Download or read book Startling Sci Fi written by Mike Algera and published by New Lit Salon Press. This book was released on 2015-05-01 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For generations, the science fiction genre and literary fiction have been perceived as irreconcilable. Startling Sci-Fi: New Tales of the Beyond attempts to prove otherwise. These 13 stories are boldly literary while employing unmistakable characteristics of the sci-fi genre. Jhon Sanchez’s “The Japanese Rice Cooker” and Daniel Gooding’s “Crow Magnum Xix” toy with readers’ expectations by defying traditional storytelling techniques while Eve Fisher’s “Embraced” and David W. Landrum’s “The Priestesses of Light” are intricately constructed character studies. Rob Hartzell’s “The Dead and Eternal” raises profound concerns about modern technology though Adam Sass’s “98% Graves” takes an optimistic view of the future. Every story is accompanied by Stefanie Masciandaro’s vibrant, hypnotic illustrations which simultaneously evoke the days of sci-fi pulp paperbacks yet remain firmly grounded in 21st century digital techniques. This anthology will take you beyond what you thought possible in science fiction.

Download or read book Worlds of Tomorrow written by Forrest J. Ackerman and published by Collectors Press, Inc.. This book was released on 2004 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From deep in the heart of imagination, where galaxies grow, robots rule, and Martians cause mayhem, comes Worlds of Tomorrow: The Amazing Universe of Science Fiction Art. Teeming with gigantic insects, spaceships, and scantily clad heroines, the science fiction pulp and paperback covers of the 1920s through the 1960s represented a generation's vision of the future. New military technology and increased information about space travel fuelled the minds of artists and writers to new heights. Predictions of planetary doom stood side-by-side with visions of Utopia on bookshelves and magazine racks worldwide. Written by lifetime science fiction collector, fan, and B-Movie icon Forrest Ackerman, more than 300 beautifully displayed science fiction covers come back to life in text and chapters grouped by theme. Explore the creative geniuses that moulded our vision of the great unknown into what it is today.

Download or read book Let All the Children Boogie written by Sam J. Miller and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2021-01-06 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Nebula-Award-winning author of The Art of Starving comes Sam J. Miller's sci-fi time traveling tale, "Let All the Chlidren Boogie," a Tor.com Original As the Cold War stalls and the threat of nuclear warfare dominates the news, small-town misfits Laurie and Fell bond over a shared love of music and the mystery of the erratic radio messages that hint at the existence of a future worth reaching out for. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Download or read book The Luminous Dead written by Caitlin Starling and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best First Novel! "This claustrophobic, horror-leaning tour de force is highly recommended for fans of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation and Andy Weir’s The Martian." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) The thrilling, atmospheric debut from the author of The Death of Jane Lawrence, a novel with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival. When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane. Instead, she got Em. Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . . As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head. But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?

Download or read book Seveneves written by Neal Stephenson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon comes an exciting and thought-provoking science fiction epic—a grand story of annihilation and survival spanning five thousand years. What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . . Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth. A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.

Download or read book Astounding written by Alec Nevala-Lee and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-10-23 with total page 619 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hugo and Locus Award Finalist An Economist Best Book of the Year A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Best Book of 2018 “An amazing and engrossing history...Insightful, entertaining, and compulsively readable.” — George R. R. Martin Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers—John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard—who set off a revolution in science fiction and forever changed our world. This remarkable cultural narrative centers on the figure of John W. Campbell, Jr., whom Asimov called “the most powerful force in science fiction ever.” Campbell, who has never been the subject of a biography until now, was both a visionary author—he wrote the story that was later filmed as The Thing—and the editor of the groundbreaking magazine best known as Astounding Science Fiction, in which he discovered countless legendary writers and published classic works ranging from the I, Robot series to Dune. Over a period of more than thirty years, from the rise of the pulps to the debut of Star Trek, he dominated the genre, and his three closest collaborators reached unimaginable heights. Asimov became the most prolific author in American history; Heinlein emerged as the leading science fiction writer of his generation with the novels Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land; and Hubbard achieved lasting fame—and infamy—as the founder of the Church of Scientology. Drawing on unexplored archives, thousands of unpublished letters, and dozens of interviews, Alec Nevala-Lee offers a riveting portrait of this circle of authors, their work, and their tumultuous private lives. With unprecedented scope, drama, and detail, Astounding describes how fan culture was born in the depths of the Great Depression; follows these four friends and rivals through World War II and the dawn of the atomic era; and honors such exceptional women as Doña Campbell and Leslyn Heinlein, whose pivotal roles in the history of the genre have gone largely unacknowledged. For the first time, it reveals the startling extent of Campbell’s influence on the ideas that evolved into Scientology, which prompted Asimov to observe: “I knew Campbell and I knew Hubbard, and no movement can have two Messiahs.” It looks unsparingly at the tragic final act that estranged the others from Campbell, bringing the golden age of science fiction to a close, and it illuminates how their complicated legacy continues to shape the imaginations of millions and our vision of the future itself. "Enthralling…A clarion call to enlarge American literary history.” — Washington Post “Engrossing, well-researched… This sure-footed history addresses important issues, such as the lack of racial diversity and gender parity for much of the genre’s history.” — Wall Street Journal “A gift to science fiction fans everywhere.” — Sylvia Nasar, New York Times bestselling author of A Beautiful Mind

Download or read book The Great Secret written by L. Ron Hubbard and published by Galaxy Press LLC. This book was released on 2008 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women. Liquor. Power. Women. Liquor. Power. That is Fanner Marston's mantra--his reason for being--and while he knows a little about the first and a lot about the second, he may well be on the verge of learning everything there is to know about the third. Power. He may, in fact, be about to uncover the key to gaining absolute control over the entire universe. The only problem is, Fanner is certifiably insane.... His starship has crash-landed, and he's the sole survivor, which doesn't matter to him. Driven by greed and lust for power, wracked by thirst, hunger and pain, all he cares about is reaching the ancient city of Parva and making himself at home. Because there lies The Great Secret to universal domination--and what's a little suffering on the road to becoming God? Does Fanner have a prayer? The writing's on the walls of Parva--and you won't believe what it says.... Also includes the science fiction adventures, "The Space Can," in which a decrepit space battleship is a civilian fleet's only defense; "The Beast," the tale of a hunter in the jungles of Venus, chasing an immoral beast; and "The Slaver," in which an alien race has enslaved the human race, but can't repress the power of human love. Blast off on a head-trip you'll never forget as The Great Secret takes you inside the mind of a man who is crazy with lust for power. "Serves as a wonderful introduction to the breadth of Hubbard's output." --Comic Buyers Guide

Download or read book Widowland written by C. J. Carey and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-08-09 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2023 Philip K. Dick Award Nominee "A compulsive, terrifying read."—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code For readers of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale comes a thrilling feminist dystopian novel set in an alternative history that terrifyingly imagines what a British alliance with Germany would look like if the Nazis had won WWII. To control the past, they edited history. To control the future, they edited literature. LONDON, 1953. Thirteen years have passed since England surrendered to the Nazis and formed a Grand Alliance with Germany. It was forced to adopt many of its oppressive ideologies, one of which was the strict classification of women into hierarchical groups based on the perceived value they brought to society. Rose Ransom, a member of the privileged Geli class, remembers life from before the war but knows better than to let it show. She works for the Ministry of Culture, rewriting the classics of English literature to ensure there are no subversive thoughts that will give women any ideas. Outbreaks of insurgency have been seen across the country with graffiti made up of seditious lines from forbidden works by women painted on public buildings. Suspicion has fallen on Widowland, the run-down slums where childless women over fifty have been banished. Rose is given the dangerous task of infiltrating Widowland to find the source of the rebellion before the Leader arrives in England for the Coronation ceremony of King Edward VIII and Queen Wallis. Will Rose follow her instructions and uncover the criminals? Or will she fight for what she knows in her heart is right? Praise for Widowland: "A mind-bender of a novel about the power of literature to change minds. I loved it!" —Mark Sullivan, bestselling author of The Last Green Valley and Beneath a Scarlet Sky "I rarely come across a book I can't put down but I devoured this one." —Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of two historical mystery series as well as several internationally bestselling historical novels "An electrifying, Orwellian dystopia with a thrilling feminist twist." —Lara Prescott, New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets We Kept "Tense, thought-provoking, and terrifying." —Natalie Jenner, international bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls

Download or read book Girl in Landscape written by Jonathan Lethem and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-04-13 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Girl in Landscape is a daring exploration of the violent nature of sexual awakening, a meditation on language and perception, and an homage to the great American tradition of the Western. • "Jonathan Lethem's imagination [is]...marvelously fertile." --Newsday The heroine is young Pella Marsh, whose mother dies just before her family flees a post-apocalyptic Brooklyn for the frontier of a recently discovered planet. Hating her ineffectual father, and troubled by a powerful attraction to a virile but dangerous loner who holds sway over the little colony, Pella sets out on a course of discovery that will have tragic and irrevocable consequences for the humans in the community and the ancient inhabitants, known only as archbuilders. Girl in Landscape finds Jonathan Lethem twisting forms and literary conventions to create a dazzling, completely unconventional tale.

Download or read book Beyond This Horizon written by Robert A. Heinlein and published by Baen Publishing Enterprises. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utopia has been achieved. For centuries, disease, hunger, poverty and war have been things found only in the histories. And applied genetics has given men and women the bodies of athletes and a lifespan of over a century. They should all have been very happy.... But Hamilton Felix is bored. And he is the culmination of a star line; each of his last thirty ancestors chosen for superior genes. Hamilton is, as far as genetics can produce one, the ultimate man. And this ultimate man can see no reason why the human race should survive, and has no intention of continuing the pointless comedy. However, Hamilton's life is about to become less boring. A secret cabal of revolutionaries who find utopia not just boring, but desperately in need of leaders who know just What Needs to be Done, are planning to revolt and put themselves in charge. Knowing of Hamilton's disenchantment with the modern world, they have recruited him to join their Glorious Revolution. Big mistake! The revolutionaries are about to find out that recruiting a superman is definitely not a good idea.... With an all new afterword by Tony Daniel. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Download or read book The Astounding Illustrated History of Science Fiction written by David Langford and published by Flame Tree Illustrated. This book was released on 2017-12-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A truly astonishing, illustrated history of Science fiction, covering fantasy, and horror, with forays into crime, mystery and the gothic. Using timelines, online links, illustrations, posters, movie stills, book covers, and more, this amazing new book propels us into the well of modern imagination, from its roots in Frankenstein, through Verne, H.G. Wells, the late gothic and weird horror of Lovecraft to the mass market sensationalism of the Pulp magazines. The Pulps then invoked a new generation of writers (such as Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch) of the Golden Age before many transitioned to screenwriting for the movies and early TV (Psycho, Star Trek, Twilight Zone), inspiring, in turn, the invasion of superheroes, gigantic spaceships, and dystopian landscapes onto our data-streaming tablets and computers. The book explores the interplay between great writers, (Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke) and story-telling directors (Kubrick, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan, George Lucas) who create powerful Sci-Fi, reflecting and challenging the developments of technology, science and society. Each have played a major role in this all-consuming, speculative form of world-building, from its early manifestation as a shocking literary event, to the mass market sensation is today.

Download or read book Ready Player One written by Ernest Cline and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-08-16 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Village Voice • Chicago Sun-Times • iO9 • The AV Club “Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”—HuffPost “An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN “A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”—Boston Globe “Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR “[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”—iO9

Download or read book Science Fact fiction written by Edmund J. Farrell and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction written by Mike Ashley and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2010-07-31 with total page 677 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here are 25 stories of science fiction that push the envelope, by the biggest names in an emerging new crop of high-tech futuristic SF - including Charles Stross, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Peter Hamilton and Neal Asher. High-tech SF has made a significant comeback in the last decade, as bestselling authors successfully blend the super-science of 'hard science fiction' with real characters in an understandable scenario. It is perhaps a reflection of how technologically controlled our world is that readers increasingly look for science fiction that considers the fates of mankind as a result of increasing scientific domination. This anthology brings together the most extreme examples of the new high-tech, far-future science fiction, pushing the limits way beyond normal boundaries. The stories include: "A Perpetual War Fought Within a Cosmic String", "A Weapon That Could Destroy the Universe", "A Machine That Detects Alternate Worlds and Creates a Choice of Christs", "An Immortal Dead Man Sent To The End of the Universe", "Murder in Virtual Reality", "A Spaceship So Large That There is An Entire Planetary System Within It", and "An Analytical Engine At The End of Time", and "Encountering the Untouchable."

Download or read book Neverness written by David Zindell and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2017-03-23 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An epic masterwork of science fiction, Neverness is a stand-alone novel from one of the most important talents in the genre.

Download or read book Cult Sci Fi Movies written by Danny Peary and published by Workman Publishing Company. This book was released on 2014-09-23 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cult Sci-Fi Movies is a collection of 10 essays that examine, dissect, defend, and exalt the greats of classic cult sci-fi films. Film geeks, cinema snobs, VHS collectors, and anyone else who likes their entertainment a little on the weird side will appreciate author Danny Peary’s in-depth approach to their favorite sci-fi films ranging from Barbarella to Liquid Sky.

Download or read book Gnomon written by Nick Harkaway and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-01-09 with total page 689 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the widely acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World and Tigerman, comes a virtuosic new novel set in a near-future, high-tech surveillance state, that is equal parts dark comedy, gripping detective story, and mind-bending philosophical puzzle. "A Pynchonesque mega-novel that periodically calls to mind the films of Inception and The Matrix…. What a ride!" —The Washington Post In the world of Gnomon, citizens are constantly observed and democracy has reached a pinnacle of 'transparency.' Every action is seen, every word is recorded, and the System has access to its citizens' thoughts and memories—all in the name of providing the safest society in history. When suspected dissident Diana Hunter dies in government custody, it marks the first time a citizen has been killed during an interrogation. The System doesn't make mistakes, but something isn't right about the circumstances surrounding Hunter's death. Mielikki Neith, a trusted state inspector and a true believer in the System, is assigned to find out what went wrong. Immersing herself in neural recordings of the interrogation, what she finds isn't Hunter but rather a panorama of characters within Hunter's psyche: a lovelorn financier in Athens who has a mystical experience with a shark; a brilliant alchemist in ancient Carthage confronting the unexpected outcome of her invention; an expat Ethiopian painter in London designing a controversial new video game, and a sociopathic disembodied intelligence from the distant future. Embedded in the memories of these impossible lives lies a code which Neith must decipher to find out what Hunter is hiding. In the static between these stories, Neith begins to catch glimpses of the real Diana Hunter—and, alarmingly, of herself. The staggering consequences of what she finds will reverberate throughout the world. A dazzling, panoramic achievement, and Nick Harkaway's most brilliant work to date, Gnomon is peerless and profound, captivating and irreverent, as it pierces through strata of reality and consciousness, and illuminates how to set a mind free. It is a truly accomplished novel from a mind possessing a matchless wit infused with a deep humanity.