The Washington Post has called Gene Wolfe ""the finest writer the science fiction world has yet produced."" This volume joins together two of his rarest and most sought after works--Gene Wolfe's Book of Days and The Castle of the Otter--and add thirty-nine short essays collected here for the first time, to fashion a rich and engrossing architecture of wonder.

""Here are glamour and magic to stretch the mind and break the heart.""--Steven Brust

""A treasure trove....Aficionados will find this a marvelous and fascinating collection, and readers new to Gene Wolfe should find this a welcome place to enter.""--Fort Worth Star-Telegram

""Castle of Days is also a flight of yesterday, a twinkle of todays, and a promise of tomorrows. Charming and entertaining from drawbridge to tower-tip.""--Roger Zelazny