Free Live Free

Free Live Free

First (limited) edition
Author Gene Wolfe
Cover artist Carl Lundgren
Country US
Language English
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Mark V. Ziesing
Publication date
1984
Media type Print (Hardback and paperback)
Pages 496
ISBN 0-9612970-1-8

Free Live Free is a novel by Gene Wolfe. It was first published in 1984.

Plot

Mr. Free has a house which is slated for demolition. He puts an ad in a newspaper advertising free living quarters to anyone who helps him find a mysterious lost object hidden in the house. Four strangers (a mystic, a private eye, a prostitute, and a salesman) arrive.

Publishing history

The novel was initially published as a limited edition small press item in 1984, then mass market published by Gollancz in 1985. In 1999, it was republished by Tor Books, with an appendix intended to "untangle some of the more serpentine elements of the plot."[1]

Reception

In Starburst, David Langford called Free Live Free a "fine, delightful book", while emphasizing that it is ultimately "unclassifiable".[2] At the SF Site, Jean-Louis Trudel called it "deeply engaging", with "a compassion not always evident in Wolfe's other books", but felt that its conclusion was "a bit of a letdown", with certain revelations and explanations being "not entirely persuasive;"[3] while Kirkus Reviews described it as "an uneasy, lurching mix of fantasy, science fiction, and mystery", stated that the conclusion was "a bust", and asked why Wolfe "can't put together a book that fully convinces and satisfies."[4] CNN states that it is "outrageous", "ingenious", "highly entertaining", and "masterful", but concedes that the ending is not only "contrived", but "confusing", and that only "Wolfe's mastery of the written word" prevents the novel from being burlesque.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Manic intensity rivals the Marx Brothers: 'Free Live Free', by Gene Wolfe, at CNN; by L.D. Meagher; published August 3, 1999
  2. Short Langford Reviews - Gene Wolfe: Free Live Free, by David Langford; originally published in Starburst #88 (1985); archived at Ansible online archive; retrieved June 15, 2014
  3. Free Live Free, by Jean-Louis Trudel, at the SF Site; published 1999; retrieved June 15, 2014
  4. FREE LIVE FREE, By Gene Wolfe, at Kirkus Reviews; originally published November 19, 1985; retrieved June 15, 2014