Although better known today for such classic and influential science fiction novels as Last and First Men, Odd John, Star Maker and Sirius, Olaf Stapledon also wrote eight other science fiction books, seven volumes of philosophy and social criticism, and hundreds of reviews, lectures, and articles. Common to all his works is a moral vision that is characterized by ecstatic joy and revolutionary zeal, though tempered by detachment and skepticism. This is the first book collection of original essays devoted entirely to Stapledon. Where previous critical interpretation has concentrated on individual works by the author, these essays deal with larger issues in Stapledon's writings and with his relationship to such forces as Marxism and literary modernism. The articles develop new avenues for the exploration of Stapledon's work, focusing on philosophical, linguistic, political, and structural elements, and showing how Stapledon's non-fictional writing may illuminate aspects of the fiction. In addition, the book includes Stapledon's hitherto unpublished manuscript Letters to the Future as well as a primary and secondary bibliography. An important contribution to the study of science fiction and fantasy, The Legacy of Olaf Stapledon will be of interest to scholars and students of Stapledon and of the genre.

One of the most popular, prolific, and important science fiction writers, Robert Silverberg is given penetrating analyses by major scholars and critics of the genre. Extending beyond the conventions of popular culture and pulp science fiction, the seven essayists assess Silverberg's body of work as being manifest of the modernist literary tradition, exploring techniques, such as irony, and themes, such as the fragility of identity, utopia and dystopia, and spirituality and transcendence. Noted Silverberg scholar Thomas Clareson contributes an overview of Silverberg's literary career from his first story published in 1954 to the present, and the editors provide a bibliography of his fiction and selected secondary studies, referring to Clareson's definitive bibliography. The trapdoor metaphor used in the title relates to an observation by critic Russell Letson on the complexity of reading Silverberg, which he compares to an experience of one of Silverberg's characters: What seems to be a firm foundation for reality may in fact turn out to be a trapdoor.

What is it about lighthouses that stirs the heart and sparks the imagination? Built for strength and permanence, they are nonetheless always vulnerable. We look to them for guidance and reassurance yet never quite lose the feeling of being watched when near them. Their keepers work tirelessly to serve humanity, protecting many hundreds of lives each year; yet they themselves are isolated from other people. And of course, we are ever aware that these often remote outposts can be unforgiving of human frailties, so inevitably they become the setting for tragedy and consequently for spirits that linger at the site of their ruined hopes, their sufferings, and their obsessions. In Lighthouse Hauntings a dozen contemporary authors spin an intriguing mix of supernatural tales around this evocative theme. Some of these never before published stories are just plain creepy, others are mystifying or metaphysical, or even heartwarming, but all are vividly memorable."

"Greenberg has accomplished a magnificent literary feat. He has taken a great German work, until now all but inaccessible to English readers, and made it into a sparkling English poem, full of verve and wit. Greenberg's translation lives; it is done in a modern idiom but with respect for the original text; I found it a joy to read."-Irving Howe (on the earlier edition) A classic of world literature, Goethe's Faust is a philosophical and poetic drama full of satire, irony, humor, and tragedy. Martin Greenberg re-creates not only the text's varied meter and rhyme but also its diverse tones and styles-dramatic and lyrical, reflective and farcical, pathetic and coarse, colloquial and soaring. His rendition of Faust is the first faithful, readable, and elegantly written translation of Goethe's masterpiece available in English. At last, the Greenberg Faust is available in a single volume, together with a thoroughly updated translation, preface, and notes.

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.

Now in paperback, the second treasury of never-before-published Sherlockian tales by Anne Perry and ten other outstanding contemporary mystery writers Eccentric, coldly rational, brilliant, doughty, exacting, lazy--in full bohemian color the world's most famous literary detective and his loyal companion Dr. John Watson investigate a series of previously unrecorded cases in this second collection of totally original and confounding tales. As in the popular debut volume, Murder in Baker Street, Anne Perry and ten more popular mystery writers--including Sharyn McCrumb, Carolyn Wheat, Malachi Saxon, Jon L. Breen, Bill Crider, Colin Bruce, Lenore Carroll, Barry Day, Daniel Stashower, and Loren D. Estleman--celebrate the mind and methods of Sherlock Holmes. In addition, Christopher Redmond illuminates the vast possibilities that new technology offers in "Sherlock Holmes on the Internet, " while in "A Sherlockian Library" editors Lellenberg and Stashower provide a new list of fifty essential titles on Arthur Conan Doyle and the Holmes canon. Finally, an essay by mystery novelist Philip A. Shreffler explores one of English literature's most famous friendships in "Holmes and Watson, the Head and the Heart."