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Is anyone here familiar with Gene Wolfe? He was a pretty prominent SCI-FI/FAN author in the 70s-80s. I've read most of his works. He's pretty incredible.

Anyway, I bring him up because the very first page of Necromancer is actually cropped cover art for the Shadow of the Torturer. Not sure if Endmaster's actually read it or not, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he had. It's pretty up his alley. If any of you are into that Dying Earth type of setting (which I assume some of you must be), it's worth looking into. The language is pretty dense, though. Might not be the best introduction to Wolfe.

A better entry point might be The Fifth Head of Cerberus, which is a lovely triplet of novellas bound into a novel, each sharing the same setting. It's got everything: mad science, shapeshifting aliens who were genocided out of existence—or were they?(!)—slavery, a weird fucked up brothel. The atmosphere of his books are incredible. It's got this weird mix of pulp SCI-FI imagery with a more 'literary' writing style. Highly recommended.

I could keep going on about his stories all day, so I'm cutting myself off here.

Heard of him by reputation and i have one of his books on my tbr but I’ve never read him yet. I’ve heard people say that book of the new sun is some of the best sci fi ever so I really do want to check it out some time in the future

Take the plunge!! it's worth it 100%. The series really is some of the best sci fi has to offer. And then there's the sequel tetralogy, Book of the Long Sun, and the sequel trilogy to *that*, Book of the Short Sun (my personal favorite)... And all the short stories, oh man.

I can't believe I forgot to mention one of the main features of his books! Great unreliable narrators. Less so of the Nabokovian delusional type (though there is some of that), so much as just a lot of confusion regarding characters and the world. If something is a fact of life for the setting, you won't get much explanation; but on the other hand, if the narrator doesn't have the context for an event, all he can tell you is the surface level actions.

Hit me up if/when you get around to reading him.

Glad to see a fellow Gene Wolfe fan here! He uses a first-person narrative approach in a lot of his works, which may also be a good inspiration for people here, since it would translate well to a CYOA-style storygame. He approaches a lot of them as more of a letter/memoir/journal. Combined with using an unreliable narrator, it makes for a lot of reading between the lines to get the full picture. His writing style is very unique!

It's hard to say what the best starting point is since a lot of his writing is admittedly dense as you mentioned. I think The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a good recommendation. While not sci-fi, Soldier of the Mist might be another good choice. Or for something lighter and more offbeat from his usual works, maybe Pirate Freedom.

Soldier of the Mist is good. I might recommend it to someone more interested in fantasy (or Ancient Greece in general). I haven't gotten around to Pirate Freedom, but I do hear that recommended pretty frequently for newer readers. I also think The Sorcerer's House is a pretty good start if you want more of the unreliable narration aspect, while still being a light and accessible read. My introduction was reading New Sun when I was fourteen, which is really not something I can recommend.

Did you start with New Sun, too? (And have you read anything else in the Solar Cycle?)