Innocents Abroad by Gene Wolfe
01/03/2005 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: TOR. 304 page hardback. Price: $25.95 (US), $35.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30790-1. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
I've never read any Gene Wolfe. There! I've said it and the sky didn't fall
in. I didn't know what to expect and at first I was very resistant to what this
book had to offer. The first story put me off. I put the book down. I had to
pick it up as it's a review copy. Somehow I got past the first story and then
by the third I was totally hooked. Then I couldn't put the book down. By the
way, there is nothing wrong with the first story but it caught me unawares and
I couldn't place it in my field of experience. Once I got over it there was
no stopping me.
The stories share a common thread. They are fantastic tales of supernatural
happenings and some of them may well be true. It is difficult to pick out individual
stories for praise. There isn't an average one in the book, even the first which
so stumped me at the beginning now makes perfect sense.
What these stories do for me is nudge reality slightly so things appear out
of focus. They are closely observed and beautifully described and, to me at
least, have a superior dream-like quality. Some take place in the 'real' world,
others are short and succinct folk tales with a very Wolfian edge to them.
'Houston, 1943' owes something to Peter Pan and a lot to the dark and fecund
imagination of Wolfe. Roddie thinks he is having a nightmare but when he realises
that he is parted from himself there is a chance he will never go home.
A truly macabre tale 'The Night Chough' nods its debt to Edgar Allen Poe. 'The
Lost Pilgrim' is a time traveller's tale. The trip he intended to take is exchanged
for one with legends of the past but for all these experiences there is a price
to pay.
Stories that fall into the folk tale category would be the eerie 'How The Bishop
Sailed To Inniskeen' and evocative 'A Traveller In Deserted Lands' and these
offer another example of the wonderful stories that Wolfe is able to weave.
The compilation covers stories written between 1989 and 2003. There are twenty-two
and the breadth and depth of the tales is awe-inspiring. I am a confirmed and
devout fan and looking forward to my next encounter with The Wolfe-man.
Sue Davies
News Editor and Reviewer
www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk
|
