"Get your "A" in gear! They're today's most popular study guides-with everything you need to succeed in school. Written by Harvard students for students, since its inception "SparkNotes(TM) has developed a loyal community of dedicated users and become a major education brand. Consumer demand has been so strong that the guides have expanded to over 150 titles. "SparkNotes'(TM) motto is "Smarter, Better, Faster because: - They feature the most current ideas and themes, written by experts.- They're...
By mid-career, many successful writers find a groove and their readers come to expect a familiar consistency and fidelity. Not so with Henry Green (1905-1973). He prefers uncertainty over reason and fragmentation over cohesion, and rarely lets the reader settle into a nice cozy read. Evil, he suggests, can be as instructive as good. Through his use of paradoxical and ambiguous language, his novels bring texture to the flatness of life, making the world seem bigger and closer. We soon stop worryi...
From his 1952 short story 'Roog' to the novels The Divine Invasion and VALIS, few authors have had as great of an impact in the latter half of the 20th century as Philip K. Dick. In The Postmodern Humanism of Philip K. Dick, Jason Vest explores the work of this prolific, subversive, and mordantly funny science-fiction writer. He examines how Dick adapted the conventions of science fiction and postmodernism to reflect humanist concerns about the difficulties of maintaining identity, agency, and a...
Man Who Could Work Miracles (without a The) is a 1937 film, ostensibly a comedy, that H.G. Wells scripted late in life for London Film Productions. This work is a literary text of the scenario and dialogue published in advance of the movie's release. Wells himself says it is "a companion piece" to Things to Come, his deadly serious film done a year before, also produced by Alexander Korda. The editor's introduction explains how two such radically different films are related and discusses the ar...
Russian Science Fiction Literature and Cinema (Cultural Syllabus)
Since the dawn of the Space Age, when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite and sent the first human into the cosmos, science fiction literature and cinema from Russia has fascinated fans, critics, and scholars from around the world. Informed perspectives on the surprisingly long and incredibly rich tradition of Russian science fiction, however, are hard to come by in accessible form. This critical reader aims to provide precisely such a resource for students, scholars, and th...
Harlan Ellison's "The City on the Edge of Forever"
by Harlan Ellison
Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life
by Terry Brooks
In 1977, the NEW YORK TIMES Trade Paperback Bestseller list - back then the almost exclusive province of self-help guides - played host to its very first work of fiction: THE SWORD OF SHANNARA, an epic quest through a mythical land, by first-time author Terry Brooks. In the quarter of a century since, nineteen NEW YORK TIMES bestselling novels have followed. Now, Terry Brooks tells the story of how he got there - from beginner to bestselling author - and shares his secrets for creating unusual,...
The Civil War scene in Kentucky, site of few full-scale battles, was one of crossroad skirmishes and guerrilla terror, of quick incursions against specific targets and equally quick withdrawals. Yet Kentucky was crucial to the military strategy of the war. For either side, a Kentucky held secure against the adversary would have meant easing of supply problems and an immeasurably stronger base of operations. The state, along with many of its institutions and many of its families, was hopelessly d...
Cliffsnotes on Martin's Game of Thrones Canceled
by Philip H Kitchel, Kyle Caton, and Cliffsnotes
Thirty-Five Years of the Jack Williamson Lectureship
by Patrice Caldwell Phd and Stephen Haffner
Cyberpunk is the fiction of a culture saturated by electronic technology. Its vocabulary is the language of cybernetics, biotechnology, corporational greed and urban subcultures. Massively succesful in both book and film form, cyberpunk has redefined not only contemporary science fiction but also, through its capacity to anticipate "technology" and its cultural impact, analytical work in the social science and humanities. This text explores the work of a wide range of writers, setting their work...
Equipping Space Cadets: Primary Science Fiction for Young Children argues for the benefits and potential of "primary science fiction," or science fiction for children under twelve years old. Science fiction for children is often disregarded due to common misconceptions of childhood. When children are culturally portrayed as natural and simple, then they seem like a poor audience for the complex scientific questions brought up by the best science fiction. The books and the children who read them...
The Evolution of Tolkien's Mythology (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy)
by Elizabeth A. Whittingham
This work provides a thorough study of Tolkien's life and influences through an analysis of ""The History of Middle Earth"". The work begins with a brief biography and an analysis of the major influences in Tolkien's early life. Following chapters deal with elements common to Tolkien's popular works, including the cosmogony, theogony, cosmology, metaphysics, and eschatology of Middle Earth.
New and old fans of the Harry Potter series will welcome this collection of fresh essays on Potter lore, plotlines, and characters. With up-to-date information through book six in the series, this companion volume offers a comprehensive look at the world of Potter through the eyes of leading science fiction and fantasy writers such as David Gerrold, Joyce Millman, and Martha Wells, and religion, psychology, and science experts. Along with feminism, fascism, and moral life, topics include the "Th...
Worlds of Wonder (Reappraisals: Canadian Writers)
No longer dismissed as 'escapist' reading, critics have finally discovered a brave new world of science fiction and fantasy literature. This book is a long-overdue tribute to this previously ignored genre, placing these works within a general context of Canadian literature and culture.
Stanton provides an intriguing look at Tolkien's fantasyscape that ultimately shows how all of these parts meld into a singularly compelling work of art that lives and breathes.
Science Fiction, Children's Literature, and Popular Culture
by Dr Gary Westfahl