[Gene Wolfe] has shown a consistent growth in the understanding of his art. The three interconnecting novellas of The Fifth Head of Cerberus are his most multiplex work yet.

Gene (Rodman) Wolfe 1931– Joe Rush, Langdon's of Barrington; courtesy of Virginia Kidd, Literary Agent

The title novella concerns a man's search for his selfhood. Like [Barry Malzberg, author of Beyond Apollo], Wolfe is fully aware of the many possibilities true speculative fiction offers. All three novellas are connected by their relationships to each other and to the twin planets of St. Anne and St. Croix where they occur. Yet all three are forms of documentation and not ordinary stories at all. The character who seeks some truth about his own life by writing it down is both protagonist and storyteller in "The Fifth Head of Cerberus"; Gene Wolfe is hidden behind him (is, in fact, well hidden behind all...