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Challenging readers to rethink what they read and why, the author questions the aesthetic assumptions that have led to the devaluing of fan fiction-a genre criticized as tasteless and derivative-and other ""guilty pleasure"" reading (and writing) including romance and fantasy. The complicated relationship between ""fanfic"" and intellectual property is discussed in light of the millennia-old tradition of derivative literature, before modern copyright law established originality as the hallmark o...

Science fiction has always intrigued readers with depictions of an unforeseen future. Can the genre actually provide audiences with a glance into the world of tomorrow? This collection of fifteen international and interdisciplinary essays examines the genre's predictions and breaks new ground by considering the prophetic functions of science fiction films, as well as science fiction literature. Among the texts and topics examined are classic stories by Murray Leinster, C. L. Moore, and Cordwaine...

Widely considered one of the leading experts on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, Thomas Alan Shippey has informed and enlightened a generation of Tolkien scholars and fans. In this collection, former students and colleagues honour Shippey with 15 essays that reflect their mentor's research interests, methods of literary criticism and attention to Tolkien's shorter works. In a wide-ranging consideration of Tolkien's oeuvre, the contributors explore the influence of 19th and 20th century book illust...

The idea of human cloning has fascinated writers and philosophers for centuries and has been dramatized in myths and fiction. This volume traces these fictional illustrations of human cloning from some of the earlier manifestations to more contemporary responses. Using a feminist and psychoanalytic perspective, this book examines parthenogenesis and other related fantasies, and argues that cloning could be an important tool in helping women achieve a more egalitarian status. Ferreira contemplate...

Hugo and Locus Award Finalist An Economist Best Book of the Year A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Best Book of 2018 "An amazing and engrossing history...Insightful, entertaining, and compulsively readable." - George R. R. Martin Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers-John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard-who set off a revolution in science fiction and forever changed our world. This remarkable cult...

The publication of the 44-volume Works of Daniel Defoe continues with this collection of Defoe's satirical poetry and fantasy writings, and writings on the supernatural.

Inspired more than thirty years ago by works as diverse as J R R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and the 'spaghetti westerns' of that time, the Dark Tower series is the backbone of Stephen King's legendary career. Eight books make up this bestselling fantasy series.THE DARK TOWER: THE COMPLETE CONCORDANCE is the definitive encyclopaedic reference book that will make navigating through the series an even more enjoyable reading experience for readers.With hundreds of characters, Mid-World geograph...

This is the first book-length study of best-selling writer John Saul's psychological and supernatural thrillers. Author Paul Bail compares John Saul's novels to a cocktail: (mix) one part , one part The Exorcist, a dash of Turn of the Screw, blend well, and serve thoroughly chillingly. Bail traces John Saul's literary career from his 1977 debut novel Suffer the Children-the first paperback original ever to make the New York Times best seller list-to his most recent novel, Black Lightning (1995)....

At the heart of this stimulating and provocative study is a science fiction story by James Tiptree Jr (Alice Sheldon-Bradley, 1916-1987) about a brother and a sister (and 58 other human beings) who encounter an alien while on a starship travelling to discover a habitable planet. The book includes an outline of Tiptree's work and of her remarkable life as the only child of jungle explorers, as a painter, an American agent during and after World War II, an experimental psychologist, and a female s...

The emergence of the fantastic tale in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries reflects a growing fascination with the supernatural, the marvelous, and the occult as the site for literary innovation. Taking Jacques Cazotte's prototypical The Devil in Love as a starting point, this book examines the genre's early development in the fantastic tales of the German romantics Ludwig Tieck, Achim von Arnim, and E. T. A. Hoffmann; the subsequent French rediscovery of the genre in works by Thé...

Fifty Key Figures in Science Fiction is a collection of engaging essays on some of the most significant figures who have shaped and defined the genre. Diverse groups within the science fiction community are represented, from novelists and film makers to comic book and television writers. Important and influential names discussed include: Octavia Butler George Lucas Robert Heinlein Gene Roddenberry Stan Lee Ursula K. Le Guin H.G. Wells This outstanding reference guide charts the rich and varied...

When an author of fiction employs the imagination and sets characters in a new location, they are in a sense creating a world. Might such fictional worlds give us a deeper appreciation for our own? Many readers have found themselves, like the Pevensie children, transported by C. S. Lewis into Narnia, and they have traveled from Lantern Waste to Cair Paravel and the edge of the sea. Thanks to J. R. R. Tolkien, readers have also journeyed with Bilbo, Frodo, and their companions across Middle-ear...

Before she was a renowned children's author, J.K. Rowling was an educator. Her bestselling series, Harry Potter, places education at the forefront, focusing not only on Harry, Ron, and Hermione's adventures but also on their magical education. This multi-author collection shines a light on the central role of education within the Harry Potter series, exploring the pedagogical possibilities of using Harry Potter to enhance teaching effectiveness. Authors examine topics related to environments fo...

Through its engagement with different kinds of texts, Exploring the Limits of the Human through Science Fiction represents a new way of approaching both science fiction and critical theory, and its uses both to question what it means to be human in digital era.