Wolfe Book Reading Milestone

This is a red letter day for me. I have been a fan of Gene Wolfe ever since reading The Shadow of the Torturer. Over the years I have kept up with his novels. I have read all of 31 of them at least once. Over the past few years I have been working toward the goal of reading all of his short story collections. Today, march 13^th at 8;40 am, I finished reading Starwater Strains. This was the only gene Wolfe story collection that I had that I needed to read. The only gap is my Wolfe story consumption is his scarce book The Young Wolfe; which is too expensive for me.

So what are the best Gene Wolfe short stories? My recollection on some of these collections is scanty and I know I have left out some fine stories so this list will need revising, but these are all really good stories. Here is my list:

From the collection The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories, and Other Stories:

Seven American Nights

The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories

From the collection Endangered Species:

A Cabin on the Coast

The HORARS of War

The last Thrilling Wonder Story

[The Map*]

From the collection Castle of Days, (being a compliation of Gene Wolfe’s Book of Days and The Castle of the Otter):

La Befana

These are the Jokes*

From the collection Stories from the Old Hotel:

Slaves of Silver

A Solar Labyrinth

From the collection Strange Travelers:

Useful Phrases*

From the collection Innocents Aboard:

Under Hill

[The Old Woman Whose Rolling Pin Is the Sun*

The Night Chough‡

The Old Woman Whose Rolling Pin is the Sun*]

From the collection Starwater Strains:

From the Cradle*

Of Soil and Climate

Hunter Lake

The Arimaspian Legacy*

[Empires of Foliage and Flower*

The Boy Who Hooked the Sun*]

(*Connected stories related to the Brown Book of TBNS)

(‡ Stories connected to The Long Sun series)

Now that I have reached this milestone I am undertaking the next phase of my Gene Wolfe reading project. I plan to re-read each of his 31 novels again. I plan to read them in approximate publishing order, except where a series in involved.