Discover MESKLIN - Gravity: 3g at the equator, 700g at the poles!

Hal Clement is a Grand Master of SF, and the one most associated with the subgenre of hard SF. From his classic stories in Astounding in the 1940s through his novels of the 1950s and on to the recent Half Life, he has made a lasting impression on SF readers, and on writers, too. For many of them, Clement's work is the model of how to write hard SF, and this book contains the reasons why. Here are all the tales of bizarre, unforgettable Mesklin: the classic novel Mission of Gravity and its sequel, Star Light, as well as the short stories "Under"and "Lecture Demonstration." Also included is "Whirligig World," the famous essay Clement published in Astounding in 1953. It describes the rigorous process he used to create his intriguingly plausible high-gravity planet, with its odd flattened shape, its day less than eighteen minutes long, and its many-limbed, noble natives. Come to Mesklin and learn why The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction called Mission of Gravity "one of the best loved novels in SF."

Ramsey Campbell's novels have justly won him acclaim as one of the best writers of the age. A three-time winner of the World Fantasy Award and an eight-time winner of the British Fantasy Award, his writing has struck a chord with readers worldwide.

But throughout his career he has also written insightful, terrifying, and disturbing short fiction. Ghosts & Grisly Things is a collection of the best of Campbell's short works from the past two decades. This book also features the story "Ra*e" which appears here for the first time anywhere.

The Malachite Casket is a delightful series of interlinking stories written by Pavel Bazhov (1879-1950). These have served as the theme for cultural groups –Sergei Prokofiev was inspired by these for his ballet "The Flower of Stone"– and the themes for operas, symphonies and films have originated here. These stories are told to a young boy by a watchman, who lived on top of a mountain in the Ural Mountain region of Russia. The tales are darker and deeper than most Russian tales, exploring and expressing realistic social relations and internal struggles.

There is not a single person in Russia who has not heard of "The Malachite Box" by Pavel Bazhov, who learned the unwritten history of The Urals while working as a boy in the old mines. The life of the celebrated author of well-known Urals tales as well as his books are inseparable from the Urals.

Mind-expanding explorations of the future of the human form

Our bodies and minds are malleable, and only the imagination is the limit to the possible improvements. From genetics to artificial enhancements, humanity will alter the course of its own evolution. Included here are more than twenty stories from the most imaginative writers in the field, including:

Poul Anderson * James Blish * Eric Brown * Ted Chiang * Tony Daniel * Samuel R. Delany * Greg Egan * Joe Haldeman * Geoffrey A. Landis * Paul McAuley * Ian MacLeod * David Marusek * Tom Purdom * Robert Reed * Joanna Russ * Robert Silverberg * Brian Stableford * Bruce Sterling * Charles Stross * Michael Swanwick * Liz Williams * Gene Wolfe * Roger Zelazny

"Harrowing in their frank detail and desperate tone, the selections in this anthology pack an emotional wallop...Should be required reading for anyone concerned about the violence in our society and the high rate of recidivism."—Publishers Weekly. Includes work by: Jack London, Nelson Algren, Chester Himes,Jack Henry Abbott, Robert Lowell, Malcolm X, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Piri Thomas.

This gripping collection of 15 original stories immortalizes the most mysterious, sensual and deadly women of all--female vampires. Some of the hottest names in the SF/fantasy/horror field have created these enchanting creatures' fantastic history from ancient times to now in dark and terrifyingly beautiful stories.

Representing four prominent American women writers who flourished in the period following the Civil War, this collection comprises "Life in the Iron Mills," Rebecca Harding Davis; "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman; "The Country of the Pointed Firs," Sarah Orne Jewett; and "Souls Belated," Edith Wharton.

Once, there was a world where the heroes were defined by their white clothing and the bad guys always wore black. The town sheriff always gunned down the wild gunslinger while the lady in distress cowered. The Indian was to be feared, not understood, and the white man always saved the day. This was the traditional Western.

But times change, as did the Western. The evolving Western is told from the point of view of blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Gentiles, Mormons, Catholics, women, and men. It is about America; it is about life. Whether a story's central element is a hangman or a midwife, a piano or a cowboy who hates tomatoes, you may be certain of one thing, if the tale reflects an expanding continent, it reflects the American West.

During the pivotal period of America?s international emergence, between the Civil War and WWI, the aligned literary movements of Realism and Naturalism not only shaped the national literature of the age, but also left an indelible and far-reaching influence on twentieth-century American and world literature. Seeking to strip narrative from pious sentimentalities, and, according to William Dean Howells, to ?Apaint? life as it is, and human feelings in their true proportion and relation,? Realism is best represented by this volume?s masterly pieces by Twain, Henry James, Stephen Crane, Kate Chopin, and Willa Cather among others. The joining of Realist methods with the theories of Marx, Darwin, and Spencer to reveal the larger forces (biological, evolutionary, historical) which move humankind, are exemplified here in the fiction of such writers as Jack London, Frank Norris, and Theodore Dreiser.

Available to American readers for the first time, this landmark collection gathers four groundbreaking fantasy classics from the acclaimed author of" Light." Set in the imagined city of Viriconium, here are the masterworks that revolutionized a genre and enthralled a generation of readers: "The Pastel City, A Storm of Wings, In Viriconium, "and "Viriconium Nights." Back in print after a long absence, these singular tales of a timeless realm and its enigmatic inhabitants are now reborn and compiled to captivate a whole new generation.

In Die vrou in die spieël word die hoofkarakter een oggend wakker . . . en ontdek dat sy niks kan onthou nie, nie eens haar eie naam nie. En toe ’n lang, aantreklike man skielik die kamer binnestap, noem hy haar Ansie, ’n naam wat sy in haar diepste wese wéét nie hare is nie!

In Die oujongnooi van Polkadraai gebruik Silpa haar besonderse grimeertalent om haarself ’n volle twintig jaar ouer te laat voorkom – sy beeld ’n middeljarige oujongnooi uit wat aansoek doen om die pos van huishoudster vir twee jong kinders. Maar sy het nie rekening gehou met die streng dog aantreklike pa van die kinders nie.

En in Die kleine kring lig Henda se verloofde haar ’n maand voor hul troue in dat hy ’n ander vrou liefhet. Om aan die lewe te bly aanvaar sy ’n pos as huishoudster op Brakrivier, maar die opset waarin sy haar bevind is veel anders as wat sy haar dit voorgestel het . . .

For the eleventh consecutive year, Harvest offers the best of sci-fi and fantasy writing--featuring works by Greg Bear, Mike Resnick, David Gerrold, Martha Soukup, Ben Bova, Joe Haldeman, Ursula K. Le Guin, and many others--as well as a spirited essay on the latest in science fiction and fantasy films.

Firbank, Five Novels. Part high-camp comedy of manners and part fairy tale.

Since his first published story, "Apartness," appeared in 1965, Vernor Vinge has forged a unique and awe-inspiring career in science fiction as his work has grown and matured. He is now one of the most celebrated science fiction writers in the field , having won the field's top award, the Hugo, for each of his last two novels.

Now, for the first time, this illustrious author gathers all his short fiction into a single volume. This collection is truly the definitive Vinge, capturing his visionary ideas at their very best. It also contains a never-before-published novella, one that represents precisely what this collection encapsulates--bold, unique, challenging science fictional ideas brought to vivid life with compelling storytelling.

Including such major pieces as "The Ungoverned" and "The Blabber," this sumptuous volume will satisfy any reader who loves the sense of wonder, and the excitement of great SF.

Before Jack Kerouac expressed the spirit of a generation in his 1957 classic, On the Road, he spent years figuring out how he wanted to live and, above all, learning how to write. Atop an Underwood brings together more than sixty previously unpublished works that Kerouac wrote before he was twenty-two, ranging from stories and poems to plays and parts of novels, including an excerpt from his 1943 merchant marine novel, The Sea Is My Brother. These writings reveal what Kerouac was thinking, doing, and dreaming during his formative years, and reflect his primary literary influences. Readers will also find in these works the source of Kerouac's spontaneous prose style.

Uncovering a fascinating missing link in Kerouac's development as a writer, Atop an Underwood is essential reading for Kerouac fans, scholars, and critics.