87 results for "Literature"

Sailing to Byzantium

Robert Silverberg
FIRST EDITION The world's most distinguished author of the literature of the fantastic presents his most extraordinary stories of worlds lost and dreams fulfilled... In his illustrious forty-five year career as a novelist and author of short fiction, Robert Silverberg has belonged in the company of the best writers of the 20th century. His writing has been compared to Conrad, Huxley, and Orwell. In this definitive collection Silverberg presents the novellas that have won him multiple Hugo and Nebula Award nominations, including his Nebula Award winning achievement, "Sailing To Byzantium." Here are the virtuoso performances of the third phase of Silverberg's astounding the Nebula Award nominee "Homefaring"; the Hugo Award nominee "The Secret Sharer"; "Thomas The Proclaimer" and "We Are For The Dark." If you are a lover of Silverberg's work or are simply looking for a place to begin a relationship with the literature of science fiction and fantasy, this is the place to start.
Underwood-Miller 1985 114 pages

Robots Through the Ages A Science Fiction Anthology

Robert Silverberg,Bryan Thomas Schmidt
A remarkable collection, Robots through the Ages includes stories from some of the best writers of science fiction, both old and new. This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad--in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus "with minds and wisdoms"--humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce's tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are--and who creates them--can be drastically different. This book collects a broad selection of short stories from celebrated authors such as Philip K. Dick, Seanan McGuire, Roger Zelazny, Connie Willis, and many more. Robots through the Ages not only celebrates the history of robots and the genre of science fiction, but the dauntless nature of human ingenuity.
Blackstone Publishing 2023-07-25 516 pages

And the Last Trump Shall Sound

Harry Turtledove,James Morrow,Cat Rambo
"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."- First Corinthians 15:52 "Three alarming, eclectic novellas imagine a ravaged America left behind by the totalitarian reign of Donald Trump in this chilling anthology, which picks up after Trump's death in 2024 during 'the second great COVID outbreak' "-Publishers Weekly From New York Times bestselling author, Harry Turtledove, critically-acclaimed novelist, James Morrow, and Nebula Award winner, Cat Rambo, comes a masterful anthology of three sensational novellas depicting a dark fictional future of the United States. And the Last Trump Shall Sound is a prophetic warning about where we, as a nation, may be headed. Mike Pence is President of the United States after years of divisive, dogmatic control by Donald Trump. The country is in turmoil as the Republicans have strengthened their stronghold on Congress, increasing their dominance. And with the support of the Supreme Court, more conservative than ever, State governments become more marginalized by the authoritarian rule of the Federal government. There are those who cannot abide by what they view as a betrayal of the nation's founding principles. Once united communities break down and the unthinkable suddenly becomes the only possible solution: the end of the Union. The authors' depiction of a country that is both unfamiliar and yet unnervingly all too realistic, make you realize the frightening possible consequences of our increased polarization-a dire warning to all of us of where we may be headed unless we can learn to come together again.
Arc Manor 2025-01-31 264 pages

Takeoff

Cyril M. Kornbluth
Cyril M. Kornbluth's "Takeoff" is a masterful exploration of the interplay between technology and society, set against a backdrop of technological optimism and skepticism typical of mid-20th century speculative fiction. The narrative is punctuated by Kornbluth's characteristic wit and sharp social commentary, as he delves into the implications of a space-age future. Through a compelling storyline that examines human ambition, ethical dilemmas, and the consequences of technological advancement, Kornbluth captures the anxiety of an era teetering between hope and disillusionment, displaying a profound understanding of the zeitgeist of his time. Cyril M. Kornbluth (1923-1958) was a prominent figure in the science fiction realm, recognized for co-writing notable works with Fredric Brown and for his solo efforts that often critiqued contemporary society. His experiences during World War II and his keen insights into political and social issues deeply informed his writing. "Takeoff" reflects his fascination with the space race and the dynamics of progress, underscoring his ability to weave personal and historical narratives into universally resonant themes. I highly recommend "Takeoff" to readers who appreciate thought-provoking science fiction that challenges perceptions of technological advancement. Kornbluth's astute observations, combined with his engaging narrative style, ensure this work remains relevant today, prompting readers to contemplate the balance between innovation and ethical responsibility.
Chicago Review Press Incorporated DBA Independ Pub Group 2020-12-30 104 pages

Thereafter Johnnie

Carolivia Herron
Family trauma, race, and the destiny of a nation corrupted by slavery, cast in the light of epic myth: "More than a saga of Black revitalization . . . Part vision, part parable, it is a story for all America." ( The New York Times Book Review ) The Snowdon family stands as a pinnacle of Black excellence in Washington, D.C.: educated, affluent, and influential. John Christopher, the patriarch, saves lives as a heart surgeon and is revered by his students at Howard University. His wife, Camille, governs an elegant house overlooking Rock Creek Park and devotes herself to reading, gardening, and raising their three daughters--Cynthia, Patricia, and Eva--to attend the very best schools and roam the world on a whim. Theirs ought to be a story of success and empowerment, but something is rotten in the house of Snowdon. Years later, when John Christopher's granddaughter Johnnie comes to seek the truth about her own parentage, she unveils a legacy of unspeakable family secrets tangled up in America's original sin. What begins as a quest for identity spirals into an apocalyptic vision of a nation on the brink of ruin. By turns a poetic epic, a ghost story, a historical saga, and a chilling dystopian fable, Thereafter Johnnie is a unique and uniquely American fusion of myth and hard-bitten reality: an erotic, horrifying, and even hopeful reckoning with centuries of injustice.
McNally Jackson Books 2025-09-30 256 pages

Tek money

Shatner, William
In Tek Money, Jake Cardigan tries to relax. But as he enjoys a rare night out at the theater, his son Dan has a frightening experience at the Cardigans' beachfront home. A seemingly deranged man, muttering to himself about nightmare visions that torment him, comes looking for Jake - and then dies suddenly, as Dan tries to find out what he wants. So begins an unwelcome sequence of events. First Dan is accused of murdering the man. Once the police realize that accusation is ridiculous, suspicion falls on Jake: the dead man is Peter Traynor, a Tek addict, a friend of Jake's from the bad old days, when the drug had a strong hold on them both. The murderer did Traynor in with a Tek "sizzler", a powerful chip that plugs directly into the user's brain, starts by giving him wonderful visions, and ends by producing uncontrollable hallucinations. Traynor has literally died of fear. Jake had not seen Traynor in years, but the police are still suspicious. In the meantime, it appears that everybody else in Traynor's past wants Jake's help in solving the crime. The dead man's sister, who has no money but does have a tremendous chip on her shoulder, wants to hire Jake - as long as somebody else pays. The dead man's ex-wife, a mysteriously wealthy woman, also wants to hire Jake, and she'll pay plenty - but it isn't exactly clear that a solution to the crime is what she wants for her money. Jake knows that his own good name is on the line until he finds the real killer.
G.P. Putnam's Sons 1995-11-29 289 pages

Eternal Voyager

Conor Kostick
These are the tales of Eternal Voyager. Tales from a distant future in which all life is virtual. Everyone in the Metaverse takes for granted the ability to teleport; to change shape; to create entire planets for their playgrounds and to make backup copies of themselves, so they cannot permanently die. And what do these people who live beyond the conventional universe do with their powers? Mostly they play RPGs. ***** "I loved Conor Kostick's Epic and these six short novels (more like long, self-contained chapters) are sort of related. They are set in a universe (called the Metaverse) where virtual characters have come alive and have fun and adventures." Reader Review ***** "From a plague of vampyrism to silver orb aliens, to talking to dragons and battling orcs, Eternal Voyager [party animal] tackles them all with sharp humour and several quick avatar changes. Have you ever solved your own murder? Join a romp through metaversal adventures which just about cover every possible realm and involves a broad spectrum of characters. Parallels between the avatar world and our own are unmistakable - sometimes amusing, sometime deadly serious. Highly recommended." Reader Review
Conor Kostick 2025-12-16 304 pages

To write like a woman: essays in feminism and science fiction

Russ, Joanna
"To Write Like a Woman is a rare example of a feminist tackling science fictuion using postmodern theory, which makes for a much more sophisticated and nuanced appraisal than the usual fare." ―Passion"Russ’ essays are witty and insightful. An excellent book for any writer or reader." ―Feminist Bookstore News"In her new book of essays... Russ continues to debunk and demand, edify and entertain.... Appreciative of surface aesthetics, she continually delves deeper than most critics, yet in terms so simple and accessible that her essays read like lively, angry, humorous dialogues conducted face-to-face with the author. Russ is the antithesis of the distant critic in her ivory tower." ―Paul Di Filippo, The Washington Post Book World"... 20 years of the author’s feisty reports from the front lines of literature." ―The San Francisco Review of Books"This is a book of imaginative and provoking essays, but you should read it for the sheer fun of it." ―The Women’s Review of Books"Collects more than two decades of criticism by Joanna Russ, one of the most perceptive, forthright and eloquent feminist commentators around." ―Feminist Bookstore News"... a super book....This is a book that, for once, really will appeal to readers of all kinds." ―Utopian Studies"If you enjoy science fiction, this is definitely a book that you’ll want to talk about. I found myself sneaking a few pages at times when I really didn’t have time to read." ―Jan Catano, AtlantisClassic essays on science fiction and feminism by Nebula and Hugo award-winning Joanna Russ. Here she ranges from a consideration of the aesthetic of science fiction to a reading of the lesbian identity of Willa Cather. To Write Like a Woman includes essays on horror stories and the supernatural, feminist utopias, popular literature for women (the "modern gothic"), and the feminist education of graduate students in English.
Indiana University Press 1995 181 pages

The Time Axis

Henry Kuttner
The Time Axis by Henry Kuttner Called to the end of time by a being known as The Face of Ea, four adventurers face a power that not even the science of that era could meet -- the nekron, negative matter, negative force, ultimate desctruction for everything it touched! We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2018-07-05 154 pages

Mountains of the Mind

Gillian Polack
Mountains of the Mind - A Polack Retrospective contains never before published early work from Dr Polack, prizewinning published pieces and brand new short stories written especially for this book. It will surprise and delight fans of her previous 6 novels and non fiction publications, and introduce new readers to the complexities and subtleties of Dr Polack's short stories. Traversing the mountains and valleys, and following the twists and turns in time and place you will return again and again to the stories in this book. The paths to the top of these mountains are many, and the views from there are spectacular.
Shooting Star Press 2018-05-31 324 pages

Metamorphoses of science fiction: on the poetics and history of a literary genre

Suvin, Darko
Returning to print for the first time since the 1980s, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction is the origin point for decades of literary and theoretical criticism of science fiction and related genres. Darko Suvin's paradigm-setting definition of SF as "the literature of cognitive estrangement" established a robust theory of the genre that continues to spark fierce debate, as well as inspiring myriad intellectual descendants and disciples. Suvin's centuries-spanning history of the genre links SF to a long tradition of Utopian and satirical literatures crying out for a better world than this one, showing how SF and the imagination of Utopia are now forever intertwined. In addition to the 1979 text of the book, this edition contains three additional essays from Suvin that update, expand and reconsider the terms of his original intervention, as well as a new introduction and preface that situate the book in the context of the decades of SF studies that have followed in its wake.
Peter Lang 2016 465 pages

Anno domini 2000, or, Woman's destiny

Vogel, Julius Sir
Anno Domini 2000; Or, Woman's Destiny (1889) is a novel by Sir Julius Vogel. Written by the former prime minister of New Zealand, the novel sold poorly upon publication. In recent years, however, the novel has been recognized as a groundbreaking work of science fiction that uncannily predicted many of the social developments that would define New Zealand's contribution to human civilization in the twentieth century, notably its status as the first nation to grant women the right to vote. "The barriers which man in his own interest set to the occupation of woman having once been broken down, the progress of woman in all pursuits requiring judgment and intellect has been continuous; and the sum of that progress is enormous." In the year 2000, the British Empire is an Imperial Federation apart from an independent Ireland. Having granted women the right to vote, British society has enjoyed a revolution in gender roles from the top down. Hilda Fitzherbert, the young and charismatic Prime Minister of New Zealand, is a shining example of the new woman of the twenty-first century. When her burgeoning romance with Emperor Albert threatens diplomatic relations with the United States, the peaceful world order faces the threat of war. This edition of Frank Aubrey's Anno Domini 2000; Or, Woman's Destiny is a classic of science fiction reimagined for modern readers. Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.
Mint Editions 2021 127 pages

The country you have never seen: essays and reviews

Russ, Joanna
In 1959, at the age of 22, Joanna Russ published her first science fiction story, “Nor Custom Stale,” in The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. In the forty-five years since, Russ has continued to write some of the most popular, creative, and important novels and stories in science fiction. She was a central figure, along with contemporaries Ursula K. Le Guin and James Tiptree, in revolutionizing science fiction in the 1960s and 1970s, and her 1970 novel The Female Man is widely regarded as one of the most successful and influential depictions of a feminist utopia in the entire genre. The Country You Have Never Seen gathers Joanna Russ’s most important essays and reviews, revealing the vital part she played over the years in the never-ending conversation among writers and fans about the roles, boundaries, and potential of science fiction. Spanning her entire career, the collection shines a light on Russ’s role in the development of new wave science fiction and feminist science fiction, while at the same time providing fascinating insight into her own development as a writer.
Liverpool University Press 2007-07-01 305 pages

Die Harzreise

Heine, Heinrich
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
BiblioBazaar 2008-08-21 114 pages