Download or read book Modern Science Fiction A Critical Analysis written by James Gunn and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-05-24 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James Gunn--one of the founding figures of science fiction scholarship and teaching--wrote in 1951 what is likely the first master's thesis on modern science fiction. Portions were in the short-lived pulp magazine Dynamic but it has otherwise remained unavailable. Here in its first full publication, the thesis explores many of the classic Golden Age stories of the 1940s and the critical perspective that informed Gunn's essential genre history Alternate Worlds and his anthology series The Road to Science Fiction. The editor's introduction and commentary show the historical significance of Gunn's work and its relevance to today's science fiction studies.
Download or read book The History of Science Fiction written by A. Roberts and published by Springer. This book was released on 2005-11-28 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The History of Science Fiction traces the origin and development of science fiction from Ancient Greece up to the present day. The author is both an academic literary critic and acclaimed creative writer of the genre. Written in lively, accessible prose it is specifically designed to bridge the worlds of academic criticism and SF fandom.
Download or read book Modern Science Fiction and the American Literary Community written by Frederick Andrew Lerner and published by Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No descriptive material is available for this title.
Download or read book Critical Theory and Science Fiction written by Carl Freedman and published by Wesleyan University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-01 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Book of the Year. This innovative cultural critique offers valuable insights into science fiction, thus enlarging our understanding of critical theory. Carl Freedman traces the fundamental and mostly unexamined relationships between the discourses of science fiction and critical theory, arguing that science fiction is (or ought to be) a privileged genre for critical theory. He asserts that it is no accident that the upsurge of academic interest in science fiction since the 1970s coincides with the heyday of literary theory, and that likewise science fiction is one of the most theoretically informed areas of the literary profession. Extended readings of novels by five of the most important modern science fiction authors illustrate the affinity between science fiction and critical theory, in each case concentrating on one major novel that resonates with concerns proper to critical theory. Freedman's five readings are: Solaris: Stanislaw Lem and the Structure of Cognition; The Dispossessed: Ursula LeGuin and the Ambiguities of Utopia; The Two of Them: Joanna Russ and the Violence of Gender; Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand: Samuel Delany and the Dialectics of Difference; The Man in the High Castle: Philip K. Dick and the Construction of Realities.
Download or read book In Search of Wonder written by Damon Knight and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Modern Science Fiction written by Reginald Bretnor and published by Chicago : Advent Publishers. This book was released on 1979 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays by John W. Campbell, Jr., Anthony Boucher, Don Fabun, Fletcher Pratt, Rosalie Moore, L. Sprague de Camp, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip Wylie, Gerald Heard, and Reginald Bretnor. The original 1953 edition was the first serious discussion of modern science fiction as literature. The San Francisco Chronicle said: "The book is very likely to recruit a whole host of new readers. . . A freely argued, objective, highly individualistic study by ten writers of the origins, advances and future prospects of science fiction as a spontaneous living literature." The essays are grouped in three sections: "Science Fiction Today," "Science Fiction as Literature," and "Science Fiction, Science, and Modern Man." This classic symposium is a fit companion to Mr. Bretnor's later books Science Fiction, Today and Tomorrow and The Craft of Science Fiction. Our new edition adds a preface by the editor, a chapter of notes and corrections, and a complete index.
Download or read book Science Fiction and Market Realities written by George Edgar Slusser and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through case studies, other contributors relate science fiction to other forms of "underground" literature, consider the continual cycle of illegitimate art replacing legitimate art, look at young readers of science fiction, chart the rising and falling "stock" of science fiction writers' reputations, and consider the influence of editors on a writer's work.
Download or read book More Issues at Hand written by James Blish and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his incarnation as "William Atheling, Jr." the late James Blish wrote more than this share of the most incisive criticism of contemporary science fiction. Continuing in the vein of The Issue at Hand, this volume concentrates on science-fiction books of 1957 to 1970. Atheling's skillful rapier skewers literary malefactors of many kinds, including some well-known authors whose great popularity is all the more puzzling because there seems to be so little reason for it. He concludes with a long look at the "New Wave" that arose in the Sixties. To be sure, Atheling does not stint praise where it is due--see especially the chapters on Budrys and Sturgeon--but it is in the nature of criticism that the sins and errors be dealt with in greatest detail. As Atheling puts it: "There is no such thing as destructive criticism. That is just a cliche people use to signal that their toes have been stepped on. After all, the whole point of telling a man he is doing something the wrong way is the hope that next time he will do it right. Simply saying that a given book is bad may serve the secondary function of warning the public away from it, if the public trusts the critic. But if you do not go on to say in what way it is bad, your verdict is not destructive criticism, or any other kind of criticism; it is just abuse. A good critic is positively obliged to be harsh toward bad work....[and] should be able to say with some precision not only that something went wrong--if it did--but just how it went wrong."
Download or read book Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction written by Thomas D. Clareson and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses writers such as Poul Anderson, Brian W. Aldiss, Isaac Asimov, J.G. Ballard, Alfred Bester, James Blish, Anthony Boucher, Ray Bradbury, Algis Budrys, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John W. Campbell, Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Samuel R. Delany, Lester del Rey, Philip K. Dick, Gordon R. Dickson, Thomas Disch, Harlan Ellison, Philip Jose Farmer, Randall Garrett, Robert A. Heinlein, Zenna Henderson, Frank Herbert, Damon Knight, Cyril Kornbluth, Ursula K. Le Guin, Murray Leinster, Anne McCaffrey, Judith Merril, A. Merritt, Walter M. Miller Jr., Michael Moorcock, Andre Norton, Alexei Panshin, H. Beam Piper, Frederik Pohl, Joanna Russ, Robert Silverberg, Clifford D. Simak, Cordwainer Smith, E.E. "Doc" Smith, Norman Spinrad, Theodore Sturgeon, Jack Vance, A.E. van Vogt, Kurt Vonnegut, Donald Wollheim, RogerZelazny, Jack Williamson, and others.
Download or read book Galactic Suburbia written by Lisa Yaszek and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking cultural history, Lisa Yaszek recovers a lost tradition of women's science fiction that flourished after 1945. This new kind of science fiction was set in a place called galactic suburbia, a literary frontier that was home to nearly 300 women writers. These authors explored how women's lives, loves, and work were being transformed by new sciences and technologies, thus establishing women's place in the American future imaginary.Yaszek shows how the authors of galactic suburbia rewrote midcentury culture's assumptions about women's domestic, political, and scientific lives. Her case studies of luminaries such as Judith Merril, Carol Emshwiller, and Anne McCaffrey and lesser-known authors such as Alice Eleanor Jones, Mildred Clingerman, and Doris Pitkin Buck demonstrate how galactic suburbia is the world's first literary tradition to explore the changing relations of gender, science, and society.Galactic Suburbia challenges conventional literary histories that posit men as the progenitors of modern science fiction and women as followers who turned to the genre only after the advent of the women's liberation movement. AsYaszek demonstrates, stories written by women about women in galactic suburbia anticipated the development of both feminist science fiction and domestic science fiction written by men.
Download or read book The Year of the Flood written by Margaret Atwood and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2010-07-27 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Booker Prize–winning author of Oryx and Crake, the first book in the MaddAddam Trilogy, and The Handmaid’s Tale. Internationally acclaimed as ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by, amongst others, the Globe and Mail, the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Village Voice In a world driven by shadowy, corrupt corporations and the uncontrolled development of new, gene-spliced life forms, a man-made pandemic occurs, obliterating human life. Two people find they have unexpectedly survived: Ren, a young dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails (the cleanest dirty girls in town), and Toby, solitary and determined, who has barricaded herself inside a luxurious spa, watching and waiting. The women have to decide on their next move—they can’t stay hidden forever. But is anyone else out there?
Download or read book Science Fiction Criticism written by Rob Latham and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-02-23 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Including more than 30 essential works of science fiction criticism in a single volume, this is a comprehensive introduction to the study of this enduringly popular genre. Science Fiction Criticism: An Anthology of Essential Writings covers such topics as: ·Definitions and boundaries of the genre ·The many forms of science fiction, from time travel to 'inner space' ·Ideology and identity: from utopian fantasy to feminist, queer and environmental readings ·The non-human: androids, aliens, cyborgs and animals ·Race and the legacy of colonialism The volume also features annotated guides to further reading on these topics. Includes writings by: Marc Angenot, J.G. Ballard, Damien Broderick, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Samuel R. Delany, Philip K. Dick, Grace Dillon, Kodwo Eshun, Carl Freedman, Allison de Fren, Hugo Gernsback, Donna Haraway, N. Katherine Hayles, Robert A. Heinlein, Nalo Hopkinson, Veronica Hollinger, Fredric Jameson, Gwyneth Jones, Rob Latham, Roger Luckhurst, Judith Merril, John B. Michel, Wendy Pearson, John Rieder, Lysa Rivera, Joanna Russ, Mary Shelley, Stephen Hong Sohn, Susan Sontag, Bruce Sterling, Darko Suvin, Vernor Vinge, Sherryl Vint, H.G. Wells, David Wittenberg and Lisa Yaszek
Download or read book The Comet written by W. E. B. Du Bois and published by Graphic Arts Books. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Comet (1920) is a science fiction story by W. E. B. Du Bois. Written while the author was using his role at The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, to publish emerging black artists of the Harlem Renaissance, The Comet is a pioneering work of speculative fiction which imagines a catastrophic event not only decimating New York City, but bringing an abrupt end to white supremacy. “How silent the street was! Not a soul was stirring, and yet it was high-noon—Wall Street? Broadway? He glanced almost wildly up and down, then across the street, and as he looked, a sickening horror froze in his limbs.” Sent to the vault to retrieve some old records, bank messenger Jim Davis emerges to find a city descended into chaos. A comet has passed overhead, spewing toxic fumes into the atmosphere. All of lower Manhattan seems frozen in time. It takes him a few moments to see the bodies, piled into doorways and strewn about the eerily quiet streets. When he comes to his senses, he finds a wealthy woman asking for help. Soon, it becomes clear that they could very well be the last living people in the planet, that the fate of civilization depends on their ability to come together, not as black and white, but as two human beings. But how far will this acknowledgment take them? With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of W. E. B. Du Bois’ The Comet is a classic work of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.
Download or read book In Search of Wonder written by Damon Knight and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-10-31 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic must-have for all readers and writers of science fiction! Damon Knight effectively invented science fiction criticism. His reviews were not mere statements of his personal preferences-his skillful essays analyzed the books and told why they were good or bad, to the edification of readers, the delight of good writers, and the embarrassment of bad ones. In this unique critical study of science fiction, Mr. Knight works on the principle that science fiction is a form of literature which needs no apologies and no special dispensations: it can and should be judged by the same high standards that apply to all literature. His incisive and knowing criticism covers the field brilliantly, from "Classics" to "Chuckleheads." Readers will delight in his laser-sharp thoughts on favorite books, and writers will find his criqitues of the classics invaluable in improving their own craft. This expanded Third Edition is 150,000 words, up from 120,000 in the 1967 Second Edition, and double the length of the 1956 First Edition. This new edition adds a chapter of autobiography, articles on writing and teaching science fiction, and other fascinating essays. Even if you already have the first or second editions, you should consider getting this edition simply for the new material, which includes: Chapter 1: Myself When Young [autobiographical]; Chap. 13: The Excluded Data [about Charles Fort]; Chap. 29: Milford and Clarion; Chap. 30: Science and the World; Chap. 31: What Is Science Fiction, Anyway?; Chap. 32: Writing Science Fiction; a major expansion of Chapter 5, discussing John W. Campbell, Jr.; and other additions and emendations. Table of Contents Introduction by Anthony Boucher Author's Notes Myself When Young Critics The Classics Chuckleheads Campbell and His Decade Cosmic Jerrybuilder: A. E. van Vogt Half-Bad Writers One Sane Man: Robert A. Heinlein Asimov and Empire More Chuckleheads When I Was in Kneepants: Ray Bradbury The Vorpal Pen: Theodore Sturgeon The Excluded Data: Charles Fort Microcosmic Moskowitz Anthologies Half Loaves Genius to Order: Kuttner and Moore Kornbluth and the Silver Lexicon The Jagged Blade: James Blish Overalls on Parnassus: Fletcher Pratt Amphibians New Stars Curiosa br-r-r! Decadents Britons Pitfalls and Dead Ends Symbolism Milford and Clarion Science and the World What Is Science Fiction, Anyway? Writing Science Fiction What next Bibliography Index Knight has long been a pithy and insightful commentator on science fiction, and the new material-written mostly a decade or more ago--alters that description in neither jot nor tittle ... his book is the perfect companion to your collection of favorites. -Analog
Download or read book How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe Enhanced Edition written by Charles Yu and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2010-09-07 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This enhanced eBook includes video, audio, photographic, and linked content, as well as a bonus short story. Hear TAMMY talk. Learn the origins of Minor Universe 31. See the TM-31. Take a trip in it. Photos and illustrations appear as hyperlinked endnotes. Video and audio are embedded directly in text. *Video and audio may not play on all readers. Check your user manual for details. National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Award winner Charles Yu delivers his debut novel, a razor-sharp, ridiculously funny, and utterly touching story of a son searching for his father . . . through quantum space–time. Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician—part counselor, part gadget repair man—steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls or consoling his boss, Phil, who could really use an upgrade, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a one-hour cycle of time, she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. Accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and Ed, a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog, Yu sets out, and back, and beyond, in order to find the one day where he and his father can meet in memory. He learns that the key may be found in a book he got from his future self. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and he’s the author. And somewhere inside it is the information that could help him—in fact it may even save his life. Wildly new and adventurous, Yu’s debut is certain to send shock waves of wonder through literary space–time.
Download or read book Infinite Detail written by Tim Maughan and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A LOCUS AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL! The Guardian's Pick for Best Science Fiction Book of the Year! A timely and uncanny portrait of a world in the wake of fake news, diminished privacy, and a total shutdown of the Internet BEFORE: In Bristol’s center lies the Croft, a digital no-man’s-land cut off from the surveillance, Big Data dependence, and corporate-sponsored, globally hegemonic aspirations that have overrun the rest of the world. Ten years in, it’s become a center of creative counterculture. But it’s fraying at the edges, radicalizing from inside. How will it fare when its chief architect, Rushdi Mannan, takes off to meet his boyfriend in New York City—now the apotheosis of the new techno-utopian global metropolis? AFTER: An act of anonymous cyberterrorism has permanently switched off the Internet. Global trade, travel, and communication have collapsed. The luxuries that characterized modern life are scarce. In the Croft, Mary—who has visions of people presumed dead—is sought out by grieving families seeking connections to lost ones. But does Mary have a gift or is she just hustling to stay alive? Like Grids, who runs the Croft’s black market like personal turf. Or like Tyrone, who hoards music (culled from cassettes, the only medium to survive the crash) and tattered sneakers like treasure. The world of Infinite Detail is a small step shy of our own: utterly dependent on technology, constantly brokering autonomy and privacy for comfort and convenience. With Infinite Detail, Tim Maughan makes the hitherto-unimaginable come true: the End of the Internet, the End of the World as We Know It.
Download or read book Look to Windward written by Iain Banks and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2002 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eight hundred years after the most horrific battle of the Idiran war, light from its world-destroying detonations is about to reach the Masaq Orbital, home to the Culture. Major Quilan has supposedly come to take the exiled Composer Ziller back to their war-ravaged home world, Chel. But despite the major's civilized veneer, his true mission may be the death and destruction of an entire civilization.
