Ellison's suspense anthology: 15 stories and one wild, 32-page introduction, none collected previously except for "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs," first published in book form mere weeks earlier in Deathbird Stories. Some, such as "Toe the Line" and "Ormond Always Pays His Bills," are simple pulp crime yarns; others are masterful examples of psychological terror and, in the case of "Whipped Dogs," mystical fantasy. Excellent.

In honor of Harlan Ellison's eightieth birthday, Susan Ellison-his wife of thirty years, the Electric Baby-has scoured raw eight (8) decades of his written output (from his 1949 serialized stories in The Cleveland News to as-yet unpublished tales fresh from his Olympia Manual typewriter) to present one artifact from each calendar decade. Where possible, the eight stories herein have been reproduced from Ellison's original typescripts, as preserved in his meticulous archives. In some cases, they may differ from the preferred texts established over years of revisions and reprints. From the 1940s: "The Sword of Parmagon," a five-part serial inspired by the works of Sir Walter Scott. Originally published in the Cleveland News when the author was fifteen years old, this story has been re-set with the original illustrations for this printing. From the 1950s: "Nedra at f:5.6," Ellison's homage to Fritz Leiber, reprinted from the revised typescript. From the 1960s: "The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie," a novella of Hollywood written as a showpiece for Ellison's first hardback collection. Reprinted from the original typescript with the author's handwritten corrections. From the 1970s: "The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel," a fantasy written from a concept generated before an audience of California high school students by the author, Ray Bradbury, and Frank Herbert. Reprinted from the original typescript. From the 1980s: "She's a Young Thing and Cannot Leave Her Mother," the story Ellison was writing while attending the Scottish convention where he met the future Susan Ellison (and Neil Gaiman). Reprinted from the original typescript. From the 1990s: "Scartaris, June 28th," the story that--according to Susan Ellison--crystallized a new auctorial voice for her husband, the one that would go on to appear in THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES with "The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore" (available in HARLAN 101: ENCOUNTERING ELLISON). Reprinted from the original typescript. From the 2000s: "Incognita, Inc.," the story that explores the source of all those maps to buried treasure and magical lands. Reprinted from the original typescript, it makes its first appearance in an Ellison collection here. From the 2010s: "Weariness," inspired by a random piece of art, was first published in an anthology dedicated to the late Ray Bradbury. Reprinted from the original typescript, it makes its first appearance in an Ellison collection here.

A middle-aged Jewish man who fantasizes about being a cowboy goes on an eccentric quest across Europe after the 1941 Nazi invasion of Lithuania in this wild and witty yet heartrending novel from the bestselling author of Yiddish for Pirates , shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Motl is middle-aged, poor, nerdy, Jewish and in desperate need of a shave. Since having his balls shot cleanly off as a youth in WWI, he's lived a quiet life at home in Vilnius with his shrewd and shrewish mom, Gitl, losing himself in the masculine fantasy world of cowboy novels by writers like Karl May--novels equally loved by Hitler, whose troops have just invaded Lithuania and are out to exterminate people like Motl. In his dreams, Motl is a fast-talking, rugged, expert gunslinger capable of dealing with the Nazi threat. But only in his dreams. As friends and neighbours are killed around them, Motl and Gitl escape from Vilnius, saving their own skins. But they immediately risk everything to try rescue relatives they hope are still alive. With death all around him, Motl decides that a Jew's best revenge is not only to live, but to procreate. In order to achieve this, though, he must relocate those most crucial pieces of his anatomy lost to him in a glacier in the Swiss Alps in the previous war. It's an absurd yet life-affirming mission, made even more urgent when he's separated from his mother, and isn't sure whether she's alive or dead. Joining forces, and eventually hearts, with Esther, a Jewish woman whose family has been killed, Motl ventures across Europe, a kaleidoscope of narrow escapes and close encounters with everyone from Himmler, to circus performers, double agents, quislings, fake "Indians" and real ones. Motl at last figures out that he has more connection to the Indigenous characters in western novels than the cowboys. An imaginative and deeply felt exploration of genocide, persecution, colonialism and masculinity--saturated in Gary Barwin's sharp wit and perfect pun-play-- Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy is a one-of-a-kind novel of sheer genius.

"Eleanor Farjeon is probably best known for her powerfully imaginative children's books, so it is not surprising to discover that her own childhood, recalled here in quite astonishing detail, was a happy and creative one. 'Nellie' was born in 1881, the daughter of the irrepressible Ben Farjeon, a writer of popular novels, and the sweet-natured Margaret Jefferson, of the famous American acting family. Their own fascinating stories, which take us as far as the New Zealand bush and a Louisiana plantation, occupy almost half the book. Being a girl, Nellie was never sent to school, and she was miserably self-conscious at parties or in the company of strangers. The nursery, therefore, was the only world she knew for more than sisxteen years. It was here that she read, wrote stories, and with her three brothers evolved the rituals and games that dominated their lives. Her imagination flourished in this hothouse atmosphere to such an extent that her fantasy life became more important and more exciting to her than the real world of Victorian London outside the nursery. She later admitted that this was unhealthy and seriously delayed her maturity, but readers of A nursery in the nineties can only be grateful for the passionate involvement in the nursery that inspired one of the most striking accounts of childhood ever written." - Back cover.

Fiction, Fantasy

Like much twentieth-century feminist writing today, this book crosses the boundaries of genre. Biblical interpretation combines with fantasy, autobiography, and poetry. Politics joins with eroticism. Irreverence coexists with a yearning for the sacred. Scholarship contends with heresy. Most excitingly, the author continues and extends the tradition of arguing with God that commences in the Bible itself and continues now, as it has for centuries, to animate Jewish writing. The difference here is that the voice that debates with God is a woman's.

2025 World Fantasy Award Finalist An apprentice assassin and an inquisitive linguist trade interwoven tales in order to enact revenge. Ukrainian author R. B. Lemberg (The Four Profound Weaves) returns to their legendary Birdverse in an ode to the transformative power of storytelling. " Haunting, nuanced, and hopeful, Yoke of Stars is essential reading. " -- Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart In the School of Assassins, Stone Orphan waits for a first assignment. After their first kill, they will graduate and attain the coveted cloth of bone. But instead of a commission, Stone Orphan gets an inquisitive linguist, Ulín. Ulín has heard the Orphan Star's song of despair, mirroring her own, and drawing her to the School of Assassins. But Ulín is far more interested in learning Stone Orphan's language than deciding whom she wishes to kill. Unable to contain their curiosity, Stone Orphan offers to exchange stories with Ulín to help her decide the fate of three men. By turns, Stone Orphan and Ulín narrate tales of love, suffering, exile, and self-determination, and two wounded souls find hope in each other through the radical act of listening.

WORLD FANTASY AWARD FINALIST LOCUS AWARD FINALIST The essential first volume of bestselling author Peter S. Beagle's (The Last Unicorn) short stories demonstrates why he is one of America's most influential fantasists. With his celebrated versatility, humor, and grace, Beagle is at home in a dazzling variety of subgenres. Evoking comparison to such iconic authors as Twain, Tolkien, Carroll, L'Engle, and Vonnegut, this career retrospective celebrates Beagle's mastery of the short-story form. [STARRED REVIEW] "Brimming with magic, lyrical prose, and deeply felt emotion, this is, indeed, essential reading." --Kirkus An unlikely friendship based on philosophy develops between an aging academic and a mythological beast. A mysterious, beautiful attendee who attends a ball thrown in her honor chooses whether or not to become mortal. A dysfunctional relationship is not improved by the consequences of lycanthropy. One very brave young mouse questions his identity and redefines feline wiles. From heartbreaking to humorous, these carefully curated stories by Peter S. Beagle show the depth and power of his incomparable prose and storytelling. Featuring an original introduction from Jane Yolen ( Owl Moon ) and gorgeous illustrations from Stephanie Pui-Mun Law ( Shadowscapes ), this elegant collection is a must-have for any fan of classic fantasy.

"The final volume in the series that offers readers the best gay-themed stories of the strange, uncanny, and fantastical is out! In these pages are work by such acclaimed spec fic authors as Richard Bowes, Sam J. Miller, Sean Eads, and John Chu. Turn a page and walk the halls of a library shelved with every book never completed by authors before they passed away, a fish grants a young man wishes without ever explaining their true cost, ghosts relive their erotic past, Captain Hook and the Greek god Pan finally meet, and even Oscar Wilde himself makes an appearance in this anthology by Lambda Literary Award-winning editor Steve Berman."--Page 4 of cover.

The revered author of books for all ages, from Bread and Jam for Frances to Turtle Diary, gives the literary performance of a lifetime in this taut psychological thriller about a boy who tries desperately to stop failing. Things are already looking a little funny to Nick Hartley after he loses yet another fight with Harry Buncher--and gets his head bashed into a wall in the bargain. So he is less confused than he ordinarily would when he meets Moe Nagic, a homeless man with a puzzle and a secret to sell. Moe offers Nick a way to visit Trokeville, the world that exists at the edge of the picture puzzle. Nick has to go there, if he's ever going to change the way his life is going. But he soon discovers the devastating danger of the journey: His mind could leave him stranded there, with no way of returning! Written with the power and precision of a great author, The Trokeville Way is a provocative masterpiece for our time. From the Hardcover edition.

Paul Dear is a good and clever boy, but he’s special in ways that even his adoring parents could never have imagined. For by day, in London’s Kensington Gardens, he walks and talks with the pixies and sprites and other magical creatures that dwell among the living–but are unseen by most. Then everything changes when tragedy strikes–and a quest begins that will lead Paul to a curio shop where a magical ally awaits him and launches him into the starry skies, bound for a realm where anything is possible. Far from home, Paul will run with fierce Indian warriors, cross swords with fearsome pirates, befriend a magnificent white tiger, and soar beside an extraordinary, ageless boy who reigns in a boundless world of imagination.

Publication of Xanadu marks the beginning of an original anthology series that will include brand-new stories by some of the finest writers in the world. This volume opens with "The Poacher" by Ursula K. Le Guin, a fairytale in the grand tradition. Xanadu also includes "It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea, " a new poem by William Stafford, one of the best-known poets in America; "The Hound of Merlin" by Eleanor Arnason, who won both the Philip K. Dick Award and the Tiptree Award in 1992; "The Perfectly Round Bagel" by Robert Abel, who won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction in 1989; "To Scale" by Nebula Award winner Nancy Kress; "Still Life with Woman and Apple" by Leslea Newman, author of Heather Has Two Mommies; "Unnalash" by Tanith Lee; "The Pale Thin God" by Hugo and Nebula award winner Mike Resnick; "Gravity" by Pat Schneider, poet and playwright; "Time Travel, The Artifact, and A Famous Historical Personage" by Minnesota Book Award-winner Will Shetterly; and a dozen other ventures into the realms of magic, including stories by Lisa Tuttle, Steven Brust, Anna Kirwan-Vogel, Gardner Dozois, and a new poem, "The Ring at Yarrow, " by Jane Yolen herself.

The whole business of dealing with magic happens in a scientific research facility rather than in the school, in this Russian equivalent of 'Harry Potter'. The main characters are young adults rather than school kids, but that doesn't make it any less funny! The authors are famous Russian writers of science fiction.

“Jonathan Carroll is a cult waiting to be born, a novelist of rare and terrifying power.”—Pat Conroy Ricocheting between Vienna and Los Angeles, between the worlds of desires and dreams, Sleeping in Flame is a hypnotic literary novel with irresistible elements of fantasy and magic. “I envy anyone who has yet to enjoy the sexy, eerie, and addictive novels of Jonathan Carroll.”—The Washington Post Book World “Jonathan Carroll is a master of sunlit surrealism.”—Jonathan Lethem

In a masterful new fantasy evocative of Alice in Wonderland , New York Times bestselling author Adam Gopnik explores the powerful themes of identity and the meaning of home, with stunning illustrations from renowned New Yorker artist Bruce McCall. Ten-year-old Rose lives in New York, the city of bright lights and excitement, where extraordinary things happen every day on every block. But Rose wasn't born in New York; she was adopted as an infant from a far-away country. Rose loves her home and her family, but sometimes she can't help but feel like she doesn't belong. Then one day in Central Park, Rose sees something extraordinary: a crystal staircase rises out of the lake, and two small figures climb the shimmering steps before vanishing like a mirage. Only it's not a mirage. Rose is being watched - recruited - by representatives of U Nork, a hidden city where Dirigibles and Zeppelins skirt dazzling skyscrapers that would dwarf the Chrysler building. Impeccably dressed U Norkers glide along the sidewalks on roller skates. Rose can hardly take it all in. Then she learns the most astonishing thing about U Nork. Its citizens are in danger, and they need Rose's help, and hers alone…

Dive into a compelling work of literary criticism with "Drug themes in science fiction" by the esteemed Robert Silverberg. This authoritative volume offers a meticulous exploration and comprehensive bibliography of drug-related themes across speculative fiction. Silverberg, a master of the genre, insightfully examines the diverse ways drugs-real and imagined-have been portrayed within American and English science fiction. From their roles in societal commentary to their impact on individual characters and narrative progression, this book uncovers the profound and often complex presence of psychoactive substances in literary imagination. It serves as both a critical analysis of recurring motifs and an invaluable reference for anyone researching the genre. For readers captivated by literary themes, the history of science fiction, or the enduring dialogue between human experience and altered states of consciousness, "Drug themes in science fiction" provides an essential, detailed, and timeless perspective on a fascinating corner of literature. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

From million-copy bestselling author David Baddiel comes a laugh-out-loud and inspiring new adventure for all readers of 8 and up that is ahead of its time - 1,001 years ahead, to be precise... The year is 3020. Pip@256X#YY.3_7 is lonely and bored: she goes to virtual school on her G-Glasses, she only has a talking cat and parrot to hang out with, and she can't even leave her LivingSpace due to the extreme heat and floods outside. Until the day that Pip explores a glowing ring in a lab and finds herself in a warehouse, in 2019. Where she meets boy-inventor Rahul - who is also lonely and bored. Together, Rahul and Pip are no longer lonely. But they have a whole load of new problems, including hiding talking animals from Rahul's parents, and finding a way back to the future. Plus - just maybe - saving the world... Future Friend is a terrifically entertaining time-slip adventure that combines action, laugh-out-loud humour and the importance of friendship, in a story that asks the question - what would happen if your best friend came from the future?

Collects no. 1-6 of the comic book "Ultimate Fantastic Four" which chart the origins of the superheroes.