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.

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 Atop an Underwood brings together more than sixty previously unpublished works that Kerouac wrote before he was twenty-two, ranging from stories and poems to plays and parts of novels, including an excerpt from his 1943 merchant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.

John Jakes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of such acclaimed historical novels as North and South and The Kent Family Chronicles has long been both a fan and a distinguished author of novels and stories of the American West. Now, with the turning of the millennium, he has compiled in one volume a century's worth of his favorite Western fiction.

To illustrate the evolution of the genre, Jakes has included such legendary authors as Owen Wister, Louis L'Amour, and Zane Grey along side their more contemporary peers such as Loren Estleman and Elmer Kelton. While the stories have changed over the years, certain timeless themes of Western fiction remain constant. At the heart of the stories are ideas that have become synonymous with the American dream---the frontier spirit, individual freedoms, and man's relationship with the land.

A Century of Great Western Stories is essentially a retrospective of western writing over the past century, but Jakes also sets out to give readers a glimpse of what the future might hold for western fiction. While trends in publishing might not always be promising, the current crop of contemporary Western authors show that the old west will always have a place in the world of fiction. Like the American dream which it celebrates, Western fiction will perservere.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR
A WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD "RAVE" BOOK OF THE YEAR

Including work by:
Amiri Baraka, Derrick Bell, Octavia E. Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Jewelle Gomez, Walter Mosley, Ishmael Reed, and many more...

An important new anthology, the first of its kind, DARK MATTER explores a century of fantastic fiction by preeminent and emerging luminaries of the African diaspora. A richly vibrant collection of stories and essays, it displays the brilliance of writers ranging from early pioneers such as W. E. B. Du Bois, to famed sf authors including Samuel R. Delany and Octavia E. Butler, to such luminaries of the literary tradition as playwright-critic Amiri Baraka and satirist Ishmael Reed, as well as a spectrum of acclaimed new writers.

Astonishing, compelling, erotic, and profound stories of worlds within and beyond abound in DARK MATTER. From the bittersweet legacies of Africa to utterly phantasmagoric future civilizations, here is a compilation of stories that transmute our human experience.

A Featured Alternate of Science Fiction Book Club®, of Black Expressions®, and of Quality Paperback Book Club®

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.

In this marvellous anthology, novelists Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini have brought together 25 of the best paired puzzle-solvers in short stories of remarkable range and scope.

Here are twelve wonderful literary stories and poems about hockey. LaSalle presents an extremely impressive book, carefully crafted and marked by lyricism and a genuine understanding of the human heart.

These twelve stories provide an entertaining exploration of this extensive and fascinating corner of English popular fiction, celebrating the detective's intellectual and intuitive powers when confronted with murder, theft, and other mysteries. The main focus of this collection is from the 1890s to the 1920s, the period when the classic English detective story was at its confident and original best, but it also offers examples from earlier and later periods. Presenting a balance of classic and more unusual stories, and featuring works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Michael Innes, this anthology will appeal to both the newcomer and aficionado of the genre.