Since 1978 the Science Fiction Poetry Association has selected the best long and short poems in science fiction, fantasy, and horror for its annual Rhysling Awards, named in honor of the blind poet of the spaceways from Robert Heinlein 's The Green Hills of Earth. Often considered the equivalent for poetry of the Nebula Awards for fiction, the winning poems appear each year in the Nebula Awards anthologies. Now for the first time the Rhysling Winners have been gathered under one cover. This collection presents more than twenty-five years of the best poetry in the field of speculative literatur
"To All Ingeniously Elaborate Students, In the most Divine Mysteries of Hermetique Learning." Or so British politician and Freemason ELIAS ASHMOLE (1617-1692) dedicated this curious artifact of the esoteric and spiritual philosophy of alchemy. An avid collector of antiquaries and other oddities (they were, upon his death, bequeathed to Oxford University, which used them to found the Ashmolean Museum), Ashmole counted among his treasures volumes of metaphysical poems available only in private, and fiercely guarded, manuscripts. In 1652, though, he collected many of these writings in this hefty tome, annotated with his own comments. Included are: . "The Ordinall of Alchimy" by Thomas Norton . "The Compound of Alchymie" by Sir George Ripley . "Liber Patris Sapientiae" . "The Tale of the Chanons Yeoman" by Geoffry Chaucer . "The Worke of John Dastin" . "The Hunting of the Greene Lyon" by the Viccar of Malden . "Bloomsfields Blossoms: Or, The Campe of Philosophy" . "Sir Ed Kelley Concerning the Philosopher's Stone" . and much more. Once a resource for such natural philosophers as Isaac Newton, the Theatrum Chemicum Brittannicum remains an astonishing album of arcania.
An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors is Curtis Craddock's delightful and engrossing fantasy debut featuring a genius heroine and her guardian, a royal musketeer, which Brandon Sanderson calls, "A great read!" Born with a physical disability, no magical talent, and a precocious intellect, Princess Isabelle des Zephyrs has lived her life being underestimated by her family and her kingdom. The only person who appreciates her true self is Jean-Claude, the fatherly musketeer who had guarded her since birth. All shall change, however, when an unlikely marriage proposal is offered, to the second son of a dying king in an empire collapsing into civil war. But the last two women betrothed to this prince were murdered, and a sorcerer-assassin is bent on making Isabelle the third. Isabelle and Jean-Claude plunge into a great maze of prophecy, intrigue, and betrayal, where everyone wears masks of glamour and lies. Step by dangerous step, Isabelle must unravel the lies of her enemies and discovers a truth more perilous than any deception. “A setting fabulous and strange, heroes to cheer for, villains to detest, a twisty, tricky plot — I love this novel!” —Lawrence Watt Evans “A thrilling adventure full of palace intrigue, mysterious ancient mechanisms, and aerial sailing ships!” —David D. Levine At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
A “timely, informative, and fascinating” study of 8 inventions—and how they shaped our world—with “totally compelling” insights on little-known inventors throughout history (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction) In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines 8 inventions and reveals how they shaped the human experience: • Clocks • Steel rails • Copper communication cables • Photographic film • Light bulbs • Hard disks • Scientific labware • Silicon chips Ramirez tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer. She describes how our pursuit of precision in timepieces changed how we sleep; how the railroad helped commercialize Christmas; how the necessary brevity of the telegram influenced Hemingway’s writing style; and how a young chemist exposed the use of Polaroid’s cameras to create passbooks to track black citizens in apartheid South Africa. These fascinating and inspiring stories offer new perspectives on our relationships with technologies. Ramirez shows not only how materials were shaped by inventors but also how those materials shaped culture, chronicling each invention and its consequences—intended and unintended. Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, Ramirez showcases little-known inventors—particularly people of color and women—who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology. She also shows that innovation is universal—whether it's splicing beats with two turntables and a microphone or splicing genes with two test tubes and CRISPR.
When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods--and a skrayling ambassador--to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital? Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is seconded to the ambassador's bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally--and Mal his soul. File Under: Fantasy [ Midsummer Magic | Skraylings | Double Trouble | Comedy of Terrors ] e-book ISBN: 978-0-85766-215-6
"The Alchemy Of The Heavens offers an exciting and accessible survey of what we know about our galaxy. The home of the earth, the sun, and countless other stars, the Milky Way has long been an object of human fascintation, but it's been in the last forty years that astromoners and astrophysicists have made the most startling discoveries about our galaxy. Author Ken Croswell reveals that the Milky Way formed as many earlier galaxies collopsed and smashed together; that may of the elements in the galaxy--including the iron and carbon that course through our bodies--were born in exploding supernovae; that in all likelihood there is a massive black hole at the center of the galaxy, with a million times more mass than the sun, and that the Milky Way's oldest stars preserve the elements created in the big bang, thereby serving as "fossils" of the universe's earliest days. A captivating journey through the modern astronomy of the Milky Way, Croswell shows us how a deeper understanding of the nature and working of the galaxy can offer larger clues into the origins of the universe itself. "From the Trade Paperback edition.
Alchemy and the Philosophers' Stone are real. This is not a joke or a scam. This book covers the full theory and practice of alchemy and how to make the Philosophers' Stone, capable of reversing the aging process and curing all disease to the effect that one could live forever. This is an ancient secret which has never before been publicly released. Please read the book before making any judgement on it; this world is not what it seems to be.
Over a thousand years ago, the Persian physician and chemist Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi presented his students with a book of alchemy instructions called the Kitab al-Asrar or Book of Secrets. For over seven hundred years this systematic text on managing chemicals, equipment, and procedures was copied and imitated throughout Europe. Using historian Julius Ruska's authoritative German translation, this book presents al-Razi's Book of Secrets in English for the first time and analyzes it from the perspective of a modern scientific laboratory. The Kitab al-Asrar offers a view into the understanding of chemistry and procedure organization in the tenth-century Islamic world. Yet a careful reading yields even more than that. As a laboratory manual, it gives intriguing clues into Persian culture under the Abbasid caliphate: the relationship of teacher and student; attitudes toward safety, labor, and quantification; tools and logical problem-solving; commerce and the availability of luxury goods; and the value of the written word. This is the Kitab al-Asrar.
