Classic science fiction

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisH.P. Lovecraft was a pioneer of modern horror fiction, his uncanny tales melding haunting gothic prose with colossal fantasy. This collection brings together 25 of his ''Dream Cycle'' tales which take place in an alternate dimension that is visited through dreams. These include: • Polaris • The Case of Charles Dexter Ward • The Color Out of Space • The Outsider • The Cats of UltharLovecraft has inspired countless horror and science fiction writers, including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and China Miéville, and his storytelling remains enthralling, vivid and terrifying.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with contemporary graphic cover designs. Together they make a wonderful collection which is perfect for any home library.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Cold War is in full swing as the British Government, in partnership with Woden Armaments, launches the Cerberus satellites into orbit, transforming world wide communications. But all is not as it seems. The first book in a two-novel event that sees the Counter Measures team return to print for the first time in many years. Based on Doctor Who characters created by Ben Aaronovitch.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book presents the reader with some of the earliest classic SF short stories – all of them published between 1858 and 1934, featuring both well-known and long-forgotten writers – dealing for the first time with topics to which science had (some) answers only at much later stages. This includes aspects of alien life forms, transmogrification, pandemics, life on Mars, android robots, big data, matter transmission and impact events to name but a few. The short stories are reprinted in full alongside extensive commentaries which also examine some of the latest scientific thinking surrounding the story’s main theme and provide the reader with suggestions for further reading. Table of ContentsLife … but not as we know.- Transmogrification.- Pandemic.- Life on Mars.- Artificial Intelligence.- Attractive Androids.- Big Data.- Faster Than Light Travel.- Antigravity.- Matter Transmission.- The Sub-microscopic World.- Impact Events.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat is life? This was a question of particular concern for Mary Shelley and her contemporaries. But how did she, and her fellow Romantic writers, incorporate this debate into their work, and how much were they influenced by contemporary science, medicine and personal loss? This book is the first to compile the many attempts in science and medicine to account for life and death in Mary Shelley’s time. It considers what her contemporaries thought of air, blood, sunlight, electricity and other elements believed to be most essential for living. Mary Shelley’s (and her circle’s) knowledge of science and medicine is carefully examined, alongside the work of key scientific and medical thinkers, including John Abernethy, James Curry, Humphry Davy, John Hunter, William Lawrence and Joseph Priestley. Frankenstein demonstrates what Mary Shelley knew of the advice given by medical practitioners for the recovery of persons drowned, hanged or strangled and explores the contemporary scientific basis behind Victor Frankenstein’s idea that life and death were merely ‘ideal bounds’ he could transgress in the making of the Creature. Interweaving images of the manuscript, portraits, medical instruments and contemporary diagrams into her narrative, Sharon Ruston shows how this extraordinary tale is steeped in historical scientific and medical thought exploring the fascinating boundary between life and death.Table of ContentsContents Introduction 1 Life and Death in Romantic Literature 2 Vital Air 3 Electric Life 4 Vis Vitae (the Vital Principle) 5 Raising the Dead Afterword Notes Further Reading Picture Credits Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIntroduced by Jeff VanderMeer - ''a classic: stunning, dangerous, darkly beautiful'' - welcome to the post-apocalyptic White Lotus: a luxury hotel at the end of the world in this lost 1967 dystopia ...''Chilling and prescient.'' Andrew Hunter Murray ''Elemental and true.'' Kiran Millwood Hargrave ''Mesmerizing.'' Sandra Newman ''Like someone from the future screaming to us.'' Salena GoddenThe day we came up from the shelters four people were found dead on the steps of the hotel. Welcome to Termush: a luxury coastal resort like no other. All the wealthy guests are survivors: preppers who reserved rooms long before the Disaster. Inside, they embrace exclusive radiation shelters, ambient music and lavish provisions; outside, radioactive dust falls on the sculpture park, security men step over dead birds, and a reconnaissance party embarks.Despite weathering a nuclear apocalypse, their problems are only j

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisWorld War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn't 'retiring' them with his laser weapon,he dreamed of owning a live animal - the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft of animal life.Then Rick got his chance: the assignment to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard's world things were never that simple, and his assignment quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit - and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted ...Trade ReviewOne of the most original practitioners writing any kind of fiction, Dick made most of the European avant-garde seem like navel-gazers in a cul-de-sac * Sunday Times *My literary hero * Fay Weldon *For everyone lost in the endlessly multiplicating realities of the modern world, remember: Philip K. Dick got there first * Terry Gilliam *A masterclass in sci-fi wonderment * Empire *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Malacia, a city where change is forbidden and radical ideas are crushed, a war like no other is about to commence… The Brian Aldiss collection includes over 50 books and spans the author’s entire career, from his debut in 1955 to his more recent work.Trade Review‘Britain’s finest science-fiction writer.’ Tribune ‘Once again he demonstrates the power of his imagination.’ Daily Mail ‘It’s a terrific yarn, but more than that; as Aldiss casually throws out ideas and speculations, it’s a reminder of why he’s one of the giants of the field.’ SFX Magazine ‘One of our best novelists.’ William Boyd ‘A rattling good yarn’ Daily Telegraph ‘Brian Aldiss is one of those writers who can stand back and look out across the vast fictional landscape of sciences fiction, and consider himself both a creator and a destroyer of worlds; a mortal God if you will.’ Starburst Magazine 'For decades, Brian Aldiss has been among our most prolific and consistently stylish writers.' Telegraph ‘Frightening, gripping… not one for the squeamish’ Illustrated London News ‘The best of British science fiction writers’ Scotsman

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe stunning new thriller from the bestselling author of Velocity and Relentless.Trade ReviewPraise for Dean Koontz: ‘Odd Thomas is certainly a page-turner – this is a read-at-a-sitting novel – with a terrific final twist’ Observer ‘A terrific pursuit story … clever, up-to-the-minute, and riveting’ Guardian ‘There’s surprise after surprise, including a killer finale … a read-in-one-go novel’ Independent on Sunday ‘Velocity hits its pace from the first page and races through to a suitably climactic ending’ Sydney Sunday Telegraph ‘Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler’ The Times ‘Psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying’ The New York Times

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisArguably the first work of science fiction in English, Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone was published in 1638, pseudonymously and posthumously. The novel, which tells the story of Domingo Gonsales, a Spaniard who flies to the moon by geese power and encounters an advanced lunar civilization, had an enormous impact on the European imagination for centuries after its initial publication. With its discussion of advanced ideas about astronomy and cosmology, the novel is an important example of both popular fiction and scientific speculation.This Broadview Edition includes a critical introduction that places the text in its scientific and historical contexts. The rich selection of appendices includes related writings by Godwin and his predecessors and contemporaries on magnetism, human flight, voyages to real and unreal lands, and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life.Trade Review“A remarkable tale of lunar travel and utopian vision, The Man in the Moone was written by an English bishop sometime around 1630. Drawing on the latest news of travel and warfare from the Atlantic to China and on the latest theories in magnetism, astronomy, and navigation, the story offers an unparalleled window onto its intellectual and cultural world. It also had an impressive afterlife, inspiring celebrated works on imaginative travel and comic satire, earning a mention on some lunar maps, and inspiring writers such as Verne and Wells. This splendid edition by William Poole offers newly authoritative commentary with indispensable annotations on the novel’s sources and significance. Poole’s cleverly chosen appendices add rich materials from contemporary and subsequent texts.” — Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge“William Poole’s edition of The Man in the Moone offers a scholarly, accessible, and thoroughly contextualized presentation of this under-appreciated science fiction classic. First published in 1638 and influential for more than a century, The Man in the Moone absorbed a variety of literary, historical, religious, and scientific traditions. It playfully blends the new cosmological lore of the scientific revolution and the new geographical knowledge of the age of discovery with the artful fancy of an inventive imagination. This authoritative edition, with well chosen notes and appendices, presents the Bishop of Hereford’s fancy as the founding text of English science fiction.” — David Cressy, The Ohio State University“Poole’s footnotes throughout are detailed and insightful, pointing the reader to Godwin’s source material and to appropriate scholarship. The introduction, footnotes, and bibliography engage the history of science, politics, literature, and many other fields. As such, this scholarly edition lends itself to use in courses and to scholarly work in a number of arenas. For scholars of [science fiction], this book will help further the ongoing investigation of [science fiction]’s colonial origins and narrative structures. It will also stir the old debate about when [science fiction] began and what textual elements qualify a text to be labeled as [science fiction].” — Patrick B. Sharp, Science Fiction Studies (July 2011)Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionFrancis Godwin and his Contemporaries: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextThe Man in the MooneTextual NotesAppendix A: Francis Godwin, Nuncius Inanimatus (1629)Appendix B: From Lucian of Samosata, The True HistoryAppendix C: From William of Newburgh, “On the Green Children” (1196-98)Appendix D: Arguments about Aliens (Philip Melanchthon, Tommaso Campanella, John Wilkins)Appendix E: From Jan Huygen van Linschoten, Discours of Voyages into the Easte and West Indies (1596)Appendix F: From Mark Ridley, A Short Treatise of Magneticall Bodies and Motions (1613)Appendix G: From Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621, 1628)Appendix H: From John Wilkins, Mathematicall Magick (1648)Bibliography and Works Cited

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis unjustly neglected novel from 1966 has not been reprinted in over fifty years. With its appearance as a British Library Science Fiction Classic, contemporary readers have the chance to enjoy Temple's unusual blend of traditional SF with a darkly ironic tone.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTravellers called the Zone 'the Land of Strangers': the place where anyone could escape anything, and where the lost things lay.Taty is a troubled adolescent living with her equally troubled mother in the suburbs of the Lowlands. In a moment of uncontrolled anger, she finds her life changed forever and, hiding a terrible secret, she runs away, heading West into the Outzone.It is clear that this is no ordinary story when she is captured by a malicious imp, befriended by an evangelising robotic nun and wooed by a transgender hoodlum, leading her further down the rabbit hole.Navigating the collapse of an already chaotic society, Taty struggles against present danger while confronting the demons of her own past.With moustachioed wrestlers, marauding Buddhist Punks, a feline voodoo surgeon and the presence of the enigmatic, disfigured Dr. Dali, Taty takes on a highly unique universe and emerges as a heroine whose petulant nonchalance hides a mighty spirit.Trade Review'A hallucinogenic post-apocalyptic carnival ride – Nikhil Singh has a strange and intriguing mind.’ “A wild, marauding vision on acid. Nikhil Singh creates a world that threatens to leave the confines of the page. Brilliantly compelling.”

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe classic and terrifying HG Wells novel of alien invasion is now a landmark series for the BBC from the makers of Poldark, Victoria and And Then There Were None. One night a shooting star is seen over the skies of Surrey. The next day, it''s discovered to have been a mysterious metallic cylinder from Mars. What comes next is a terrifying alien attack, as tentacled Martian invaders emerge from the cylinder and prey on humankind using shocking new weapons against which the people of Victorian England can offer no resistance.The aliens begin to devastate the area in their tripod machines, and as our narrator struggles to return to his wife, the fight for London - and the world - begins. Now with a new introduction by Stephen Baxter.''A true classic''GUARDIAN''Immortal science fiction'' TELEGRAPHTrade ReviewA true classic that has pointed the way not just for science-fiction writers, but for how we as a civilisation might think of ourselves * Guardian *Immortal science fiction * Telegraph *The classic tale of alien invasion, and still the best * The Times *The classic alien invasion tale * New Statesman *The War of the Worlds remains the barometer by which all extra-terrestrial invasions are measured * Irish Times *Wells occupies an honoured place in science fiction * Kingsley Amis *Wells is the Shakespeare of science fiction * Brian Aldiss *A born storyteller * J.B. Priestly *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 2048, medical science has overcome all the diseases and limiting conditions of old age. In the exclusive community of Wellowfern, radical life extension has turned from distant dream to near reality and competing forces are lining up to impose their widely different visions of the future. Isabel is a loyal and influential resident who knows about corporate intrigue and the power of self-interest. She now has to figure out who is pulling the strings, which side she is on and how best to defend her safe haven and her eccentric, misfit friends, as the high-level infighting threatens to overwhelm them.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences on Mars, filled with intense images and astonishing visions. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection.Trade Review‘The bitter irony of The Martian Chronicles is both stark and shocking’ Guardian ‘The laureate of science fiction’ Manchester Evening News ‘The king of science fiction’ Mail on Sunday ‘Bradbury has a remarkable range of intensity and vision’ Sunday Times

Read more less

Book SynopsisFollowing on from the 1950s collection, this is the second collection of Brian Aldiss’ short stories, taken from the 1960s. A must-have for collectors. Part one of four.Trade Review‘Britain’s finest science-fiction writer.’ Tribune ‘Once again he demonstrates the power of his imagination.’ Daily Mail ‘It’s a terrific yarn, but more than that; as Aldiss casually throws out ideas and speculations, it’s a reminder of why he’s one of the giants of the field.’ SFX Magazine ‘One of our best novelists.’ William Boyd ‘A rattling good yarn’ Daily Telegraph ‘Brian Aldiss is one of those writers who can stand back and look out across the vast fictional landscape of sciences fiction, and consider himself both a creator and a destroyer of worlds; a mortal God if you will.’ Starburst Magazine 'For decades, Brian Aldiss has been among our most prolific and consistently stylish writers.' Telegraph ‘Frightening, gripping… not one for the squeamish’ Illustrated London News ‘The best of British science fiction writers’ Scotsman

Read more less

Book SynopsisFollowing on from the 1950s collection, this is the second collection of Brian Aldiss’ short stories, taken from the 1960s. A must-have for collectors. Part two of four.Trade Review‘Aldiss is a magician’ Sunday Times‘The titan of science fiction.’ Telegraph ‘Brian Aldiss is one of the most influential – and one of the best – SF writers Britain has ever produced.’ Iain M Banks ‘The best contemporary writer of science fiction.’ Guardian ‘One of the truly prophetic figures of the space age… the colossus of science fiction’New Yorker ‘Once again he demonstrates the power of his imagination.’ Daily Mail

Read more less

Book SynopsisFollowing on from the 1950s collection, this is the second collection of Brian Aldiss’ short stories, taken from the 1960s. A must-have for collectors. Part three of four.Trade Review‘Aldiss is a magician’ Sunday Times‘The titan of science fiction.’ Telegraph ‘Brian Aldiss is one of the most influential – and one of the best – SF writers Britain has ever produced.’ Iain M Banks ‘The best contemporary writer of science fiction.’ Guardian ‘One of the truly prophetic figures of the space age… the colossus of science fiction’New Yorker ‘Once again he demonstrates the power of his imagination.’ Daily Mail

Read more less

Book SynopsisFollowing on from the 1950s collection, this is the second collection of Brian Aldiss’ short stories, taken from the 1960s. A must-have for collectors. Part four of four.Trade Review‘Aldiss is a magician’ Sunday Times‘The titan of science fiction.’ Telegraph ‘Brian Aldiss is one of the most influential – and one of the best – SF writers Britain has ever produced.’ Iain M Banks ‘The best contemporary writer of science fiction.’ Guardian ‘One of the truly prophetic figures of the space age… the colossus of science fiction’New Yorker ‘Once again he demonstrates the power of his imagination.’ Daily Mail

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhen a brilliant scientist believes that a cutting edge replication process offers the solution to an excruciating love triangle, the limits of the new technology are tested - and impossible questions of identity and originality threaten to tear apart the best-laid plans of paradise.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFROZEN HELL is an alternate version of John W. Campbell''s classic novella, Who Goes There? (filmed as The Thing). Recently discovered among Campbell''s papers, this version adds another 45 pages to the story. Includes a Preface by Alec Nevala-Lee and an Introduction by Robert Silverberg. Also included is a preview of the forthcoming sequel, The Things from Another World, by John Gregory Betancourt.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe “imaginative . . . intriguing” far-future novel about the telepathic bond of friendship between human and animal—from the New York Times bestselling author (Booklist). Exiled after his home planet was turned into a military outpost following an interstellar war, Troy Horan is relocated to the planet of Korwar. Under the watchful eye of the police state, he lives in the Dipple, a restricted area for subcitizens. He works as a day laborer in an interplanetary pet shop and has no idea why animals from Terra, a third-rate power, have been imported to Korwar—or why he has the ability to silently communicate with them, especially the kinkajou. But a murder forces him to flee with his animal friends into the Wild, where mysterious, sealed ruins conceal Korwar’s most fiercely guarded secret. With no one he can trust and an entire government under siege, Troy leads his extraordinary band of warriors in a final bid for freedom none of them may survive.Trade ReviewPraise for Andre Norton “A superb storyteller.” —The New York Times

Read more less