"Lem had several characters that he retuned to through several novels and many short stories. Ijon Tichy, the narrator and space traveler in this collection of stories, also appears in The Star Diaries, The Futurological Congress, and Peace on Earth. He is an explorer and scientific authority, sometimes the protragonist of the story and sometimes merely the narrator of events. The Ijon Tichy stories usually take a scientific theory or process and spin out a ridiculous series of events. In 'The Eighteenth Voyage' Tichy works to seed the Big Bang in such as way as to 'improve' the universe and human nature (this goes badly). 'Let Us Save the Universe' takes the problem of space pollution and biohacking to absurd extremes. In 'Doctor Diagoras' a scientist explores self-organizing mechanisms and polymers, until he discovers that his 'kybernoids' are using him as a communication device. All of the stories in this current edition were published in the 1971 Polish edition of "The Star Diaries" but were not included in the English-language editions published in 1976. 'Memoirs of a Space Traveler' appeared in English in 1982. This current edition includes a story, 'Professor A. Donda' that was in the original Polish edition, appearing in English for the first time in the 2017 Pro Auctore edition. Four of the stories originally appeared in English in The New Yorker: 'The Eighteenth Voyage,' 'The Twenty-fourth Voyage,' 'The Washing Machine Tragedy,' and 'Let Us Save the Universe.'"--

Robert Bloch, grand master of horror, recounts his tales in this hilarious autobiography, Once Around the Bloch. Once Around the Bloch takes the reader from Bloch's early years in an up-and-coming Chicago suburb to his first fateful encounter with the cult fiction magazine Weird Tales. Bloch's Hollywood adventures are also chronicled, including his encounters and friendships with such famous superstars as Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Buster Keaton, and Joan Crawford. Bloch also recounts the inspiration for and the birth of one of the most famous villains of all time, Norman Bates.

From the Inside Flap The Best of Robert Silverberg: Stories of Six Decades is a landmark volume that offers exactly what its title promises: the finest short work of one of the finest writers ever to grace the field of science fiction. Updated and expanded from 2004's Phases of the Moon, this mammoth collection contains twenty-six stories and novellas, along with a generous amount of introductory material. The result is the definitive one-volume overview of an extraordinary career. The earliest story, "The Macauley Circuit," was published in 1957, the latest, "The Prisoner," in 2010. In between these narrative bookends are some of the most astonishing fictional creations of the modern era, many of them winners of major awards. Included among these are "Good News from the Vatican," "Sailing to Byzantium," "Passengers," and "Enter a Soldier. Later, Enter Another," as well as two of the most remarkable novellas you will ever encounter: "Nightwings" and "Born with the Dead." Supplementing these award-winners are such bona fide classics as "Sundance," "Schwartz Between the Galaxies," "Capricorn Games," and "To See the Invisible Man." And the list goes on. Intelligent, exhilarating, and endlessly re-readable, The Best of Robert Silverberg: Stories of Six Decades is an irreplaceable volume, one that no one with an interest in modern science fiction or in serious, ambitious fiction of any sort can afford to miss. Product Description The Best of Robert Silverberg: Stories of Six Decades is a landmark volume that offers exactly what its title promises: the finest short work of one of the finest writers ever to grace the field of science fiction. Updated and expanded from 2004's Phases of the Moon, this mammoth collection contains twenty-six stories and novellas, along with a generous amount of introductory material. The result is the definitive one-volume overview of an extraordinary career. The earliest story, 'The Macauley Circuit,' was published in 1957, the latest, 'The Prisoner,' in 2010. In between these narrative bookends are some of the most astonishing fictional creations of the modern era, many of them winners of major awards. Included among these are 'Good News from the Vatican,' 'Sailing to Byzantium,' 'Passengers,' and 'Enter a Soldier. Later, Enter Another,' as well as two of the most remarkable novellas you will ever encounter: 'Nightwings' and 'Born with the Dead.' Supplementing these award-winners are such bona fide classics as 'Sundance,' 'Schwartz Between the Galaxies,' 'Capricorn Games,' and 'To See the Invisible Man.' And the list goes on. Intelligent, exhilarating, and endlessly re-readable, The Best of Robert Silverberg: Stories of Six Decades is an irreplaceable volume, one that no one with an interest in modern science fiction--or in serious, ambitious fiction of any sort--can afford to miss. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. This well-chosen retrospective, which adds three stories to the 2004 limited-edition collection Phases of the Moon, spans 56 years of SFWA Grand Master Silverberg's writing life, starting in his early career with 1954's The Road to Nightfall and ending with 2010's The Prisoner. In 26 elegantly conceived and written stories, protagonists travel through time, philosophize, question their morals and faith, and pursue unknowable, elusive women. The narrator of Nightwings endures a crisis of faith over his order's age-old vigil against alien invasion. In The Far Side of the Bell-Shaped Curve a time traveler tries to manipulate his time line to keep the woman he desires. A bereaved husband in Born with the Dead pursues his wife beyond death to her very peculiar afterlife. Francisco Pizarro and Socrates engage in a battle of wits in Enter a Soldier. Later, Enter Another. Thanks to Silverberg's commentary on each decade and story—wry, candid, and unencumbered by false modesty—the anthology also functions as a memoir of a great career in genre literature. (Dec.)

The Beatrix Gates is a colorful mix of science fiction, magic realism, memoir, and myth exploring themes of spirituality and transformation. Courage and cowardice contend in a literary odyssey unlike any other. Written especially for this volume, "Trans Central Station" is Pollacks personal and political take on the transgender experience then and now, and tomorrow? "Burning Beard" is a fiercely revisionist Bible tale of plague and prophecy told through a postmodern prose of many colors. "The Woman Who Didnt Come Back" is about just what it says. And there is of course PM Press usual and unusual Outspoken Interview. --Publisher

"Recollections of one of the grand masters of science fiction, on his storied career as a celebrated author and on his relationships with other luminaries in the field. This memoir is filled with all the humor and irreverence Harry Harrison's readers have come to expect from the New York Times bestselling author of the uproarious Stainless Steel Rat series. This also includes black and white photos spanning his sixty-year career"--

Capturing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of science fiction, this unique autobiography by Robert Silverberg shows how famous stories in this genre were conceived and written. Chronicling his career as one of the most important American science fiction writers of the 20th century, this account reveals how he rose to prominence as the pulp era was ending--and the genre was beginning to take on a more sophisticated tone--to eventually be named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. Stating that this will be his only autobiographical work, Silverberg's book includes rare photos, ephemera from his own archives, and a complete bibliography of his works, from novels and short story collections to nonfiction.

2284: World Society, Iaian Vernier's Memoir is a fascinating study of mankind. Written as a work of fiction, it looks at the human condition 200 years in the future. Predicting the outcome of today's social policies, 2284 is a cultural anthropology study that adds to Itzkoff's extensive writing on the topic. Iaian Vernier writes in 2284 of the revolutionary internationalism that has been established in Nairobi, Africa. He chronicles the disasters that almost destroyed the twenty-first-century world. He describes in anecdote and philosophical depth the new scientific and secular world that has been established to bring peace, equality, ethnic diversity and democracy to humanity, while scrutinizing the plans for demographic stability that will sustain humanity into the future. In the twenty-third century, the forbidden rationality of the scientific minds of the twenty-first century have been unleashed.