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Science Fiction literature, also known as sci fi and sf, is one of
the more recent genres, and also one of the more popular. It only
truly emerged during the 20th century, and has not stopped growing
in terms of authors, titles and readers. It has also evolved into a
variety of subgenres, ranging from hard sf to soft sf, from Utopias
to dystopias, with more than a smattering of horror, detective, war
and feminist titles. Stableford covers all these aspects and more,
taking a close look at what has become a booming industry, with its
specialized writers, publishers, and fan magazines. The compendium
includes not only sf from the United States and United Kingdom, but
also France, Russia, and many others. While the chronology charts
the genre's dazzling growth, and the dictionary section looks at
writers, books, themes, and other specifics, the introduction
provides exceptional insight into what Science Fiction Literature
is all about.
Science fiction is a literary genre based on scientific
speculation. Works of science fiction use the ideas and the
vocabulary of all sciences to create valid narratives that explore
the future effects of science on events and human beings. Science
Fact and Science Fiction examines in one volume how science has
propelled science-fiction and, to a lesser extent, how science
fiction has influenced the sciences. Although coverage will discuss
the science behind the fiction from the Classical Age to the
present, focus is naturally on the 19th century to the present,
when the Industrial Revolution and spectacular progress in science
and technology triggered an influx of science-fiction works
speculating on the future. As scientific developments alter
expectations for the future, the literature absorbs, uses, and
adapts such contextual visions. The goal of the Encyclopedia is not
to present a catalog of sciences and their application in literary
fiction, but rather to study the ongoing flow and counterflow of
influences, including how fictional representations of science
affect how we view its practice and disciplines. Although the main
focus is on literature, other forms of science fiction, including
film and video games, are explored and, because science is an
international matter, works from non-English speaking countries are
discussed as needed.
Science fiction is a literary genre based on scientific
speculation. Works of science fiction use the ideas and the
vocabulary of all sciences to create valid narratives that explore
the future effects of science on events and human beings. "Science
Fact and Science" "Fiction" examines in one volume how science has
propelled science-fiction and, to a lesser extent, how science
fiction has influenced the sciences. Although coverage will discuss
the science behind the fiction from the Classical Age to the
present, focus is naturally on the 19th century to the present,
when the Industrial Revolution and spectacular progress in science
and technology triggered an influx of science-fiction works
speculating on the future. As scientific developments alter
expectations for the future, the literature absorbs, uses, and
adapts such contextual visions. The goal of the "Encyclopedia "is
not to present a catalog of sciences and their application in
literary fiction, but rather to study the ongoing flow
andcounterflow of influences, including how fictional
representations of science affect how we view its practice and
disciplines. Although the main focus is on literature, other forms
of science fiction, including film and video games, are explored
and, because science is an international matter, works from
non-English speaking countries are discussed as needed.
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Errant Vice (Paperback)
Jean Lorrain; Translated by Brian Stableford
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R655
Discovery Miles 6 550
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Marguerite Sadoulas continues her efforts to wrest the fabulous
fortune of the de Clares by ensnaring its rightful heirs, one-armed
Clment and circus girl Lirette, in a murderous conspiracy.
Meanwhile, the deadly sociopath Cadet-l'Amour has stepped into the
vacuum created by the destruction of the High Council and seeks the
Treasure of the Black Coats. But he is thwarted by the specter of
Colonel Bozzo-Corona, the ruthless leader who ruled the evil empire
for over a century and seems to have mysteriously returned from the
grave... Written last in the series in 1875, before Fval was
"born-again," The Cadet Gang is the apotheosis in the criminal saga
of the Black Coats, a sequel to both Heart of Steel and The
Companions of the Treasure. Paul Fval, the father of the modern
detective novel, gave its lettres de noblesse to criminal
literature by creating all the modern archetypes of crime fiction.
During an August heat-wave, the Comte de Saint-Germain seeks the
help of detective Auguste Dupin. Someone--or someTHING--is trying
to kill him! The Comte has inherited a magical cello and a
mysterious sealed box. A psychic vampire (an "egregore") intends to
use the cello and a magical musical composition to steal another
soul. Can Dupin and his faithful companion unravel the puzzle in
time to save the Comte?
It all begins innocently enough when the corpse of a London boxer
is discovered at sunrise on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. But
the man was reportedly seen in London only a couple of hours
earlier... A great English detective and France's leading
investigative reporter team up to solve a baffling mystery that
will ultimately take them to a network of vast caverns under Paris
inhabited by prehistoric monsters, waiting to be released... Jules
Lermina's Panic in Paris (1910) combines the tradition of utopian
fiction with both the scientific advances of the 19th century and
the pseudoscientific trappings of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming
Race (1871). It also features some intriguing anticipations of two
key works by Arthur Conan Doyle, prefiguring both The Lost World
(1912) and The Poison Belt (1913).
In the tradition of the old "Ace Doubles" (flip one book over to
read the second title), here is the tenth Wildside Double:
VALDEMAR'S DAUGHTER: A ROMANCE OF MESMERISM, by Brian
Stableford
Following the sad demise of Ernest Valdemar, as related in the
story by Edgar Allan Poe, his mortal remains are sent to his
daughter in Paris--but go astray--and detective Auguste Dupin must
track them down. The Comte de Saint-Germain seems implicated in the
mystery. Meanwhile, the great writer Balzac lies at death's door,
convinced that only Valdemar's body can save him. Will Dupin thwart
his adversary in the nick of time?
THE MAD TRIST: A ROMANCE OF BIBLIOMANIA, by Brian Stableford
The Comte de Saint-Germain has come into possession of The Mad
Trist, the book from which Edgar Allan Poe and Roderick Usher read
aloud before the collapse recorded in "The Fall of the House of
Usher." He intends it as a gift to detective Auguste Dupin, but
Dupin's friend, Richard Carstairs, cannot deliver the volume
immediately. Richard is unintimidated by the prospect of reading a
supposedly cursed book--after all, Dupin has a whole shelf full of
them A classic tale of horror.
Ignis (1883) is about the industrial exploitation of Earth's
central fire by a multinational cartel. It also contains fanciful
digressions into biological engineering, Utopian city planning, the
possibility of brain control by means of electrical stimulation and
the potential exhaustion of fossil fuels. Proving again that
science fiction writers are harbingers of the future, it features
the first depiction of the revolt of machines-steam-powered
non-humanoid robots-that have become intelligent, all penned at a
time before the automobile was even invented Brian Stableford has
been a professional writer since 1965. He has published more than
60 science fiction and fantasy novels, as well as several
authoritative non-fiction books.
From 1895, when the means of visiting the future through
drug-induced "timeshadowing" is discovered by Professor
Copplestone, to 12 million years AD, when the Universal Engine
seeks to determine the cosmos' ultimate fate, the vast tapestry of
time is the theater of a time war between the Overmen, descendents
of the vampires, Humanity, and the shadowy intelligence that waits
at the End of Time. Sherlock Holmes, the great detective, Count
Dracula, the reluctant vampire, the mercurial Oscar Wilde, William
Hope Hodgson, freshly returned from the Night Land of the Great
War, the visionary H. G. Wells, Alfred Jarry, Camille Flammarion,
and many other figures from the literary firmament, become pawns
and players in a conflict that spans the entire course of universal
history. Brian M. Stableford has been a professional writer since
1965. He has published more than 60 science fiction and fantasy
novels, as well as several authoritative non-fiction books. He is
also translating the works of Paul Fval and other French writers of
the fantastique for Black Coat Press which has published his most
recent fantasy novels: The Shadow of Frankenstein and The Stones of
Camelot.
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