Service Alert
Delay in delivery of CDs
We are currently experiencing a delay with CD production. CDs are being sent and will be delivered as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.
We are currently experiencing a delay with CD production. CDs are being sent and will be delivered as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Showing 21 - 40 of 90 items
By David Brin, Orson Scott Card, Neal Shusterman, Kami Garcia, Michael Whelan, J Voelkel. 2013
Get a sneak peak at Smart Pop's 2013 titles with this preview volume of standalone essays and exclusive book extras!Volume…
includes:"Anne McCaffrey, Believer in Us" - David BrinFrom Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern, edited by Todd McCaffreyExclusive Extra: "Painting the Dragonwriter Cover" - Michael WhelanExcerpts from "Munchkin: Hollywood" - Liam McIntyreFrom The Munchkin Book: The Official Companion, edited by James Lowder"Percy Jackson and the Gods of Death" - J&P VoelkelFrom Demigods and Monsters: Your Favorite Authors on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, edited by Rick Riordan"Why the Best Friend Never Gets the Girl" - Kami GarciaFrom Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader, edited by Cassandra Clare"The Price of Our Inheritance" - Neal ShustermanFrom Ender's World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender's Game, edited by Orson Scott CardExclusive Extra: Q&A with Orson Scott Card"The Architects of the Rebellion" - V. ArrowFrom The Panem Companion: An Unofficial Guide to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games, From Mellark Bakery to MockingjaysExclusive Extras:"A Grosser Power" - Ned Vizzini"Capitol or Katniss - Who Am I?" - Lili WilkinsonFrom the special e-book only content for The Girl Who Was on Fire - Movie Edition, edited by Leah Wilson"A Prehistory of Fanfiction" - Anne JamisonFrom Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the WorldExcerpts on Washington Commons, The Foundry, and AndrewAndrewFrom The Unofficial Girls Guide to New York: Inside the Cafes, Clubs, and Neighborhoods of HBO's GirlsBy David Brin, Orson Scott Card, Neal Shusterman, Kami Garcia, Michael Whelan, J Voelkel. 2013
Get a sneak peak at Smart Pop's 2013 titles with this preview volume of standalone essays and exclusive book extras!Volume…
includes:"Anne McCaffrey, Believer in Us" - David BrinFrom Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern, edited by Todd McCaffreyExclusive Extra: "Painting the Dragonwriter Cover" - Michael WhelanExcerpts from "Munchkin: Hollywood" - Liam McIntyreFrom The Munchkin Book: The Official Companion, edited by James Lowder"Percy Jackson and the Gods of Death" - J&P VoelkelFrom Demigods and Monsters: Your Favorite Authors on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, edited by Rick Riordan"Why the Best Friend Never Gets the Girl" - Kami GarciaFrom Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader, edited by Cassandra Clare"The Price of Our Inheritance" - Neal ShustermanFrom Ender's World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender's Game, edited by Orson Scott CardExclusive Extra: Q&A with Orson Scott Card"The Architects of the Rebellion" - V. ArrowFrom The Panem Companion: An Unofficial Guide to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games, From Mellark Bakery to MockingjaysExclusive Extras:"A Grosser Power" - Ned Vizzini"Capitol or Katniss - Who Am I?" - Lili WilkinsonFrom the special e-book only content for The Girl Who Was on Fire - Movie Edition, edited by Leah Wilson"A Prehistory of Fanfiction" - Anne JamisonFrom Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the WorldExcerpts on Washington Commons, The Foundry, and AndrewAndrewFrom The Unofficial Girls Guide to New York: Inside the Cafes, Clubs, and Neighborhoods of HBO's GirlsBy Kenneth Tucker. 2018
They came to decadent America, tottering toward insurrection: The Zebonites, beings from a distant star had promised astounding medical and…
scientific advances in exchange for allowing them to set up a military stronghold in Florida's Everglades. Excited by their promises humanity's advancementof, Joe Tanner applied for and was hired for the contact team, a small group of individuals who could gain access to and lead other into the Zebonite's stronghold. But the Zebonites kept themselves shrouded in mystery, not revealing their natures, communicating only through the Zugs, mutated servants, and robotic bugs. Soon the world learned that the alliance had not been a request, but an ultimatum. The Zebonites, moreover, the treated human beings with contempt, considering themselves superior. They sought to instill dread by torturing, killing, and, if necessary, destroying the minds of those who oppose them...By Jules Verne, Arthur B. Evans, Stanford L. Luce, Jean-Michel Margot. 2007
Castaways on a barren island in the South Seas, Karl and Pieter Kip are rescued by the brig James Cook.…
After helping to quell an onboard mutiny, however, they suddenly find themselves accused and convicted of the captain's murder. In this story, one of his last Voyages Extraordinaires, Verne interweaves an exciting exploration of the South Pacific with a tale of judicial error reminiscent of the infamous Dreyfus Affair. This Wesleyan edition brings together the first English translation with one of the first detailed critical analyses of the novel, and features all the illustrations from the original 1902 publication.By Jules Verne. 2001
At a time when Verne is making a comeback in the US as a mainstream literary figure, Wesleyan is pleased…
to publish a new translation of one of his best-known novels, The Mysterious Island. Although several editions under the same title are in print, most reproduce a bowdlerized nineteenth-century translation which changes the names of the characters, omits several important scenes, and ideologically censors Verne's original text.The Mysterious Island was published in 1874, and it is one of Verne's longest novels. The plot depicts a group of men who have become castaways stranded on an island in the Pacific during the American Civil War. The novel describes their attempts not only to survive but also, with the aid of the scientific and technological know-how, to rebuild their world from the meager resources of the island. At the end, however, it is realized that Captain Nemo, from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, has secretly been helping the settlers. A marvelous adventure story, The Mysterious Island is also notable for its modern retelling of the utopian deserted-island myth, with repeated echoes of Robinson Crusoe and the Swiss Family Robinson. This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices and an introduction by Verne scholar William Butcher, as well as reproductions of the illustrations from the original French edition.By Kim Stanley Robinson, Gerry Canavan. 2014
Contemporary visions of the future have been shaped by hopes and fears about the effects of human technology and global…
capitalism on the natural world. In an era of climate change, mass extinction, and oil shortage, such visions have become increasingly catastrophic, even apocalyptic. Exploring the close relationship between science fiction, ecology, and environmentalism, the essays in Green Planets consider how science fiction writers have been working through this crisis. Beginning with H. G. Wells and passing through major twentieth-century writers like Ursula K. Le Guin, Stanislaw Lem, and Thomas Disch to contemporary authors like Margaret Atwood, China Miéville, and Paolo Bacigalupi--as well as recent blockbuster films like Avatar and District 9--the essays in Green Planets consider the important place for science fiction in a culture that now seems to have a very uncertain future. The book includes an extended interview with Kim Stanley Robinson and an annotated list for further exploration of "ecological SF" and related works of fiction, nonfiction, films, television, comics, children's cartoons, anime, video games, music, and more. Contributors include Christina Alt, Brent Bellamy, Sabine Höhler, Adeline Johns-Putra, Melody Jue, Rob Latham, Andrew Milner, Timothy Morton, Eric C. Otto, Michael Page, Christopher Palmer, Gib Prettyman, Elzette Steenkamp, Imre Szeman.By Samuel R. Delany. 1999
In Shorter Views, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author Samuel R. Delany brings his remarkable intellectual powers to bear on a…
wide range of topics. Whether he is exploring the deeply felt issues of identity, race, and sexuality, untangling the intricacies of literary theory, or the writing process itself, Delany is one of the most lucid and insightful writers of our time. These essays cluster around topics related to queer theory on the one hand, and on the other, questions concerning the paraliterary genres: science fiction, pornography, comics, and more. Readers new to Delany's work will find this collection of shorter pieces an especially good introduction, while those already familiar with his writing will appreciate having these essays between two covers for the first time.The genre of prehistoric fiction contains a surprisingly large and diverse group of fictional works by American, British, and French…
writers from the late nineteenth century to the present that describe prehistoric humans. Nicholas Ruddick explains why prehistoric fiction could not come into being until after the acceptance of Charles Darwin's theories, and argues that many early prehistoric fiction works are still worth reading even though the science upon which they are based is now outdated. Exploring the history and evolution of the genre, Ruddick shows how prehistoric fiction can offer fascinating insights into the possible origins of human nature, sexuality, racial distinctions, language, religion, and art. The book includes discussions of well-known prehistoric fiction by H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, J.-H. Rosny Aine, Jack London, William Golding, Arthur C. Clarke, and Jean M. Auel and reminds us of some unjustly forgotten landmarks of prehistoric fiction. It also briefly covers such topics as the recent boom in prehistoric romance, notable prehistoric fiction for children and young adults, and the most entertaining movies featuring prehistoric humans. The book includes illustrations that trace the changing popular images of cave men and women over the past 150 years.By Joseph Packer, Ethan Stoneman. 2018
In A Feeling of Wrongness, Joseph Packer and Ethan Stoneman confront the rhetorical challenge inherent in the concept of pessimism…
by analyzing how it is represented in an eclectic range of texts on the fringes of popular culture, from adult animated cartoons to speculative fiction.Packer and Stoneman explore how narratives such as True Detective, Rick and Morty, Final Fantasy VII, Lovecraftian weird fiction, and the pop ideology of transhumanism are better suited to communicate pessimistic affect to their fans than most carefully argued philosophical treatises and polemics. They show how these popular nondiscursive texts successfully circumvent the typical defenses against pessimism identified by Peter Wessel Zapffe as distraction, isolation, anchoring, and sublimation. They twist genres, upend common tropes, and disturb conventional narrative structures in a way that catches their audience off guard, resulting in belief without cognition, a more rhetorically effective form of pessimism than philosophical pessimism.While philosophers and polemicists argue for pessimism in accord with the inherently optimistic structures of expressive thought or rhetoric, Packer and Stoneman show how popular texts are able to communicate their pessimism in ways that are paradoxically freed from the restrictive tools of optimism. A Feeling of Wrongness thus presents uncharted rhetorical possibilities for narrative, making visible the rhetorical efficacy of alternate ways and means of persuasion.By Paolo Bacigalupi. 2011
La antología de relatos de uno de los mejores escritores de ciencia ficción de nuestros días. Desde la publicación de…
su extraordinaria primera novela, La chica mecánica (Plaza & Janés, 2011), Paolo Bacigalupi ha sido reconocido internacionalmente como uno de los mejores escritores de ciencia ficción de la actualidad. El éxito de este joven autor estadounidense viene avalado por los premios Hugo, Nebula y Locus, entre otros grandes galardones del género; y asimismo ha sido finalista del National Book Award. Con esta antología, que incluye varios de los relatos con los que se dio a conocer, Paolo Bacigalupi no solo confirma su maestría del género, sino que también demuestra la fuerza y la grandeza de visión de la literatura especulativa, de la que es uno de los más destacados exponentes. La crítica social, la parábola política y la defensa del medio ambiente se dan cita en un volumen que reúne algunos de los grandes temas que preocupan hoy, y que conforman la clave de un autor fundamental en nuestros tiempos: desde la globalización y la geopolítica, hasta la ecología, el cambio climático y los alimentos transgénicos. Estos once inolvidables relatos examinan a través de la lente de la ficción la repercusión que podrían tener esas tendencias en el futuro de la humanidad. Reseña:«Si disfrutas leyendo historias de ciencia ficción con trasfondo filosófico, lee La bomba número seis. Si detestas las historias de ciencia ficción con trasfondo filosófico, lee La bomba número seis... Tanto si abordas este libro por sus ideas o por sus grandes historias, no te va a decepcionar.»Monsters and CriticsBy Raffaella Baccolini, Tom Moylan. 2003
A navigational aid to the apocalypse.Steve Beard's Six Concepts for the End of the World mixes scientific research with experimental…
fiction to produce a manual for the apocalypse. The author examines six disciplines—technology, sociology, geography, psychology, theology and narratology—and for each one creates a fictional scenario that both reflects and energizes the research, all under the guiding light of the philosopher Paul Virilio's theories. This approach allows Beard to create one surprising idea after another: Hollywood viewed as a research and development lab for the end times, a first-person account of a UFO abduction, a blog on the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines flight 370, a voice-over for an imaginary film by a doomsday cult member. Highly original in both form and content, the book surprises and delights in its scope. The approach is multidisciplinary and multidirectional, and Beard's exploration ranges over many areas and themes, always bringing distinctive insights to bear. Six Concepts for the End of the World is an expertly guided tour through the author's imagination, and toward the end of the world.By Isaac Asimov. 1969
ASIMOV THE GREATEST Isaac Asimov needs no introduction. As the COLUMBUS DISPATCH declares, he is “the man who legitimized Science…
Fiction in the United States." But this is just part of the fabulous Asimov story. For this bestselling author has also explored virtually every branch of human knowledge in his mind- expanding writings. Now, in a blend of Science and Fiction that only he could achieve, Isaac Asimov takes you on a personally guided tour of the brightest adventures and delights in the Asimov galaxy.By Kai-Cheung Dung. 2012
Set in the long-lost City of Victoria (a fictional world similar to Hong Kong), Atlas is written from the unified…
perspective of future archaeologists struggling to rebuild a thrilling metropolis. Divided into four sections—"Theory," "The City," "Streets," and "Signs"—the novel reimagines Victoria through maps and other historical documents and artifacts, mixing real-world scenarios with purely imaginary people and events while incorporating anecdotes and actual and fictional social commentary and critique. Much like the quasi-fictional adventures in map-reading and remapping explored by Paul Auster, Jorge Luis Borges, and Italo Calvino, Dung Kai-cheung's novel challenges the representation of place and history and the limits of technical and scientific media in reconstructing a history. It best exemplifies the author's versatility and experimentation, along with China's rapidly evolving literary culture, by blending fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in a story about succeeding and failing to recapture the things we lose. Playing with a variety of styles and subjects, Dung Kai-cheung inventively engages with the fate of Hong Kong since its British "handover" in 1997, which officially marked the end of colonial rule and the beginning of an uncharted future.Taiwan's most innovative science fiction writer presents three tales of intrigue, espionage, betrayal, political strife, time travel, and Chinese history…
and mysticism. After thousands of years of civil unrest and countless wars, the weary Huhui people of Sunlon City have once again succumbed to a ruthless and overpowering enemy. In Five Jade Disks, the first book in the trilogy, the imperialistic Shan have enslaved the inhabitants of Sunlon City and imposed a harsh martial order. As the Shan fight to retain control of the restless Huhui natives, an unstable rebel alliance prepares to win back its homeland. Amidst the confusion of revolt, Miss Qi, a determined young girl, emerges as an unlikely leader. With the help of her friends and the loyal Green Snake Brotherhood, Miss Qi discovers that an ancient cult and its insidious and unusually powerful leader may hold the key to the rebels' victory—or may yet be the cause of their undoing. As she rushes to put the pieces together, the rebels, divided by internal factions, strive to band together in a heroic attempt to overthrow the Shan. The story continues in Defenders of the Dragon City. The Shan have been defeated, but the victory celebrations of the Huhui are quickly brought to an end. After deserting Sunlon City, the Shan regroup and return for one final and bitter attempt to destroy the weakened rebel forces. During their exile, the Shan turn their aggressions against the indigenous races of the Huhui planet, a colorful mix of peaceful tribes resembling serpents, eagles, and leopards. Forced into the war to save their remaining territory, the indigenous peoples join the Huhui in their continuing struggle against the Shan.The third novel, Tale of a Feather, opens with images of chaos and devastation. The conflict with the Shan has left the city in flames, and refugees are fleeing in droves through the main gates. Taking advantage of the turmoil, a ruthless dictator assumes control of the weak interim government and begins a treacherous campaign to eliminate his adversaries. In this volatile atmosphere, Miss Qi continues her desperate search to discover the origin of the mysterious Bronze Statue Cult and come to terms with the dark power it wields over her people.The trilogy, first published in Taiwan in the late 1980s and early 1990s and widely considered to be a modern classic, is now presented for the first time in English and in a single volume. In these allegorical tales, Chang confronts some of the most serious and divisive issues of our time, including the burden of history and the ravages of oppression, racism, and ethnic displacement.Ecofeminist Science Fiction: International Perspectives on Gender, Ecology, and Literature provides guidance in navigating some of the most pressing dangers…
we face today. Science fiction helps us face problems that threaten the very existence of humankind by giving us the emotional distance to see our current situation from afar, separated in our imaginations through time, space, or circumstance. Extrapolating from contemporary science, science fiction allows a critique of modern society, imagining more life-affirming alternatives. In this collection, ecocritics from five continents scrutinize science fiction for insights into the fundamental changes we need to make to survive and thrive as a species. Contributors examine ecofeminist themes in films, such as Avatar, Star Wars, and The Stepford Wives, as well as television series including Doctor Who and Westworld. Other scholars explore an internationally diverse group of both canonical and lesser-known science fiction writers including Oreet Ashery, Iraj Fazel Bakhsheshi, Liu Cixin, Louise Erdrich, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Larissa Lai, Ursula K. Le Guin, Chen Qiufan, Mary Doria Russell, Larissa Sansour, Karen Traviss, and Jeanette Winterson. Ecofeminist Science Fiction explores the origins of human-caused environmental change in the twin oppressions of women and of nature, driven by patriarchal power and ideologies. Female embodiment is examined through diverse natural and artificial forms, and queer ecologies challenge heteronormativity. The links between war and environmental destruction are analyzed, and the capitalist motivations and means for exploiting nature are critiqued through postcolonial perspectives.By Charles Platt. 1983
When Charles Platt set out to answer the question, "Who writes science fiction?" he interviewed almost all the writers who…
molded the field during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The profiles that Platt wrote have become a definitive source of information about the lives and careers of Isaac Asimov, Jerry Pournelle, Frank Herbert, Frederik Pohl, and dozens more.Originally published in two volumes, the profiles collected here have been specially updated with afterwords written in 2017."There has never been a better book about science fiction; it is doubtful that there has ever veen a better book about writing of any kind." -The Cleveland Press."A book of sharp, insightful, beautifully written essays . . . . This is quite probably the finest book of its type yet to appear." -Publishers Weekly."A magnificent achievement, exemplary in its insights, its structure, its editorial restraint and perspective . . . a monumental book." -Robert Silverberg."Platt held me spellbound for hours. . . . These are some of the best [interviews] I've ever seen." -Analog magazine."A superb piece of work . . . full of color and warm empathy, it makes for charming reading." -Alfred Bester.By Michael Moorcock, James Cawthorn. 2016
Fantasy is one of the most appealing and yet most puzzling of literary genres. Appealing because it can offer dreams,…
the fulfillment of wishes, and escape; but puzzling because it spans such a wide and diverse range of books. In Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock present a wide-ranging cross-section of the fantasy genre, from its eighteenth century Gothic origins through nineteenth century literary classics, pulp-era weird fiction, and on to modern favorites. Recognized classics are accompanied by lesser-known works ripe for rediscovery, resulting in an interestingly idiosyncratic and uniquely valuable guide to two-and-a-half centuries of fantastic stories.By Samuel R. Delany. 1978
In the course of his considerations, Samuel R. Delany poses a theory of discourse and explores how the reading of…
various rhetorical turns, some science fictional, some not, is shifted by science fictional understanding.By L. Sprague DeCamp, Catherine Crook DeCamp. 1975
Copy from the 1975 Owlswick Press print edition:L. Sprague de Camp's original Science-Fiction Handbook, published in 1953 and long out…
of print, has been favourably remembered by a whole generation of science fiction readers and aspiring writers. Over the years, at convention after convention, fans have urged its reissue. Teachers of courses on imaginative fiction have begged for the book; one planned to reproduce the manual for his creative writing course until he learned that the material was under copyright Because of this enduring interest, the present book came into being.Completely rewritten by de Camp and his wife Catherine, Science Fiction Handbook, Revised serves two purposes. It introduces the general reader to the fascinating field of imaginative fiction. The first two chapters describe the growth of science fiction from Aristophanes to Asimov and give the history of its parent literature, fantasy, which is as old as cavemen and as young as tomorrow.The rest of the book affords the apprentice writer an overview of the pleasures and problems of writing imaginative fiction an teachers him the many and varied skills such writing requires. There are chapters on setting the scene, plotting the story and writing dialogue. Other chapters are devoted to showing the creative writer how to sore his literary works, keep records for tax purposes, market a story, deal with editors and agents, read the fine print in contracts and bargain with publishers. Finally, there are helpful hints for the successful writer about relating to his community, handling publicity and melding the needs of the creative artists with those of a successful human being and family member.In short, here is a wealth of information on the techniques of writing fiction. Here, too, is the wisdom distilled by the de Camps in the course of their long writing careers. And, for those who have no desire to write, here is a chance to see what the writer's world is really like and to learn something about the remarkable literature that we call science fiction and fantasy.