MELEE - E Rathke on BROKEN KATANA
Oct 19, 2026 · 1 hr 18 min · 9 segments
The prolific E Rathke joined me to talk the far-out world of his forthcoming BROKEN KATANA omnibus, why preoccupation with…
- Speakers
- E RathkeGuestBrad KellyHost
Oct 19, 2026 · 1 hr 18 min · 9 segments
The prolific E Rathke joined me to talk the far-out world of his forthcoming BROKEN KATANA omnibus, why preoccupation with…
I've read, Gene Wolfe, I've read the two first installments in the big tetralogy.
What is it about Gene Wolfe that you would want to take him as inspiration? And if somebody hasn't really read Gene Wolfe, what would be the sort of selling points for him and his work?
It's funny because I once described reading Gene Wolfe similarly to how I just described writing a novel.
When you read Gene Wolfe, you have to understand that you're probably going to get lost at some point.
And, you know, so you're on a path, you're walking through the forest, and eventually the path runs out, but you realize that, you know, maybe it ran out a while ago, and you're just lost.
And you can either trust to just keep going, following Gene Wolfe's voice through this forest, and hope that eventually you find the path again, which you do.
But there are going to be times where you are wandering lost, and you're just kind of like, I'm not even sure... where i am or where this is headed and then kind of suddenly the path is back beneath your feet you're like oh jesus like we just we just went somewhere you know and it's it's kind of this indescribable um he does something that i think is it's not easy to describe and it's not you can't really replicate it either because he the way he bends um space and like time in the narrative is unlike anyone else.
I've read, Gene Wolfe, I've read the two first installments in the big tetralogy.
What is it about Gene Wolfe that you would want to take him as inspiration? And if somebody hasn't really read Gene Wolfe, what would be the sort of selling points for him and his work?
It's funny because I once described reading Gene Wolfe similarly to how I just described writing a novel.
When you read Gene Wolfe, you have to understand that you're probably going to get lost at some point.
And, you know, so you're on a path, you're walking through the forest, and eventually the path runs out, but you realize that, you know, maybe it ran out a while ago, and you're just lost.
And you can either trust to just keep going, following Gene Wolfe's voice through this forest, and hope that eventually you find the path again, which you do.
But there are going to be times where you are wandering lost, and you're just kind of like, I'm not even sure... where i am or where this is headed and then kind of suddenly the path is back beneath your feet you're like oh jesus like we just we just went somewhere you know and it's it's kind of this indescribable um he does something that i think is it's not easy to describe and it's not you can't really replicate it either because he the way he bends um space and like time in the narrative is unlike anyone else.
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