Reviews of “The Dark of the June” (1974) and related work

“The Dark of the June” (1974Text)

Gene Wolfe (writer).

Read in 2025.

Read in the collection Endangered Species (1989).

In 1997, Harry Nailer loses his teenage daughter to a sinister social development.

Baroque.

text fiction

“The Death of Hyle” (1974Text)

Gene Wolfe (writer).

Read in 2025.

Read in the collection Endangered Species (1989).

The background for the extrapolative part of the setting for these stories, explained in this entry, is the same as The Forever War (1974), that is the Ehrlichs and the Club of Rome. The same way Philip K. Dick liked to do it, Wolfe uses realistic extrapolation only as a springboard, to jump off and do his own thing. Throughout the sequels, Nailer chases after his daughter and joins her in the increasingly surreal quest that her existence has become, floating immaterially backward through time.

text sequel fiction

“From the Notebook of Doctor Stein” (1974Text)

Gene Wolfe (writer).

Read in 2025.

Read in the collection Endangered Species (1989).

A 1930s alienist meets a patient with multiple personalities.

text sequel fiction

“Thag” (1975Text)

Gene Wolfe (writer).

Read in 2025.

Read in the collection Endangered Species (1989).

Alas, explicit metafiction. The series ends on a weak joke.

text sequel fiction