[atombender]

Lots of engineers write, too. My favorite example of "very different day job" is Gene Wolfe, who worked as an industrial engineer (he famously worked on the original machine that produced Pringles potato chips), and spent most of his working life as an editor of the magazine Plant Engineering.

R. A. Lafferty worked as a full-time electrical engineer for Clark Electrical Supply Company all his life, though he eventually moved to a salesperson position.

[ProllyInfamous]

You're the second commentor I've read mentioning Gene Wolfe, in the past two days [0]. After I finish my Cormick McCarthy stint, I'll start his The Book of the New Sun this spring.

Vonnegut is among my favorite authors alive during my lifetime — he was a POW during the bombing of Dresden (WWII) — a great drafted veteran friend of mine wouldn't even listen to me discuss Slaughterhouse Five with him until I told him about the author's background (apparently during 'Nam Vonnegut was considered a traitor by draftees?).

All these life experiences — who actually succeeds when their only goal is to become a writer?! Empty words, empty people.

Do you have a better Gene Wolfe introductory recommendation? His 2nd book for me to read?

[0] first comment <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47125287#47153200>

[atombender]

Wolfe is one of my favourite writers, and I highly recommend New Sun.

That said, it is a challenge for a lot of readers. It's a single, very long novel that introduces a complicated and mysterious cosmology that is rarely fully understood until the second or even third reading. A common saying among fans is that you don't read Wolfe, you re-read him. It requires a certain amount of patience.

An easier intro is The Fifth Head of Cerberus, which is also one of my favourite novels. It's very short, but its puzzle box structure is no less satisfying or challenging than New Sun. Parts of the fun is figuring exact out who is narrating the three different stories that make up the book — it's probably not who they claim to be — and exactly what happened.

Thinking about the article's reference to Herman Melville, Ursula LeGuin actually called Wolfe "our Melville", "our" meaning science fiction writers as a group.

[mwigdahl]

I don't know what you like, but in addition to the Book of the New Sun I really enjoyed his three-volume "Soldier" series, about a mercenary in ancient Greece who suffers from Memento-style amnesia (although this series far predates Memento).

The "Wizard Knight" series (two books) I also really enjoyed if you like something with a bit more fantasy bent.

Can't recommend Wolfe enough!

[lanfeust6]

Nah, that's the one to read first.

In a similar vein I prefer Stephenson's Anathem

[dhosek]

I’m one of those, although I tend to de-emphasize this fact in most of my social interactions (not just writing related) since people tend to react weirdly to learning that I program computers for a living. Instead, the bio for my writings says, “[he] spends his days as an insignificant cog in the machinery of corporate America.”

I’ve had modest success with a few dozen stories and poems published over the last dozen years, but I don’t expect it will ever be a major source of income for me.