Alien Theory

Alien Theory PDF Author: Patricia Monk
Publisher: Rlpg/Galleys
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
From the early days of pulp magazines to contemporary works of science fiction, the subject of the alien has been a fertile and enduring--if not also the most vital--element of the genre. In Alien Theory, author Patricia Monk asserts that the creation of the alien in short fiction contributes substantially to humanity's understanding of its present status and future potential in the universe. By employing a Jungian and archetypal approach to these stories, Monk attempts to direct the attention of readers to the significance of the vast body of imaginative fiction about the alien, arguing that studying the alien will reveal why this archetype is necessary in the development of humanity's understanding of its own intrinsic nature as a sapient being. When a science fiction writer writes about aliens, Monk asserts, he or she is saying something that can--and should--be taken seriously by readers. Furthermore, it is being expressed in a particular story-telling mode that deserves to be treated with respect. By discussing the creation of the form of the science-fictional alien, its psyche and the context in which aliens and humans interact, Monk brings into focus a topic that has not been given the rightful discussion it deserves. In addition to examining the alien in the science fiction short story, novella, and novelette, Monk evaluates its role in pre-postmodernist and postmodernist criticism and theory. The author also draws on relevant writings by editors, writers, and fans--including editorial letter columns and reviews--to place the stories in the context of science fiction. By drawing on all of these sources, Alien Theory brings into focus a topic that will be of interest not only to academics and students, but also to the general reader.

Alien Theory

Alien Theory PDF Author: Patricia Monk
Publisher: Rlpg/Galleys
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Get Book Here

Book Description
From the early days of pulp magazines to contemporary works of science fiction, the subject of the alien has been a fertile and enduring--if not also the most vital--element of the genre. In Alien Theory, author Patricia Monk asserts that the creation of the alien in short fiction contributes substantially to humanity's understanding of its present status and future potential in the universe. By employing a Jungian and archetypal approach to these stories, Monk attempts to direct the attention of readers to the significance of the vast body of imaginative fiction about the alien, arguing that studying the alien will reveal why this archetype is necessary in the development of humanity's understanding of its own intrinsic nature as a sapient being. When a science fiction writer writes about aliens, Monk asserts, he or she is saying something that can--and should--be taken seriously by readers. Furthermore, it is being expressed in a particular story-telling mode that deserves to be treated with respect. By discussing the creation of the form of the science-fictional alien, its psyche and the context in which aliens and humans interact, Monk brings into focus a topic that has not been given the rightful discussion it deserves. In addition to examining the alien in the science fiction short story, novella, and novelette, Monk evaluates its role in pre-postmodernist and postmodernist criticism and theory. The author also draws on relevant writings by editors, writers, and fans--including editorial letter columns and reviews--to place the stories in the context of science fiction. By drawing on all of these sources, Alien Theory brings into focus a topic that will be of interest not only to academics and students, but also to the general reader.

The AlienÕs Holiday Gift

The AlienÕs Holiday Gift PDF Author: Lee-Ann Wallace
Publisher: eXtasy Books
ISBN: 1487409575
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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Book Description
Petra is determined to leave Morgath as soon as the next ship of human females arrives. She isn't what the Morgath are looking for in a mate, but she wasn't given a choice. Male after male rejects her because of something she has no control over, and with the holidays looming closer she does everything she can to avoid being rejected again. Avoiding the hated holiday celebrations is easy. Hiding from a determined male who doesn't care about her little secret isn't easy. Kartoc is just as determined to claim Petra as his mate, and he will not allow anything to stand in his way, including Petra. But Kartoc is keeping secrets of his own, and he has the perfect holiday gift.

Big Planet

Big Planet PDF Author: Jack Vance
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0575109505
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
Big Planet is Jack Vance's first major sf novel, and in the words of the Encyclopedia of SF, "provided an sf model for the planetary romance which has been of significant use for forty years". The huge world of the title is home to a range of colourfully detailed and imaginative human societies, which Vance explores with the zest and humour which are hallmarks of his work. All Jack Vance titles in the SFGateway use the author's preferred texts, as restored for the Vance Integral Edition (VIE), an extensive project masterminded by an international online community of Vance's admirers. In general, we also use the VIE titles, and have adopted the arrangement of short story collections to eliminate overlaps. Big Planet was cut almost in half for its first publication, but sadly the excised pages are lost.

Spaceman of Bohemia

Spaceman of Bohemia PDF Author: Jaroslav Kalfar
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316273406
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
An intergalactic odyssey of love, ambition, and self-discovery. Orphaned as a boy, raised in the Czech countryside by his doting grandparents, Jakub Prochv°zka has risen from small-time scientist to become the country's first astronaut. When a dangerous solo mission to Venus offers him both the chance at heroism he's dreamt of, and a way to atone for his father's sins as a Communist informer, he ventures boldly into the vast unknown. But in so doing, he leaves behind his devoted wife, Lenka, whose love, he realizes too late, he has sacrificed on the altar of his ambitions. Alone in Deep Space, Jakub discovers a possibly imaginary giant alien spider, who becomes his unlikely companion. Over philosophical conversations about the nature of love, life and death, and the deliciousness of bacon, the pair form an intense and emotional bond. Will it be enough to see Jakub through a clash with secret Russian rivals and return him safely to Earth for a second chance with Lenka? Rich with warmth and suspense and surprise, Spaceman of Bohemia is an exuberant delight from start to finish. Very seldom has a novel this profound taken readers on a journey of such boundless entertainment and sheer fun. "A frenetically imaginative first effort, booming with vitality and originality . . . Kalfar's voice is distinct enough to leave tread marks."-Jennifer Senior, New York Times

The War of the Worlds: Large Print

The War of the Worlds: Large Print PDF Author: H. G. Wells
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781091588417
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's..." So begins H. G. Wells' classic novel in which Martian lifeforms take over planet Earth. As the Martians emerge, they construct giant killing machines - armed with heatrays - that are impervious to attack. Advancing upon London they destroy everything in their path. Everything, except the few humans they collect in metal traps. Victorian England is a place in which the steam engine is state-of-the-art technology and powered flight is just a dream. Mankind is helpless against the killing machines from Mars, and soon the survivors are left living in a new stone age. Includes the original Warwick Goble illustrations.

Dreamsnake

Dreamsnake PDF Author: Vonda N. McIntyre
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504067398
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning novel from the New York Times–bestselling author of The King’s Daughter. On an Earth scarred by nuclear war, Snake harnesses the power of venom to cure illnesses and vaccinate against disease. The healer can even ease patients into death with the power of her dreamsnake. But she is not respected and trusted by all, and when she tries to help a sick nomad child, the frightened clan kills her dreamsnake. Ashamed of being misjudged and grieving the loss of her dreamsnake, Snake has one choice to maintain her livelihood: she must travel to the city, which jealously guards its knowledge. And before she faces the prejudices and arrogance of the people there, Snake must make her way across a barren desert, surviving storms and radiation poisoning, helping those she can—all while a madman stalks her every move . . . “[Dreamsnake] is filled with scenes as suspenseful as anyone could wish . . . but most of all it addresses the humanity in all of us.” —The Seattle Times “A haunting, rich, and tender novel that explores the human side of science fiction in a manner that’s all too uncommon.” —Robert Silverberg “A splendid tale, combining the sensitivity and attention to mood of the new generation of SF writers with a gripping and well-worked-out adventure . . . The novel is rich in character, background and incident—unusually absorbing and moving.” —Publishers Weekly “Instead of kicking butt, the lead character is dedicated to saving lives. . . . Snake’s blighted world is expertly drawn, and her encounters with dysfunctional societies can be bracing and challenging reading.” —The Guardian “This is an exciting future-dream with real characters, a believable mythos and, what’s more important, an excellent, readable story.” —Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series

My Life Among the Serial Killers

My Life Among the Serial Killers PDF Author: Helen Morrison
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0061809594
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
In this memoir, a forensic psychiatrist chronicles her work with more than 80 serial killers and her thoughts on what compels them. Judging by appearances, Dr. Helen Morrison has an ordinary life in the suburbs of a major city. She has a physician husband, two children, and a thriving psychiatric clinic. But her life is more than that. She is one of the world’s leading experts on serial killers, and has spent as many as four hundred hours alone in rooms with depraved murderers, digging deep into killers’ psyches in ways no profiler ever has before. In My Life among the Serial Killers, Dr. Morrison relates how she profiled the Mad Biter, Richard Otto Macek, who chewed on his victims’ body parts, stalked Dr. Morrison, then believed she was his wife. She did the last interview with Ed Gein, who was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. John Wayne Gacy, the clown-obsessed killer of young men, sent her crazed Christmas cards and gave her his paintings as presents. Then there was Atlanta child killer Wayne Williams; rapist turned murderer Bobby Joe Long; Fred and Rosemary West, who killed girls and women in their Gloucester “House of Horrors”; and Brazil’s deadliest killer of children, Marcelo Costa de Andrade. Dr. Morrison has received hundreds of letters from killers, read their diaries and journals, evaluated crime scenes, testified at their trials, and studied photos of the gruesome carnage. She has interviewed the families of the victims—and the spouses and parents of the killers—to gain a deeper understanding of the killer’s environment and the public persona they adopt. She has also studied serial killers throughout history and shows how this is not a recent phenomenon with psychological autopsies of the fifteenth-century French war hero Gilles de Rais, the sixteenth-century Hungarian Countess Bathory, H.H. Holmes of the late nineteenth-century, and Albert Fish of the Roaring Twenties. Through it all, Dr. Morrison’s goal has been to discover the reasons serial killers are compelled to murder, how they choose their victims, and what we can do to prevent their crimes in the future. Her provocative conclusions will stun you. Praise for My Life Among the Serial Killers “A scary piece of work, with even scarier implications.” —Kirkus Reviews “A profoundly enlightening book. Morrison provides startling insights into what factors breed serial killers, and she avoids the broad generalizations that make other books of the topic seem slick and superficial. . . . This is an absorbing, disturbing book that makes it clear just how much we have yet to learn.” —Booklist

A Desolation Called Peace

A Desolation Called Peace PDF Author: Arkady Martine
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 125018648X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
WINNER OF THE 2022 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL Now a USA Today bestseller! Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2021 Amazon's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2021 Bookpage's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee for Best Science Fiction Book of 2021 "[An] all around brilliant space opera, I absolutely love it."—Ann Leckie, on A Memory Called Empire A Desolation Called Peace is the spectacular space opera sequel to Arkady Martine's genre-reinventing, Hugo Award-winning debut, A Memory Called Empire. An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options. In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity. Their failure will guarantee millions of deaths in an endless war. Their success might prevent Teixcalaan’s destruction—and allow the empire to continue its rapacious expansion. Or it might create something far stranger . . . Also by Arkady Martine: A Memory Called Empire At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Skin in the Game

Skin in the Game PDF Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0425284638
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A bold work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one’s own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life. As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights: • For social justice, focus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations. • Ethical rules aren’t universal. You’re part of a group larger than you, but it’s still smaller than humanity in general. • Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities imposing their tastes and ethics on others. • You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. “Educated philistines” have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low-carb diets. • Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines. • True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it. The phrase “skin in the game” is one we have often heard but rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it’s also an astonishingly rich worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives. As Taleb says, “The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that’s necessary for fairness and justice, and the ultimate BS-buster,” and “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them.”

I Am Spock

I Am Spock PDF Author: Leonard Nimoy
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 9780316388375
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
First time in trade paperback: the memoir by the late Leonard Nimoy, best remembered for his portrayal as everyone's favorite Vulcan, Spock, in Star Trek, the TV series and films. Leonard Nimoy's portrayal of the ever-logical Vulcan, Mr. Spock, is one of the most recognizable, loved, and pervasive characterizations in popular culture. He had been closer to the phenomenon of Star Trek than anyone, having played the pivotal role of Spock in the original series, in six motion pictures, and in a special two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I AM SPOCK gives us Nimoy's unique perspective on the beginnings of the Star Trek phenomenon, on his relationship with his costars, and particularly on the reaction of the pointed-eared alien that Nimoy knew best. Here, Nimoy shared the true story behind his perceived reticence to re-create the role and wrote frankly about how his portrayal defined an icon.