Severian of the Guild

Whilst tidying up the cellar after pulling all the old computer and radio bits and pieces out to rebuild a Win XP PC I came across the above book Severian of The Guild by Gene Wolfe, it is the tetralogy of Shadow of the Torturer, Claw of the Conciliator, Sword of the Lictor and Citadel of the Autarch all in one book.
I read them as separate novels many, many years ago in the early 1980s, bits of it I can still remember though much of it is a bit hazy, and I never finished the last book, Citadel of the Autarch.

From memory it was quite a difficult read, Mr Wolfe is quite wordy, no use using a phrase when a chapter will do and in reading the first 7 chapters of the first book I've had to refer to the dictionary quite a few times, it is challenging in it's use of archaic terms and such but so far so good

I picked up this all in one volume in 2007 to finish reading the tale but never got round to reading it until now, and I have just found out that there is a fifth book in the series now "Urth of the New Sun"

Set on an Earth (Urth) of the far future where Severian lives with his guild of torturers in an old disused spaceship and the world has a mixture of medieval and hi-tech with hints of aliens and other planets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Severian-G...+the+guild&qid=1590358245&sr=8-1

Also available on Kindle https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadow-Tor...+the+guild&qid=1590358752&sr=8-2

This is one of my favorite series. After the "book of the new sun" (5 books), there is the "book of the long sun" (4 books) and then the "book of the short sun" (4 more). Incredible stuff, right up there with the Hyperion Cantos for me.

If anyone has stumbled onto this thread do your self a favor and jump to amazon and search for Gene Wolfe Shadow of the Torturer. Never mind the reviews just click on LOOK INSIDE and read the first 3 or 4 pages. He is your guy or he isn't, and you will know it in two minutes.

I think he is one of the top seven Sci Fi writers of all time. The others: Isaac Azamov, Fritz Leber, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny, Frank Hebert (Dune), and Ursala K. Le Guin. But nobody had a way to set the mood like Wolfe.

At one time the good doctor Azamov had a talk show on television! One episode his guests were Ellison and Wolfe. Wolfe is devout catholic and Ellison an atheist and they went after each other hammer and tong, while the good doctor Azamov tried to defuse the situation. Actually Azamov and Ellison shared similar world views, but Azamov was an old fashioned gentleman and Ellison caustic and intolerant.

Leber's Lanhkmar series of novels (starring Fafhred and The Gray Mouser) is as fine a comedy sci fi series as could be imagined. Try his short novella "ill Met in Lankhmar" for an introduction. He also wrote the classic short Gonna Roll the Bones (a gambling story of beat the devil to save your soul).

Azimov's Guide to Shakespeare is the best way for the bard shy to learn what each play is really all about. It was written for the common man and is a fine example of the art of explanation! He was of course famous for his old classics SF series: Foundation and I Robot.

I would say Zelazny had more soul than other SF writers.

Le Guin, she wrote some deep prose, as weighty as Wolfe's to be sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZvcKB9vQO0

here is the show Crow mentioned. 1982, 25 minutes