The Tropes of Fantasy Fiction is about the essential nature of tropes in fantasy fiction and how they're applied within various fantasy stories. By comparing and contrasting various stories it shows that it's not the tropes and cliches that are what makes a story good or bad but instead how the authors apply them in their stories as well as the way the actual story is written. It also explores the concept of text vs meta-text, that is when the inside world and character actions of a story contra...
An exploration of postapocalyptic fiction, from antiquity to today, and its connections to political theory and other literary genresThe literary lineage of postapocalyptic fiction-stories set after civilization's destruction-is a long one, spanning the biblical tale of Noah and Hesiod's Works and Days to the works of Mary Shelley, Octavia Butler, Cormac McCarthy, and many others. Traveling from antiquity to the present, Flowers of Time reveals how postapocalyptic fiction differs from other genr...
The First Men in the Moon is the last in a series of "scientific romances" begun by Wells with The Time Machine. In the opinion of many, it is also the last in a series of pessimistic and anti-utopian novels before Wells took up the tone of an optimistic and utopian social prophet with Anticipations. The present critical edition of First Men questions that opinion. The lunar utopia described is far from a satire on the industrial order as many critics claim, but in historical context is instead...
The cultural impact of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series transformed a generation of young people into readers and fans, who were able to interact with one another in unprecedented ways as digital natives. And now the Harry Potter generation has come of age, poised to become parents, teachers, writers, and critics. As the essays in this collection observe, this generation uses the knowledge absorbed from Rowling’s narrative to negotiate their life experiences as they take their places as societ...
What is evil? How do we understand it in our culture? The thirteen essays in this critical volume explore the different ways in which evil is portrayed in popular culture, particularly film and novels. Iconic figures of evil are considered, as is the repeated use of classic themes within our intellectual tradition. Topics covered include serial killers in film, the Twilight series, the Harry Potter series, Star Wars, and more. Collectively, these essays suggest how vital the notion of evil is...
The Rise of the Cyberzines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1991 to 2020 (Liverpool Science Fiction Texts & Studies, #73)
by Mike Ashley
The Rise of the Cyberzines concludes Mike Ashley's five-volume series, which has tracked the evolution of the science-fiction magazine from its earliest days in the 1920s to its current explosion via the internet. This series has traced the ways in which the science-fiction magazine has reacted to the times and often led the way in breaking down barriers, for example in encouraging a greater contribution by women writers and stimulating science fiction globally. Magazines have continued to build...
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...
The late 1970s to the mid-1980s, a period commonly referred to as the post-Mao cultural thaw, was a key transitional phase in the evolution of Chinese science fiction. This period served as a bridge between science-popularization science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s and New Wave Chinese science fiction from the 1990s into the twenty-first century. Chinese Science Fiction during the Post-Mao Cultural Thaw surveys the field of Chinese science fiction and its multimedia practice, analysing and as...
Explore the world of the Mortal Instruments with Cassandra Clare and more Join Cassandra Clare and a Circle of more than a dozen top YA writers, including New York Times bestsellers Holly Black, Rachel Caine, and Kami Garcia, as they write about the Mortal Instruments series, its characters, and its world. Inside you'll read: * A cinematic tutorial on why the best friend (Simon) always loses out to the bad boy (Jace) * The unexpected benefits of the incest taboo * What we can read between the...
20,000 Leagues under the Sea (Extraordinary Voyages, #6)
by Jules Verne
Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title--offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords. This edition of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" includes a Foreword and Afterword by T. A. Barron. Jules Verne is considered the...
Almost 20 years after the publication of Future Females: A Critical Anthology, feminist science fiction pioneer Marleen S. Barr, together with a talented crew of the field's established and emerging theorists, reveal new critical insights in Future Females, the Next Generation. This groundbreaking collection includes contributors from across the globe who find effective venues for imagining feminist thought experiments. A multinational perspective runs through this innovative volume, focusing...
Science Fiction, Canonization, Marginalization, and the Academy
by Gary Westfahl and George Edgar Slusser
The Oxford group of writers known as the Inklings met and thrived during the 1930s and 1940s. Three of the members, C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams, became known as authors and cultural figures, recognized for interweaving Christian themes into fantasy fiction. Other members of the group doubtlessly influenced these works through their comments and discussion, and the published ideas of Williams, Lewis, and Tolkien were probably first discussed within this circle. Every member...
Epic Adventures (Literature: Research & Science S., v.3)
The work of J.R.R. Tolkien has had a profound effect on contemporary fiction and film making, yet criticism often places him at the margins of twentieth- and twenty-first century thought and experience. He actually sits near the centre of the last century's intellectual landscape: his fiction created a new market for the "fantasy trilogy," his academic work represents what philology can still accomplish in academe and beyond, and his Catholic faith retains great meaning for millions of persons w...
The remarkable breadth of C. S. Lewis's (1898--1963) work is nearly as legendary as the fantastical tales he so inventively crafted. A variety of themes emerge in his literary output, which spans the genres of nonfiction, fantasy, science fiction, and children's literature, but much of the scholarship examining his work focuses on religion or philosophy. Overshadowed are Lewis's views on nature and his concern for environmental stewardship, which are present in most of his work. In Narnia and th...
To celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit, a sumptuous full colour art book containing the complete collection of more than 100 Hobbit sketches, drawings, paintings and maps by J.R.R. Tolkien. When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, he was already an accomplished amateur artist, and drew illustrations for his book while it was still in manuscript. The Hobbit as first printed had ten black and white pictures, two maps, and binding and dust-jacket designs by its au...
Islands in the Sky (I.O.Evans Studies in the Philosophy & Criticism of Literature, No. 15.)
by Gary Westfahl
Why do we find artificial people fascinating? Drawing from a rich fictional and cinematic tradition, Anatomy of a Robot explores the political and textual implications of our perennial projections of humanity onto figures such as robots, androids, cyborgs, and automata. In an engaging, sophisticated, and accessible presentation, Despina Kakoudaki argues that, in their narrative and cultural deployment, artificial people demarcate what it means to be human. They perform this function by offering...
Queers Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the LGBTQ Fans Who Love It
by Tanya Huff and Paul Magrs
A Chapter Guide to Gene Wolfe's Smithe Novels
by Michael Andre-Driussi