Storeys from the Old Hotel (1988)

Contents

• Introduction
• The Green Rabbit from S'Rian
• Beech Hill
• Sightings at Twin Mounds
• Continuing Westward
• Slaves of Silver
• The Rubber Bend
• Westwind
• Sonya, Crane Wessleman, and Kittee
• The Packerhaus Method
• Straw
• The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton
• To the Dark Tower Came
• Parkroads - A Review
• The Flag
• Alphabet
• A Criminal Proceeding
• In Looking-Glass Castle
• Cherry Jubilee
• Redbeard
• A Solar Labyrinth
• Love, Among the Corridors
• Checking Out
• Morning Glory
• Trip, Trap
• From the Desk of Gilmer C Merton
• Civis Laputus Sum
• The Recording
• Last Day
• Death of the Island Doctor
• Redwood Coast Roamer
  • On the Train
  • In the Mountains
  • At the Volcano's Lip
  • In the Old Hotel
• Choice of the Black Goddess

Editions

• First edition 1988
• Orb trade paperback edition 1995

Award(s)

• 1989 World Fantasy Award

Comments

Blurbs

• From the Tor hardcover edition, dust jacket:
  STOREYS FROM THE OLD HOTEL is Gene Wolfe's new short story collection, his first since Endangered Species, of which R.A.Lafferty said "This is the biggest and probably the best one-author collection to appear in the '80s...there are no poor stories in it at all." Most unusually for a book offered to the trade for the first time, STOREYS FROM THE OLD HOTEL has won the World Fantasy Award for Best Collection of the Year, on the basis of a limited hardcover edition published by a small press in England only. Any way you look at it, this book is a winner.
  In contrast to Wolfe's last collection, STOREYS is less dense and more varied. In describing Wolfe and his book, Locus said, "There are just plain light stories here, including the two Liavek shared-world stories, 'The Green Rabbit of S'Rian' and 'Choice of the Black Goddess' as bookends. In between there is humor ('Slaves of Silver' and 'The Rubber Bend'), a historical fantasy of the future ('Straw' and 'The Marvelous Chessplaying Automaton'), mainstream fiction ('The Redwood Coast Runner'), magical realism ('A Solar Labyrinth'), savage social criticism ('A Criminal Proceeding') and just plain weird experimentation ('Parkroads: A Review'), from "the man who brought quality literary science fiction out of the ghetto of low sales and into the mainstream of publishing."
  A new Gene Wolfe is always a cause for celebration, and the stories of Wolfe are required reading for all who love fantasy, science fiction, and good writing.
• From the Orb trade paperback edition:
  "A fine collection that showcases the wide range of Wolfe's weird and wonderful talent"

--Kirkus Reviews

"A splendid collection of singular tales from 'the finest writer the science fiction world has ever produced."

--The Washington Post

Hailed as "one of the literary giants of science fiction" by THE DENVER POST, Gene Wolfe is universally acknowledged as one of the most brilliant writers the field has ever produced. Winner of the World Fantasy Award for best fiction collection, STOREYS FROM THE OLD HOTEL contains thirty-one remarkable gems of Wolfe's short fiction from the past two decades, most unavailable in any other form.

"This is not a book to be missed... The main point of reading it (which I urgently recommend) is that it will entertain the dickens out of you."

--Algis Budrys, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

STOREYS FROM THE OLD HOTEL includes many of Gene Wolfe's most appealing and engaging works, from short-shorts that can be read in a single sitting to whimsical fantasy and even Sherlock Holmes pastiches. It is a literary feast for anyone interested in the best science fiction has to offer.

"The selections are richly varied in subject, tone and style, but all of them have the author's inimitable touch."

--San Francisco Examiner

"STOREYS FROM THE OLD HOTEL can be recommended to any lover of the short story, whether science fiction, fantasy or even 'in the manner of THE NEW YORKER'."

--The Washington Post