you are ready to try some of the good, old stuff, I can recommend [James Branch Cabell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell) and [Ernest Bramah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Bramah) . Wikipedia will take you to Project Gutenberg, which has online copies of works from both.
---
### Author:  [@muzzynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muzzynyc)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922/20 "2007-02-14T03:29:46Z")
Other people have recommended everything I would have, until you opened it up to other genres… I’m not a huge spy/espionage reader, but the book THE COMPANY by Robert Littell is an amazing, thick, complex, very satisfying novel about the CIA and I can’t recommend it more highly.
This thread has gotten me to pick up some more Gene Wolfe. Thanks for that.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wolfe-comparable-sf-authors/391922.md?page=2)