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Showing 1 - 11 of 11 items
By David Brin, Lois Mcmaster Bujold, Elizabeth Moon, Mercedes Lackey, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Todd Mccaffrey, Michael Whelan. 2013
When Anne McCaffrey passed in November 2011, it was not only those closest to her who mourned her death; legions…
of readers also felt the loss deeply. The pioneering science fiction author behind the Dragonriders of Pern® series crafted intricate stories, enthralling worlds, and strong heroines that profoundly impacted the science fiction community and genre.In Dragonwriter, Anne's son and Pern writer Todd McCaffrey collects memories and stories about the beloved author, along with insights into her writing and legacy, from those who knew her best. Nebula Award-winner Elizabeth Moon relates the lessons she learned from Pern's Lessa (and from Lessa's creator); Hugo Award-winner David Brin recalls Anne's steadfast belief that the world to come will be better than the one before; legendary SFF artist Michael Whelan shares (and tells stories about) never-before-published Pern sketches from his archives; and more.Join Anne's co-writers, fellow science fiction authors, family, and friends in remembering her life, and exploring how her mind and pen shaped not only the Weyrs of Pern, but also the literary landscape as we know it.Contributors include: Angelina Adams David Brin David Gerrold John Goodwin Janis Ian Alec Johnson Georgeanne Kennedy Mercedes Lackey Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Lois McMaster Bujold Elizabeth Moon Charlotte Moore Robert Neilson Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett Robin Roberts Elizabeth Ann Scarborough Wen Spencer Michael Whelan Richard J. Woods Chelsea Quinn YarbroBy Damon Knight. 1977
Culled from the most imaginative and provocative minds of the pas thirty years, these pieces demonstrate the vitality and diversity,…
the excitement and commitment of the writers who helped make science fiction what it is today.By Robert Silverberg. 2010
Presenting acclaimed essays from one of contemporary science fiction's most imaginative wordsmiths, this collection shows that Robert Silverberg's nonfiction is…
as witty and original as his fiction and full of acute observations and matter-of-fact insights. Whether he is discussing science fiction, history, cultural effects, science, or writing, Silverberg is always exploring new territories. As in his fiction, no cultural icon escapes his scrutiny, including fellow writers such as Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, H. P. Lovecraft, and Isaac Asimov. Delightfully wicked commentaries on the concepts of thoughtcrimes, space exploration, the ancient Antikythera Computer, and the universal translator in science fiction fill these essays, many of which were originally published as columns in Asimov Science Fiction magazine.By Lawrence Watt-Evans. 2013
Over the years, in a variety of venues, Lawrence Watt-Evans has turned his sharp, analytical, and slightly crazed mind to…
everything from weaponized poetry to why the Enterprise doesn't have seatbelts, and everyone from Jane Austen to Buffy Summers. Collected for the first time are twenty-three of these essays, discussing icons of comic books, television, novels, movies, and much more!By Orson Scott Card, Neal Shusterman, Mary Robinette Kowal, Janis Ian, Aaron Johnston, Eric James Stone. 2013
Experience the thrill of reading Ender's Game all over againGo deeper into the complexities of Orson Scott Card's classic novel…
with science fiction and fantasy writers, YA authors, military strategists, including: Ender prequel series coauthor Aaron Johnston on Ender and the evolution of the child hero. Burn Notice creator Matt Nix on Ender's Game as a guide to life. Hugo award-winning writer Mary Robinette Kowal on how Ender's Game gets away with breaking all the (literary) rules. Retired US Air Force Colonel Tom Ruby on what the military could learn from Ender about leadership. Bestselling YA author Neal Shusterman on the ambivalence toward survival that lies at the heart of Ender's story. Plus pieces by Hilari Bel, John Brown, Mette Ivie Harrison, Janis Ian, Alethea Kontis, David Lubar and Alison S. Myers, John F. Schmitt, Ken Scholes, and Eric James Stone. Also includes never-before-seen content from Orson Scott Card on the writing and evolution of the events in Ender's Game, from the design of Battle School to the mindset of the pilots who sacrificed themselves in humanity's fight against the formics. Hugo and Nebula Awards winner.By Alexander Nemerov. 2023
A vivid historical imagining of life in the early United States“One of the richest books ever to come my way.”—Annie…
Proulx, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Shipping News“This is a wonderful book. . . . An extraordinary achievement.”—Edmund de Waal, New York Times bestselling author of The Hare with Amber EyesSet amid the glimmering lakes and disappearing forests of the early United States, The Forest imagines how a wide variety of Americans experienced their lives. Part truth, part fiction, and featuring both real and invented characters, the book follows painters, poets, enslaved people, farmers, and artisans living and working in a world still made largely of wood. Some of the historical characters—such as Thomas Cole, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Fanny Kemble, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nat Turner—are well-known, while others are not. But all are creators of private and grand designs.The Forest unfolds in brief stories. Each episode reveals an intricate lost world. Characters cross paths or go their own ways, each striving for something different but together forming a pattern of life. For Alexander Nemerov, the forest is a description of American society, the dense and discontinuous woods of nation, the foliating thoughts of different people, each with their separate shade and sun. Through vivid descriptions of the people, sights, smells, and sounds of Jacksonian America, illustrated with paintings, prints, and photographs, The Forest brings American history to life on a human scale.Published in association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DCBy Damien Broderick. 2001
The dark magic of the far future... Science is there in the background: the Age of Man is over, much…
like the Age of Great Reptiles... Brian W. Aldiss Deep time: the ultimate frontier, tomorrow's most romantic landscape. Our sun is a vast, sullen wheel hanging at the horizon. Beings walk the dying world in its red light, but few are human. Robots return from the edges of the galaxy to mourn their lost ancestors. Mages weave plots, their science so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic. In the vastness of eternity, Earth is but a star. Only science fantasy knows the paths into this wondrous realm. A remarkable blend of myth, science and pure dark imagination, science fantasy is a genre still little known to science fiction enthusiasts or critics. Here, for the first time, many of its key tales are gathered, together with new essays that illuminate their strange power--and provide a treasury of superb, unusual entertainment. Damien Broderick is Australia's premier critic and anthologist of science fiction, and an award-winning novelist. He is Senior Fellow, Department of English and Cultural Studies, University of Melbourne. Contributors Brian W. Aldiss Poul Anderson Michael Andre-Driussi Stephen Baxter Elizabeth Billinger Russell Blackford Claire Brialey Damien Broderick John Brunner C. J. Cherryh Arthur C. Clarke John Clute Bruce Gillespie Stanislaw Lem Rosaleen Love Walter Minkel Yvonne Rousseau Anders Sandberg Robert Silverberg Brian Stableford Olaf Stapledon Alice Turner Jack Vance Paul Voermans A. E. van Vogt Jo Walton Robert Moore Williams Gene Wolfe George Zebrowski Pamela ZolineBy Stefano Massini. 2018
The internationally acclaimed author harnesses his brilliant imagination and masterful storytelling ability to create a catalog of new words inspired…
by stories of real people in this wondrous book reminiscent of Italo Calvino's mesmerizing Invisible Cities.How many times have words not been enough?How many complex feelings don’t have a corresponding noun that properly describes them?How many times has language left us like an archer without arrows in the labyrinth of our emotions?Award-winning author Stefano Massini, a master of expression,, made a discovery that shot new life into his writing practice. To his surprise he found that the ancient rules of language were not quite as restrictive as he had long envisioned them to be. With so many emotions and states of mind missing modern descriptors and definitions, Massini stumbled across a simple but artistry-altering idea. Instead of compromising honest expression through perfunctory verbiage, he decided language was, if anything, a flowing palette of colors he could use to paint all things. Words are meant to be invented. To reconfirm his belief in the magic of words, Massini returned to the wondrous mechanism that has fed dictionaries from time immemorial. If he could not find the precise word he wanted, he created one. In this delightful compendium, he introduces his personal vocabulary; every chapter mentions a new word that comes from a story about a real person, from Louis XIV to an American gangster.The Book of Nonexistent Words is a beautifully illustrated collection of linguistic origin stories wrought from the mind of an internationally renowned storytelling icon. Massini effectively liberates our human capacity for using language creatively and shows how we can embrace storytelling to fine tune our way of being in the world. Massini encourages us to be imaginative; if the language in the dictionary cannot adequately match the reality of the here and now, we must create new words that ring true.Translated from the Italian by Richard DixonBy Sandra Guzman. 1966
UNA EXTRAORDINARIA SELECCIÓN DE OBRAS ESENCIALES, EN SU MAYORÍA INÉDITAS, QUE CELEBRAN LA FUERZA, EL TALENTO Y LA DIVERSIDAD DE…
LAS MUJERES LATINAS, Y TIENDEN PUENTES QUE NOS CONECTAN LAS UNAS CON LAS OTRAS.Desde la prosa implacable de sor Juana Inés de la Cruz hasta los poderosos cantos de la chamana María Sabina; desde las luchas revolucionarias de Audre Lorde, Lolita Lebrón y Berta Cáceres hasta el activismo de Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; desde los versos pioneros de Cecilia Vicuña, Maryse Condé, Nancy Morejón y Conceição Evaristo hasta la poesía transgresora de Elizabeth Acevedo, Sonia Guiñansaca y Ada Limón, 140 mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe se juntan en esta colección sin precedentes. Un fascinante universo lírico que celebra las voces nacientes, alentadas y alimentadas por quienes, con sus plumas como machetes, despejaron el camino.«Esta antología fue inspirada para reunirnos y contrarrestar juntas la invisibilización y los mitos que existen en torno a la literatura y el talento de las poderosas Hijas de América Latina, en donde quiera que estemos alzando nuestras voces: de Chicago a São Paulo, de Loíza a Asunción, de Portsmouth a Puerto Príncipe, del Bronx a Buenos Aires, de Chiapas a Los Ángeles, y más allá». —de la introducción por Sandra Guzmán.----AN EXTRAORDINARY SELECTION OF ESSENTIAL WORKS THAT CELEBRATE THE STRENGTH, TALENT, AND DIVERSITY OF LATINE WOMEN, AND BUILD BRIDGES THAT CONNECT US TO ONE ANOTHER.From the relentless prose of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz to the powerful chants of the shaman Maria Sabina; from the revolutionary struggles of Audre Lorde, Lolita Lebrón, and Berta Cáceres to the activism of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; from the pioneering verses of Cecilia Vicuña, Maryse Condé, Nancy Morejón, and Conceição Evaristo to the transgressive poetry of Elizabeth Acevedo, Sonia Guiñansaca, and Ada Limón, 140 women from Latin America and the Caribbean come together in this unprecedented collection. A fascinating lyrical universe that celebrates the emerging voices, nurtured and encouraged by those who, with their pens as machetes, cleared the path."This anthology has been inspired to disrupt erasure and myths, to gather us, the powerful literary Daughters of Latin America, from Chicago to São Paulo, from Loíza to Asunción, from Portsmouth to Puerto Príncipe, from the Bronx to Buenos Aires, from Chiapas to Los Ángeles, and beyond". —from the introduction by Sandra GuzmánBy Jennie Fields. 2002
Escaping the narrow, wealthy life she led in Manhattan, Zoe Finney moves her family to Park Slope, Brooklyn, an area…
of beautiful old brownstones where working-class families have lived for generations.A poor girl who married into money, Zoe finds comfort in the close-knit neighborhood.She hopes the change will reinvigorate her profoundly depressed husband and provide a happy place for her small daughter, Rose, to grow.But her arrival there alters the lives around her, especially the handsome schoolteacher next door, Keevan O'Connor, who is deeply drawn to her. Despite Zoe's initial hesitation, they begin to fall in love. Rose is thrilled, recognizing in Keevan the warm, fun-loving father hers could never be. But when Zoe's husband wakes from his depression to see his wife slipping away, Zoe is torn between her love for two men.By Kate Zambreno. 2019
Best Book of 2019: Nylon, Domino, Bustle, Book Riot, Buzzfeed, Vol. 1 BrooklynA new work equal parts observational micro-fiction and…
cultural criticism reflecting on the dailiness of life as a woman and writer, on fame and failure, aging and art, from the acclaimed author of Heroines, Green Girl, and O Fallen Angel.In the first half of Kate Zambreno’s astoundingly original collection Screen Tests, the narrator regales us with incisive and witty swatches from a life lived inside a brilliant mind, meditating on aging and vanity, fame and failure, writing and writers, along with portraits of everyone from Susan Sontag to Amal Clooney, Maurice Blanchot to Louise Brooks. The series of essays that follow, on figures central to Zambreno’s thinking, including Kathy Acker, David Wojnarowicz, and Barbara Loden, are manifestoes about art, that ingeniously intersect and chime with the stories that came before them."If Thomas Bernhard's and Fleur Jaeggy's work had a charming, slightly misanthropic baby—with Diane Arbus as nanny—it would be Screen Tests. Kate Zambreno turns her precise and meditative pen toward a series of short fictions that are anything but small. The result is a very funny, utterly original look at cultural figures and tropes and what it means to be a human looking at humans.”—Amber Sparks“In Screen Tests, a voice who both is and is not the author picks up a thread and follows it wherever it leads, leaping from one thread to another without quite letting go, creating a delicate and ephemeral and wonderful portrait of how a particular mind functions. Call them stories (after Lydia Davis), reports (after Gerald Murnane), or screen tests (inventing a new genre altogether like Antoine Volodine). These are marvelously fugitive pieces, carefully composed while giving the impression of being effortless, with a quite lovely Calvino-esque lightness, that are a joy to try to keep up with.”—Brian Evenson