Australia has long been thought of by Europeans as an exotic and mysterious land. During the nineteenth century, it was envisioned much as the moon and Mars are today: a distant and uncharted place with hidden possibilities for explorations and adventures. The continent captured the imagination of European writers in the 1800s, and with its settlement, Australia became the setting for tales of lost worlds and ancient civilizations. Australia has since developed a rich national literature, and perhaps because of its novelty and wilderness, it has inspired numerous science fiction writers. This book provides a critical survey of the history of Australian science fiction from its nineteenth century origins to the present.

The volume proceeds chronologically, with an introductory section on the origins of Australian science fiction before 1925. It then turns to the rise of traditional science fiction in Australia from 1926 to 1959, with discussions of such writers as James Morgan Walsh, Norma Hemming, and Wynne Whiteford. A section on the period from 1960 to 1974 examines the growing national recognition given to such Australian science fiction writers as David Rome and Jack Wodhams, while a section on science fiction between 1975 and 1984 reviews the rise of small presses and the growth of literary criticism of the genre in Australia. A final section addresses the maturation of Australian science fiction from 1985 to 1998 with attention to Aussiecon Two. Extensive bibliographic information concludes the volume.

Not since Garth Nix and Sean Williams joined forces has there been such a great collaboration! The warlock Calbaras wants to revive the ancient, forbidden magic of dragons, and his son Dantar is vital to his plans. Dantar is on the run in an enemy kingdom, unaware that he is so important. Worse, his sister Velza is now working for the enemy king.

Calbaras has knowledge that the dragons of Dracondas desperately want. As payment, they are willing to grant him his wish to become the greatest warlock of all time. But can Calbaras handle this power? Or will it ultimately destroy him?

It's hard to save the world when you are in jail. Dantar and Velza, children of the warlock Calbaras, need to escape from jails six hundred miles apart to stop their father unleashing a catastrophically dangerous spell. Both will soon learn that they are not just special, they are also very dangerous.

Fox and BC travel through time from the distant future to 1901. Elite cadets in the Imperial Army, they are young, handsome, well-mannered ... and now, mutineers. They have journeyed into the past to save the opening ceremony of Australias first parliament from being bombed. In order to carry out their mission, they have to enlist the help of three ordinary teenagers. But why does the future need changing? Who sent the cadets on their mission? And who is planning the bombing? If the cadets fail, thousands will die, sparking a century of total war. However, to change the destiny of the world, the young warriors will need the help of three ordinary teenagers...

Its 1901, and Battle Commander Liore has travelled back in time to stop a war that will rage for over a hundred years. Liore and Fox must foil a plot to blow up the heir to the British throne during his Australian tour. But time itself is against her. Whenever they change history, a new beginning to the war emerges and the world once again teeters on the brink of disaster.

When two of Australias most popular fantasy authors collaborate, The Warlocks Child weaves a new and exciting brand of magic. The Invincible has been attacked, and all seems lost. Dantars only escape from his enemies is through the foul-smelling sewers of Savaria. Velzas plans to save him are soon thwarted by three enormous dragons threatening to set fire to the city. Can Dantar and Velza deliver the city from danger?

Paperback - 308 pages Award winning steampunk from a master Balloons were the only way to fly in 1840, and air safety standards were the stuff of science fiction... A modern day librarian in London is about to reserve a book for a Regency serial killer... When you think about it, they had the skills and materials to build a steam engine in 1449... Some people just don't appreciate art, but a two mile long metal dragon with a serious attitude problem can do more than just sneer... Some people in 1404 are listening to our radio broadcasts... A steampunk story written before steampunk was invented... It is 1303, and medieval aviation is about to get some serious funding in the name of love... If the Soviets had been a little better at quality control, the race to the moon might have gone a bit differently... The young Dragon Librarian Zarvora has an idea for a 2 Kilo-Slave computer. She is willing to shoot her way to the top to get funding for it... (a prequel story to the Greatwinter Trilogy) Some very brave people in 1852 are about to fly the first steam powered aircraft, and diet will mean the difference between life and death. This and much more incredible steampunkery to be found herein-buy now so you don't blow a gasket

Paperback - 6"x9" Great science fiction stories from an award winning master: Sean predicts practical electronic telepathy by about 2030. Whether electronic or biological, however, it will bring the same issues in its luggage... Even magic cannot argue with mathematics. We have war crime trials, so are climate crime trials on the way? How well could King Arthur sing, really? What is the purpose of human life? Progress or survival? If you opted for progress, then you must define progress... Facebook makes a lot of things very easy, but what about Spacebook... Could you truly love someone forever? With the help of mathematics, yes. The past has clues for un-thought-of things we can do with the science and technology that we have right now... Death is still inevitable. Immortality might be possible. Could there be anything else? Why are cheetahs the most perfect of creatures? Besides because they're cats, that is... What has graffiti to do with first contact? Possibly everything... To get to Mars you only need a Volkswagen. These and a bunch more cool, mind-blowing stories. You really can't argue with mathematics, so buy your copy now

Wayfarer Inspector Danolarian saw his world's future and did not approve. After that incident, and having once met his future self, the inspector considered himself as knowledgeable as he ever wanted to be on the subject of time travel. What he did not know was that he would be abducted into the future and wind up on the run with a constable who had shape-shifted into a cat. He would also find himself marooned in the ancient past, where he would have to recover his time engine - the device that is his only way to get back home - from five thousand naked, psychopathic horsemen. And when the time engine is finally recovered, a faulty repair plunges him another three million years back in time, to a world of strange, beautiful people living idyllic lives in splendid castles. But things are not always as they seem. After being attacked, he learns from his unlikely rescuer that his travels might not have simply been a series of misadventures through time and space. A furious Danolarian returns to his own time, planning revenge against the time engine's true builders...

Sean McMullen, one of Australia's leading genre writers, took America by storm with his sweeping Greatwinter Trilogy, a post-apocalyptic science fiction tour de force that won over critics and readers alike.
Now McMullen delivers "Voyage of the Shadowmoon," a fantasy epic of daunting skill and scope. The Shadowmoon is a small, unobtrusive wooden schooner whose passengers and crew are much more than they seem: Ferran, the Shadowmoon's lusty captain who dreams of power; Roval, the warrior-sorcerer; Velander and Terikel, priestesses of a nearly extinct sect; and the chivalrous vampire Laron, who has been trapped in a fourteen-year-old body for seven hundred years.
They sail the coast, gathering useful information, passing as simple traders. But when they witness the awful power of Silverdeath, an uncontrollable doomsday weapon of awesome destructiveness, they realize they must act. But every single king, emperor, and despot covets Silverdeath's power. It will take all of their wits and more than a little luck if they hope to prevent one of these power-hungry fools from destroying the world. Their only advantage? The Shadowmoon.
While it seems to be little more that a small trading vessel--too small for battle, too fat for speed--it is actually one of the most sophisticated vessels in the world, one that allows them to travel to places where no others would dare. They can only hope it will be enough to save them all before Silverdeath rains destruction across their entire world.

The great Calculor of Libris was forced to watch as Overmayor Zarvora had four of its components lined up against a wall and shot for negligence. Thereafter, its calculations were free from errors, and that was just as well-for only this strangest of calculating machines and its two thousand enslaved components could save the world from a new ice age.

And all the while a faint mirrorsun hangs in the night sky, warning of the cold to come.

In Sean McMullen's glittering, dynamic, and exotic world two millennia from now, there is no more electricity, wind engines are leading-edge technology, librarians fight duels to settle disputes, steam power is banned by every major religion, and a mysterious siren "Call" lures people to their death. Nevertheless, the brilliant and ruthless Zarvora intends to start a war in space against inconceivably ancient nuclear battle stations.

Unbeknownst to Zarvora, however, the greatest threat to humanity is neither a machine nor a force but her demented and implacable enemy Lemorel, who has resurrected an obscene and evil concept from the distant past: Total War.

Souls in the Great Machine is the first volume of Sean McMullen's brilliant future history of the world of Greatwinter

Although Dantar is able to shapeshift into dragon form, he still thinks like a rebellious teenager. His sister Velza has been given the ultimate gift by the dragons of Dracondas - the mind of a dragon. Now they must combine their gifts to stop the most powerful warlock of all time from casting his doomsday spell.

Continuing the saga of Pellucidar, the empire located in the Earth's hollow center, "Tarzan at the Earth's Core" is the fourth work in this classic series. The American explorer and emperor of Pellucidar, David Innes, has been captured by the deadly Korsar pirates. Picking up on the desperate cries for help emanating from Pellucidar, Jason Gridley of Tarzana brings the message to the only person who can help, Tarzan of the Apes. Together young Gridley and Lord Greystoke travel to the exotic and strange realm within the Earth to save the imprisoned ruler. Unaccustomed to the difficulties of Pellucidar, the two struggle in its savage environment, with its eternal noon and bizarre monsters, in their quest to save Innes and the precarious rule he has established. Sean McMullen provides an introduction for this Bison Books edition.