Tag Archives: Oval Office

Evil Guest First Chapter Available at Macmillan Website

The first chapter of Gene Wolfe’s new book An Evil Guest is available at the Macmillan  Website
Right away we are introduced to what I assume will be the main character of the book, Gideon Chase:
They sat at ease in the Oval Office. Had the president looked at his guest, he would have seen a handsome, ageless man, dark-haired, with a smooth oval face and a flawless olive complexion. Had he looked into this man’s eyes, he would have seen the night looking out through a mask; it was because he had looked there once-and had not liked what he had seen-that he did not look again.”
The description is at once compelling and intriguing and the rest of the chapter continues in a similar vein. Gideon is being hired by the President for a special assignment, but on the way there is a discussion about the nature of Evil and we get some insight into a place called Woldercon, an alien place of some sort, and hints at Gideon’s remarkable skills. 
I’d certainly be interested in reading more of this!
My only gripe, however, is the formatting of the dialogue. Quite often there are two characters speaking in the same paragraph. This makes getting the sense of the dialogue very difficult in places. Hopefully this is just how it is formatted online and won’t be replicated in the book.