Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future

Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future

Author: Gary Westfahl

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 0786484764

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Science fiction has always challenged readers with depictions of the future. Can the genre actually provide glimpses of the world of tomorrow? This collection of fifteen international and interdisciplinary essays examines the genre's predictions and breaks new ground by considering the prophetic functions of science fiction films as well as SF literature. Among the texts and topics examined are classic stories by Murray Leinster, C. L. Moore, and Cordwainer Smith; 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequels, Japanese anime and Hong Kong cinema; and electronic fiction.


Bearers of the Black Staff

Bearers of the Black Staff

Author: Terry Brooks

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: 2010-08-24

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 0345523008

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BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Terry Brooks's The Measure of the Magic. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Five hundred years have passed since the devastating demon-led war tore apart the United States and nearly exterminated humankind. Those who escaped the carnage were led to sanctuary in an idyllic valley, its borders warded by powerful magic against the horrors beyond. But the cocoon of protective magic surrounding the valley has now vanished. When Sider Ament, the only surviving descendant of the Knights of the Word, detects unknown predators stalking the valley, he fears the worst. And when expert Trackers find two of their own gruesomely killed, there can be no doubt: The once safe haven has been made vulnerable to whatever still lurks in the outside wasteland. Together, Ament, the two young Trackers, and a daring Elf princess spearhead plans to defend their ancestral home. And in the thick of it all, the last wielder of the black staff and its awesome magic must find a successor to carry on the fight against the cresting new wave of evil.


Science Fiction

Science Fiction

Author: Sherryl Vint

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0262361965

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How science fiction has been a tool for understanding and living through rapid technological change. The world today seems to be slipping into a science fiction future. We have phones that speak to us, cars that drive themselves, and connected devices that communicate with each other in languages we don't understand. Depending the news of the day, we inhabit either a technological utopia or Brave New World nightmare. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge surveys the uses of science fiction. It focuses on what is at the core of all definitions of science fiction: a vision of the world made otherwise and what possibilities might flow from such otherness.


Postcolonialism and Science Fiction

Postcolonialism and Science Fiction

Author: J. Langer

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2011-12-15

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 0230356052

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Using close readings and thematic studies of contemporary science fiction and postcolonial theory, ranging from discussions of Japanese and Canadian science fiction to a deconstruction of race and (post)colonialism in World of Warcraft, This book is the first comprehensive study of the complex and developing relationship between the two areas.


The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories

The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories

Author: Tom Shippey

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2003-01

Total Pages: 587

ISBN-13: 9780192803818

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A collection of classic science fiction short stories features tales by H. G. Wells, Arthur C. Clark, Frederik Pohl, Clifford Simak, Brian Aldiss, Ursala K. LeGuin, and many others. Edited by the author of The Road to Middle-Earth. 20,000 first printing.


Science Fiction and Extro-Science Fiction

Science Fiction and Extro-Science Fiction

Author: Quentin Meillassoux

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

Published: 2015-11-22

Total Pages: 54

ISBN-13: 1937561941

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In Science Fiction and Extro-Science Fiction, Quentin Meillassoux addresses the problem of chaos and of the constancy of natural laws in the context of literature. With his usual argumentative rigor, he elucidates the distinction between science fiction, a genre in which science remains possible in spite of all the upheavals that may attend the world in which the tale takes place, and fiction outside-science, the literary concept he fashions in this book, a fiction in which science becomes impossible. With its investigations of the philosophies of Hume, Kant, and Popper, Science Fiction and Extro-Science Fiction broadens the inquiry that Meillassoux began in After Finitude, thinking through the concrete possibilities and consequences of a chaotic world in which human beings can no longer resort to science to ground their existence. It is a significant milestone in the work of an emerging philosopher, which will appeal to readers of both philosophy and literature. The text is followed by Isaac Asimov’s essay “The Billiard Ball.”


Science Fiction Audiences

Science Fiction Audiences

Author: Henry Jenkins

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-07-25

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1134926146

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Science Fiction Audiences considers the continuing popularity of two television `institutions' of our time through an examination of their followers and fans.