Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction


Book Description

Edited by Morag Styles and written by an international team of acknowledged experts, this series provides jargon-free, critical discussion and a comprehensive guide to literary and popular texts for children. Each book introduces the reader to a major genre of children's literature, covering the key authors, major works and contexts in which those texts are published, read and studied. This book provides an illuminating guide to literature that creates alternative worlds for young readers. Focusing on the work of Ursula Le Guin, Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman, the book considers both the genre of ?alternative worlds? and the distinctiveness of these authors? texts, including Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass.




Wyvernhail


Book Description

HAI HAS ALWAYS been an outsider. With a falcon mother and a deceased cobra father, she is considered a mongrel by most, an ally by some, and a friend by few. Hai's broken falcon wings are a painful reminder of the life she once led on the island of Ahnmik. And here in Wyvern's Court, the avian and serpiente royal family keep their distance, refusing to acknowledge her cobra bloodline. They know that Hai's magic is so volatile, she can barely control it, and images of the past and future threaten to overwhelm her.When Hai's cousin, Oliza Shardae Cobriana, abdicates the throne of Wyvern's Court, Hai has visions only of destruction: the serpiente king Salem, dying in her arms; the dutiful guard, Nicias, unable to save a generation of children; and Wyvern's Court engulfed in flames.Now Hai will do anything to protect her new home - even if it means betraying the very people who need her most.




Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction


Book Description

This book provides an illuminating guide to literature that creates alternative worlds for young readers. Focusing on the work of Ursula Le Guin, Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman, the book considers both the genre of 'alternative worlds' and the distinctiveness of these authors' texts, including Philip Pullman's The Amber Sypglass. Peter Hunt is Pofessor of English at Cardiff University. Millicent Lenz is Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Albany




Uranian Worlds


Book Description

This reference has been updated and expanded to include some 100 new listings, and the addition of films and videos. It gives detailed annotations that document the representation of alternative sexuality in novels and stories as well as films; evaluates the writers' overall representation of gay and lesbian issues; and reveals changing popular attitudes toward sexual variance over several centuries. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Jackaroo


Book Description

When hard times among the People revive the old stories of the hero Jackaroo, an innkeeper's daughter follows her own quest to unlock the secret reality behind the legend.




The Myriad


Book Description

The U.S.S. Merrimack was the finest battleship class spaceship in Earth's fleet, able to stand up against the best the Palatine Empire could throw at them, even able to attack and kill swarms of the seemingly unstoppable Hive. But nothing could have prepared the captain and crew of the Merrimack to face the Myriad-three colonized worlds in the midst of a globular cluster that the Hive had somehow overlooked.




Counternarratives


Book Description

Now in paperback, a bewitching collection of stories and novellas that are “suspenseful, thought-provoking, mystical, and haunting” (Publishers Weekly) Ranging from the seventeenth century to the present, and crossing multiple continents, Counternarratives draws upon memoirs, newspaper accounts, detective stories, and interrogation transcripts to create new and strange perspectives on our past and present. “An Outtake” chronicles an escaped slave’s take on liberty and the American Revolution; “The Strange History of Our Lady of the Sorrows” presents a bizarre series of events that unfold in Haiti and a nineteenth-century Kentucky convent; “The Aeronauts” soars between bustling Philadelphia, still-rustic Washington, and the theater of the U. S. Civil War; “Rivers” portrays a free Jim meeting up decades later with his former raftmate Huckleberry Finn; and in “Acrobatique,” the subject of a famous Edgar Degas painting talks back.




Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing


Book Description

Ursula K. Le Guin discusses her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry?both her process and her philosophy?with all the wisdom, profundity, and rigor we expect from one of the great writers of the last century. When the New York Times referred to Ursula K. Le Guin as America’s greatest writer of science fiction, they just might have undersold her legacy. It’s hard to look at her vast body of work?novels and stories across multiple genres, poems, translations, essays, speeches, and criticism?and see anything but one of our greatest writers, period. In a series of interviews with David Naimon (Between the Covers), Le Guin discusses craft, aesthetics, and philosophy in her fiction, poetry, and nonfiction respectively. The discussions provide ample advice and guidance for writers of every level, but also give Le Guin a chance to to sound off on some of her favorite subjects: the genre wars, the patriarchy, the natural world, and what, in her opinion, makes for great writing. With excerpts from her own books and those that she looked to for inspiration, this volume is a treat for Le Guin’s longtime readers, a perfect introduction for those first approaching her writing, and a tribute to her incredible life and work.




Magic Casement


Book Description

The Man of His Word series debut—a novel “with enough fresh ideas to allow it to sit unashamedly alongside the great fantasy books of recent times” (Fantasy Book Review). “Duncan’s unique concept of goblins, fauns, and imps adds a new twist to this imaginative fantasy adventure” as Princess Inosolan is forced to leave behind her carefree childhood—as well as her dear friend, the stableboy Rap (Library Journal). Now of marriageable age, she is sent to a finishing school to hone the skills that all noble ladies should possess. Mystery, menace, and the gods appear in short order, as Inos and Rap begin to discover their magical powers, even as Inos is courted by a charming man with motives far more dangerous than the eye—and heart—can see . . . “Magic Casement has a charm and vibrant sense of humor. . . . If it’s traditional fantasy adventure with a bit of nudge-nudge wink-wink you’re after, Dave Duncan is your go-to guy.” —SFReviews.net




The Story Grid


Book Description

WHAT IS THE STORY GRID? The Story Grid is a tool developed by editor Shawn Coyne to analyze stories and provide helpful editorial comments. It's like a CT Scan that takes a photo of the global story and tells the editor or writer what is working, what is not, and what must be done to make what works better and fix what's not. The Story Grid breaks down the component parts of stories to identify the problems. And finding the problems in a story is almost as difficult as the writing of the story itself (maybe even more difficult). The Story Grid is a tool with many applications: 1. It will tell a writer if a Story ?works? or ?doesn't work. 2. It pinpoints story problems but does not emotionally abuse the writer, revealing exactly where a Story (not the person creating the Story'the Story) has failed. 3. It will tell the writer the specific work necessary to fix that Story's problems. 4. It is a tool to re-envision and resuscitate a seemingly irredeemable pile of paper stuck in an attic drawer. 5. It is a tool that can inspire an original creation.