Scribes of Speculative Fiction - A Collection of Interviews
by Christopher DeRose
Now in Paperback! Between an ancient Roman's trip to the moon and the fantastic tales of H.G. Wells lies a journey through time and space and an awesome evolution in scientific thinking. From Gilgamesh's search for immortality to Lucian's odyssey on the moon; from Jonathan Swift's hilarious satire on scientists in Gulliver's Travels to Mary Shelley's horrifying description of a scientist who has gone too far in Frankenstein from Edgar Allan Poe's balloon trip in the year 2848 to Jules Verne's p...
Under his own name and numerous pseudonyms, John Brunner (1934–1995) was one of the most prolific and influential science fiction authors of the late twentieth century. During his exemplary career, the British author wrote with a stamina matched by only a few other great science fiction writers and with a literary quality of even fewer, importing modernist techniques into his novels and stories and probing every major theme of his generation: robotics, racism, drugs, space exploration, technolog...
In 15 all-new essays, this volume explores how science fiction and fantasy draw on materials from ancient Greece and Rome, 'displacing' them from their original settings-in time and space, in points of origins and genre-and encouraging readers to consider similar 'displacements' in the modern world. Modern examples from a wide range of media and genres-including Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and the novels of Helen Oyeyemi, the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away,...
"The Hobbit is one of the most widely read and best-loved books of the twentieth century. In December 2012, millions will be introduced or reintroduced to J.R.R. Tolkien's classic with the arrival of the first of two film adaptations by acclaimed director Peter Jackson. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" is a fun, thoughtful, and insightful companion volume, designed to bring a thorough and original new reading of this great work to a general audience. Professor Corey Olsen (also known as...
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XVII, No. 100, April, 1876
Wuthering Heights is the only published novel by Emily Bronte, written between October 1845 and June 1846[1] and published in July of the following year. It was not printed until December 1847, after the success of her sister Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. A posthumous second edition was edited by Charlotte. The title of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors of the story. The narrative centres on the all-encompassing, passionate, but ultimatel...
Immortality is a subject which has long been explored and imagined by science fiction writers. In his intriguing new study, Stephen R.L.Clark argues that the genre of science fiction writing allows investigation of philosophical questions about immortality without the constraints of academic philosophy. He reveals how fantasy accounts of issues such as resurrection, disembodied survival, reincarnation and devices or drugs for preserving life can be used as an important resource for philosophical...
Steaming into a Victorian Future
A popular sub-genre of fantasy and science fiction, steampunk re-imagines the Victorian age in the future, and re-works its technology, fashion, and values with a dose of anti-modernism. While often considered solely through the lens of literature, steampunk is, in fact, a complex phenomenon that also affects, transforms, and unites a wide range of disciplines, such as art, music, film, television, fashion, new media, and material culture. In Steaming into a Victorian Future: A Steampunk Anthol...
At the 2013 "Celebrating The Hobbit" conference at Valparaiso University - marking the 75th anniversary of the book's publication and the first installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies - two plenary papers were presented: "Anchoring the Myth: The Impact of The Hobbit on Tolkien's Legendarium" by John D. Rateliff provided numerous examples of The Hobbit's influence on Tolkien's legendarium; and "Tolkien's French connections" by Verlyn Flieger discussed French influences on the development of...
The Confederation Handbook the Confederation Handbook
by Peter F. Hamilton
From Literature to Biterature is based on the premise that in the foreseeable future computers will become capable of creating works of literature. Among hundreds of other questions, it considers: Under which conditions would machines become capable of creative writing? Given that computer evolution will exceed the pace of natural evolution a million-fold, what will such a state of affairs entail in terms of art, culture, social life, and even nonhuman rights? Drawing a map of impending literar...
Go deeper into the home of the Hunger Games with the creator of the best-known fan map of Panem * What does Panem look like? * How does Panem define race? * How do Panem's districts reflect the major themes of the trilogy? * What allusions to our world are found in Panem names like Finnick, Johanna, Beetee, Cinna, Everdeen, and Mellark? The Panem Companion gives fresh insight into Suzanne Collins' trilogy by looking at the world of the Hunger Games and the forces that kept its citizens divided...
The Future as Nightmare: H. G. Wells and the Anti-Utopians
by Mark Robert Hillegas
The exhausting plenitude of loosely connected detail in "Gravity s Rainbow "makes it a favorite of postmodern critics, who claim it describes a modern, random, unknowable universe. Hume expands the possibilities as she discloses a mythic structure that underlies Pynchon s work and provides easier access to his world. Myth turns chaos into cosmos, Hume explains, describing how the profuse detail of Pynchon s book allows for the creation of a world humankind shapes out of chaos by means of ritual...
Although he wrote hundreds of non-fiction works about science, mathematics, history, the Bible and literature, Isaac Asimov is best known as a science-fiction writer. In this text, James Gunn analyses his bestsellers and his contribution to the genre.
Biology and Manners (Liverpool Science Fiction Texts & Studies, #64)
This volume of essays continues the establishment of Lois McMaster Bujold as an important author of contemporary science fiction and fantasy. It argues persuasively that Bujold's corpus spans the distance between two full arcs of US feminism, and has anticipated or responded to several of its current concerns in ways that invite or even require theoretical exploration. The fourteen essays collected here provide wide-ranging scholarly analyses of Bujold's work and worlds so far, covering not on...