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Showing 1 - 20 of 23 items
By G. Wayne Miller. 2000
Discusses the life and work of Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, who helped develop open-heart surgery while working for the University…
Hospital in Minneapolis. For his initial attempts during the 1950s, Lillehei devised a cross-circulation technique--hooking the patient up to another human's circulatory system. Describes many of his early cases. 2000By Jan Wahl, Morgana Wallace. 2019
Covers the pioneering scientific work and inspiring courage of Hedy Lamarr, the famous Hollywood actress who fought against old-fashioned parents,…
a domineering husband, prejudice, and stereotypes to become an accomplished inventor whose work helped pave the way for many of the communications technologies we enjoy today. For grades 2-4. 2019By Monica Arnaldo. 2021
A Kids' Indie Next List pick! Laugh-out-loud humor and a tender friendship blossom in author-illustrator Monica Arnaldo’s charming picture book…
about a lonely raccoon and a glowing seed, and the world’s most important question: Can this seed grow cheeseburgers? Grub is a lonely racoon. Rumbling in the trash. Looking for food.Seed is, well, a seed! Patiently waiting in the trash. Hoping someone will plant it. When the two finally meet, they realize they might be able to help each other! Grub has just one big question first: What will Seed grow? Could Seed grow Grub’s favorite food, mouthwatering cheeseburgers? Seed isn’t sure what a cheeseburger is exactly, but . . . maybe!And so begins a hilarious friendship following two unlikely strangers learning more about the other and discovering the pressure that comes with fulfilling expectations. Author-illustrator Monica Arnaldo will leave readers giggling and clamoring for more in this charming story that celebrates the unexpected—and how the most special friendships bloom only when we are unapologetically ourselves.By James Machin. 2018
This book is the first study of how weird fiction emerged from Victorian supernatural…
literature abandoning the more conventional Gothic horrors of the past for the contemporary weird tale It investigates the careers and fiction of a range of the British writers who inspired H P Lovecraft such as Arthur Machen M P Shiel and John Buchan to shed light on the tensions between literary and genre fiction that continue to this day Weird Fiction in Britain 1880 1939 focuses on the key literary and cultural contexts of weird fiction of the period including Decadence paganism and the occult and discusses how these later impacted on the seminal American pulp magazine Weird Tales This ground-breaking book will appeal to scholars of weird horror and Gothic fiction genre studies Decadence popular fiction the occult and Fin-de-Si cle cultural historyBy Jad Smith. 2012
Under his own name and numerous pseudonyms, John Brunner (1934-1995) was one of the most prolific and influential science fiction…
authors of the late twentieth century. During his exemplary career, the British author wrote with a stamina matched by only a few other great science fiction writers and with a literary quality of even fewer, importing modernist techniques into his novels and stories and probing every major theme of his generation: robotics, racism, drugs, space exploration, technological warfare, and ecology. In this first intensive review of Brunner's life and works, Jad Smith carefully demonstrates how Brunner's much-neglected early fiction laid the foundation for his classic Stand on Zanzibar and other major works such as The Jagged Orbit, The Sheep Look Up, and The Shockwave Rider. Making extensive use of Brunner's letters, columns, speeches, and interviews published in fanzines, Smith approaches Brunner in the context of markets and trends that affected many writers of the time, including Brunner's uneasy association with the "New Wave" of science fiction in the 1960s and '70s. This landmark study shows how Brunner's attempts to cross-fertilize the American pulp tradition with British scientific romance complicated the distinctions between genre and mainstream fiction and between hard and soft science fiction and helped carve out space for emerging modes such as cyberpunk, slipstream, and biopunk.By Jeffrey Weinstock. 2018
With well over one-hundred episodes, the podcast Welcome to Night Vale has spawned several international live tours, two novels set…
in the Night Vale universe, and an extensive volume of fan fiction and commentary. However, despite its immense popularity, Welcome to Night Vale has received almost no academic scrutiny. This edited collection of scholarly essays—the very first of its kind on a podcast—attempts to redress this lack of attention to Night Vale by bringing together an international group of scholars from different disciplines to consider the program’s form, themes, politics, and fanbase. After a thorough introduction by the volume’s editor, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, the eight contributors not only offer close analysis of Night Vale, but use the program as the impetus for broader explorations of new media, gender, the constitution of identity, the construction of place, and the human relationship to meaning and the non-human.By Clive Bloom. 2020
“Simply put, there is absolutely nothing on the market with the range of ambition of this strikingly eclectic collection of…
essays. Not only is it impossible to imagine a more comprehensive view of the subject, most readers – even specialists in the subject – will find that there are elements of the Gothic genre here of which they were previously unaware.” - Barry Forshaw, Author of British Gothic Cinema and Sex and Film The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic is the most comprehensive compendium of analytic essays on the modern Gothic now available, covering the vast and highly significant period from 1918 to 2019. The Gothic sensibility, over 200 years old, embraces its dark past whilst anticipating the future. From demons and monsters to post- apocalyptic fears and ecological fantasies, Gothic is thriving as never before in the arts and in popular culture. This volume is made up of 62 comprehensive chapters with notes and extended bibliographies contributed by scholars from around the world. The chapters are written not only for those engaged in academic research but also to be accessible to students and dedicated followers of the genre. Each chapter is packed with analysis of the Gothic in both theory and practice, as the genre has mutated and spread over the last hundred years. Starting in 1918 with the impact of film on the genre's development, and moving through its many and varied international incarnations, each chapter chronicles the history of the gothic milieu from the movies to gaming platforms and internet memes, television and theatre. The volume also looks at how Gothic intersects with fashion, music and popular culture: a multi-layered, multi-ethnic, even a trans-gendered experience as we move into the twenty first century.By Ruth Heholt, Holly-Gale Millette. 2020
This collection explores global dystopic, grotesque and retold narratives of degeneration, ecological and economic ruin, dystopia, and inequality in contemporary…
fictions set in the urban space. Divided into three sections—Identities and Histories, Ruin and Residue, and Global Gothic—The New Urban Gothic explores our anxieties and preoccupation with social inequalities, precarity and the peripheral that are found in so many new fictions across various media. Focusing on non-canonical Gothic global cities, this distinctive collection discusses urban centres in England’s Black Country, Moscow, Detroit, Seoul, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Dehli, Srinigar, Shanghai and Barcelona as well as cities of the imaginary, the digital and the animated. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the intersections of time, place, space and media in contemporary Gothic Studies. The New Urban Gothic casts reflections and shadows on the age of the Anthropocene.By Clive Bloom. 2021
By the early 1830s the old school of Gothic literature was exhausted. Late Romanticism, emphasising as it did the uncertainties…
of personality and imagination, gave it a new lease of life. Gothic—the literature of disturbance and uncertainty—now produced works that reflected domestic fears, sexual crimes, drug filled hallucinations, the terrible secrets of middle class marriage, imperial horror at alien invasion, occult demonism and the insanity of psychopaths. It was from the 1830s onwards that the old gothic castle gave way to the country house drawing room, the dungeon was displaced by the sewers of the city and the villains of early novels became the familiar figures of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dracula, Dorian Grey and Jack the Ripper. After the death of Prince Albert (1861), the Gothic became darker, more morbid, obsessed with demonic lovers, blood sucking ghouls, blood stained murderers and deranged doctors. Whilst the gothic architecture of the Houses of Parliament and the new Puginesque churches upheld a Victorian ideal of sobriety, Christianity and imperial destiny, Gothic literature filed these new spaces with a dread that spread like a plague to America, France, Germany and even Russia. From 1830 to 1914, the period covered by this volume, we saw the emergence of the greats of Gothic literature and the supernatural from Edgar Allan Poe to Emily Bronte, from Sheridan Le Fanu to Bram Stoker and Robert Louis Stevenson. Contributors also examine the fin-de-siècle dreamers of decadence such as Arthur Machen, M P Shiel and Vernon Lee and their obsession with the occult, folklore, spiritualism, revenants, ghostly apparitions and cosmic annihilation. This volume explores the period through the prism of architectural history, urban studies, feminism, 'hauntology' and much more. 'Horror', as Poe teaches us, 'is the soul of the plot'.By Ms Shobhaa De. 2020
The untamed, incandescent and battle-ready Srilaa grows up in her wealthy Marwari family&’s palatial house in Calcutta. After suffering her…
first heartbreak at the hands of a potential suitor, she is married and packed off to Bombay to live with her new husband. There she experiences womanhood and confronts her sexual curiosities, misgivings and desires, but continues to hope daringly and love fearlessly—refusing to live her life by the unrealistic standards society often sets on unconventional women. The young and vivacious Srilaa slowly but assuredly becomes the inimitable Srilaaji! And each time life starts crumbling around her, she manages to pick herself up … and from the ashes of an uncertain life, a phoenix rises. Told with Shobhaa De&’s matchless blend of candour, humour and seductive earthiness, Srilaaji captures the soul of an indomitable spirit. A book that simmers and erupts at will, and presents us with one of the most unforgettable protagonists in years – the utterly delicious Srilaaji.By Jack Vance. 2009
Jack Vance has long been one of the most influential, admired and imitated writers in science fiction and fantasy literature,…
the award-winning author of such widely acclaimed works as The Dying Earth, the Lyonesse trilogy, the adventures of Cugel the Clever, the Demon Princes series, and many other masterful tales set among the stars, in exotic fantasy realms or on our own Earth.For much of his career, Vance has also been one of the field's most private writers, an author who preferred to let his work speak for him. Now, at last, to coincide with the release of the tribute anthology Songs of the Dying Earth, Jack gives us this intimate and fascinating glimpse into his rich and eventful life, and a valuable insight into how he went about practicing his craft.For fans of the Grand Master's work, these memoirs are something to be treasured.By L. Sprague DeCamp. 1992
Time and Chance is the autobiography of Hugo, World Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master Award-winning author, L. Sprague de Camp.…
It is a fascinating insight into a man who began writing in the late 1930's and remained an active voice in the genre up until his death in the last year of the twentieth century, and who was a prime mover in the formation of the fields of Science Fiction and Fantasy as we know them today.By Nizar Zouidi. 2021
Performativity of Villainy and Evil in Anglophone Literature and Media studies the performative nature of evil characters, acts and emotions…
across intersecting genres, disciplines and historical eras. This collection brings together scholars and artists with different institutional standings, cultural backgrounds and (inter)disciplinary interests with the aim of energizing the ongoing discussion of the generic and thematic issues related to the representation of villainy and evil in literature and media. The volume covers medieval literature to contemporary literature and also examines important aspects of evil in literature such as social and political identity, the gothic and systemic evil practices. In addition to literature, the book considers examples of villainy in film, TV and media, revealing that performance, performative control and maneuverability are the common characteristics of villains across the different literary and filmic genres and eras studied in the volume.By Brenda Ayres, Sarah E. Maier. 2021
A Vindication of the Redhead investigates red hair in literature, art, television, and film throughout Eastern and Western cultures. This…
study examines red hair as a signifier, perpetuated through stereotypes, myths, legends, and literary and visual representations. Brenda Ayres and Sarah E. Maier provide a history of attitudes held by hegemonic populations toward red-haired individuals, groups, and genders from antiquity to the present. Ayres and Maier explore such diverse topics as Judeo-Christian narratives of red hair, redheads in Pre-Raphaelite paintings, red hair and gender identity, famous literary redheads such as Anne of Green Gables and Pippi Longstocking, contemporary and Neo-Victorian representations of redheads from the Black Widow to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and more. This book illuminates the symbolic significance and related ideologies of red hair constructed in mythic, religious, literary, and visual cultural discourse.By Andrew C. Wenaus. 2022
This book offers an examination of Jeff Noon’s iconoclastic debut novel, Vurt (1993). In this first book-length study of the…
novel, which includes an extended interview with Noon, Wenaus considers how Vurt complicates the process of literary canonization, its constructivist relationship to genre, its violent and oneiric setting of Manchester, its use of the Orphic myth as an archetype for the practice of literary collage and musical remix, and how the structural paradoxes of chaos and fractal geometry inform the novel’s content, form, and theme. Finally, Wenaus makes the case for Vurt’s ongoing relevance in the 21st century, an era increasingly characterized by neuro-totalitarianism, psychopolitics, and digital surveillance. With Vurt, Noon begins his project of rupturing feedback loops of control by breaking narrative habits and embracing the contingent and unpredictable. An inventive, energetic, and heartbreaking novel, Vurt is also an optimistic and heartfelt call for artists to actively create open futures.By The Editors of TIME. 1898
Fifty years after the birth of the Star Trek phenomenon, the legacy is as alive as ever. In 2016 and…
2017, both a new film and television installation will be added to the historic franchise, totaling thirteen feature films and six television series, causing Trekkies to rejoice around the world. The Star Trek series has not only captivated our imaginations, but also our hearts as we adventure alongside Captain Kirk, Captain Picard, Spock and so many more favorite characters through galaxies and lightyears.Relive your favorite moments on this landmark anniversary in the all-new, special edition from TIME, Star Trek: Inside the Most Influential Science-Fiction Series Ever. Starring some of the most iconic characters in Hollywood history ¿ from human beings to extraterrestrials ¿ Star Trek examines how these two species work together to better understand the universe in which they live. Over the past fifty years, Star Trek has explored the future, and perhaps more importantly, the human condition, inspiring Trekkies all around the world to live long and prosper.By Simon Pegg, The Editors of Entertainment Weekly. 2016
You may think you are already the ultimate Star Trek fan, but have you ever wondered how the Vulcan greeting…
came to be? Or who did (and didn't) get along behind the scenes of the USS Enterprise? Enter The Ultimate Guide to Star Trek, your personal guide to the shows, cast, crew and worlds that they explored. The Ultimate Guide to Star Trek chronologically explores the productions and fandom of Star Trek. We begin with the three-year run of the original series with stars William Shatner as Captain Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Next we lead into the six major motion pictures of the 20th century and second generation of television series. Finally, we survey the current Star Trek major motion picture franchise with stars like Chris Pine and director J.J. Abrams. This 50th anniversary collector's edition includes new photos from the upcoming Star Trek Beyond movie and opens with an introduction by the film's cowriter and Scotty 2.0, Simon Pegg.By Damien K. Picariello. 2020
The Politics of Horror features contributions from scholars in a variety of fields—political science, English, communication studies, and others—that explore…
the connections between horror and politics. How might resources drawn from the study of politics inform our readings of, and conversations about, horror? In what ways might horror provide a useful lens through which to consider enduring questions in politics and political thought? And what insights might be drawn from horror as we consider contemporary political issues? In turning to horror, the contributors to this volume offer fresh provocations to inform a broad range of discussions of politics.Artificial Culture is an examination of the articulation, construction, and representation of "the artificial" in contemporary popular cultural texts, especially…
science fiction films and novels. The book argues that today we live in an artificial culture due to the deep and inextricable relationship between people, our bodies, and technology at large. While the artificial is often imagined as outside of the natural order and thus also beyond the realm of humanity, paradoxically, artificial concepts are simultaneously produced and constructed by human ideas and labor. The artificial can thus act as a boundary point against which we as a culture can measure what it means to be human. Science fiction feature films and novels, and other related media, frequently and provocatively deploy ideas of the artificial in ways which the lines between people, our bodies, spaces and culture more broadly blur and, at times, dissolve. Building on the rich foundational work on the figures of the cyborg and posthuman, this book situates the artificial in similar terms, but from a nevertheless distinctly different viewpoint. After examining ideas of the artificial as deployed in film, novels and other digital contexts, this study concludes that we are now part of an artificial culture entailing a matrix which, rather than separating minds and bodies, or humanity and the digital, reinforces the symbiotic connection between identities, bodies, and technologies.By Elizabeth Crane. 2008
Whether breathlessly enthusiastic, serenely calm, or really concentrating right now on their personal zombie issues, Elizabeth Crane's happy cast explores…
the complexities behind personal satisfaction. Elizabeth Crane is the author of two previous story collections, When the Messenger is Hot and All This Heavenly Glory. Her work has also been featured in numerous publications, including Chicago Reader and The Believer, as well as several anthologies, including McSweeney's Future Dictionary of America and The Best Underground Fiction. A winner of the Chicago Public Library's 21st Century Award, Crane teaches creative writing at Northwestern's School of Continuing Studies, The School of the Art Institute, and The University of Chicago. She lives in Chicago.