The SF awards did a good job most of the time in the 20th century, and I think are the best quick indicator of what was relevant in the field at the time (which is usually why I bring them up), before sinking under the weight of 21st century geek culture/YA Fantasy/internet culture wars. There are winners from the ’70s that haven’t aged well, but they read like real stories the represent their era, not smarmy, amateurish blogs that represent their era.

The Lathe of Heaven actually got a made-for-TV adaptation that Le Guin liked, and you can find it on youtube. The shit quality print there is, as far as I can tell, the only think you can find, so just watch that. There’s a second version that sucks. The good one is the one from 1980.

I mean, re: Gene Wolfe…well, George R. R. Martin demanded a lot out of me too, I just wasn’t young enough to bite back any longer.

Gene Wolfe is demanding because most of his stories use devices like unreliable narrators who don’t understand which of the details they’re giving you are necessary to unpack what’s really going on, so you have to pay alot of attention. TBH, I don’t remember the issues that you’re referring to in The Left Had of Darkness, but it sounds like it’s just alot of information to take in? I assume that’s the same problem you have with Martin? That must only come across in his elephantine novels, I never had that problem with his short fiction.

Should I try to hunt down right wing Brothers Judd style reviews that hate Le Guin for writing about androgyny? Don’t answer that.

I will not directly answer it, but if you find a review of her short story, Coming of Age in Karhide, you can post that.