A Short, Sharp Shock
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A Short, Sharp Shock
''A Short, Sharp Shock'' (sometimes titled ''Short, Sharp Shock'') is a 1990 fantasy novel by Kim Stanley Robinson.Kim Stanley Robinson, ''A Short, Sharp Shock'', Harpers Collins, 1990 The story deals with a man who awakens without memory in a strange land and journeys through it to find the woman he woke alongside. His journey takes him along the narrow strip of land, surrounded by ocean, which makes up the whole world. The phrase " short, sharp shock" is taken from Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...'s operetta '' The Mikado''. References External links Google Books 1990 American novels Novels by Kim Stanley Robinson American fantasy novels {{1990s-fantasy-novel-stub ...
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Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American writer of science fiction. He has published twenty-two novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award. Robinson's work has been labeled by ''The Atlantic'' as "the gold-standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing." According to an article in ''The New Yorker'', Robinson is "generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers." Early life and education Robinson was born in Waukegan, Illinois. He moved to Southern California as a child. In 1974, he earned a B.A. in literature from the University of California, San Diego. In 1975, he earned an M.A. in Eng ...
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Fantasy Novel
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults. Fantasy is a subgenre of speculative fiction and is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes, respectively, though these genres overlap. Historically, most works of fantasy were written, however, since the 1960s, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music and art. Many fantasy novels originally written for children and adolescents also attract an adult audience. Examples include ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', the '' Harry Potter'' series, '' The Chronicles of Narnia'', and ''The Hobbit''. History Beginnings Stories invo ...
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Mark V
Mark V or Mark 5 often refers to the fifth version of a product, frequently military hardware. "Mark", meaning "model" or "variant", can be abbreviated "Mk." Mark V or Mark 5 can specifically refer to: In technology In military and weaponry * BL 13.5 inch Mk V naval gun (1912); British gun that was a defining feature of the super-dreadnought ''Orion''-class battleships * QF 4 inch Mk V naval gun (1914); British naval gun used for coastal defense and anti-aircraft * Mark V tank, a series of variations of the World War I Mark I tank ** Mark V Composite tank in Estonian service; specific design and service of the Mark V tank as used by Estonia * BL 8-inch howitzer Mk I – V; World War I British gun, heavy and short-range * Mk 5 mine (1943); British anti-tank mine used in World War II * Supermarine Spitfire Mk V; 1941 British fighter aircraft augmented with high-altitude capability * Mark 5 nuclear bomb (1952–1963); American nuclear bomb * Mark V Special Operations Craft (1995), ...
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Hardcover
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occasionally leather). It has a flexible, sewn spine which allows the book to lie flat on a surface when opened. Modern hardcovers may have the pages glued onto the spine in much the same way as paperbacks. Following the ISBN sequence numbers, books of this type may be identified by the abbreviation Hbk. Hardcover books are often printed on acid-free paper, and they are much more durable than paperbacks, which have flexible, easily damaged paper covers. Hardcover books are marginally more costly to manufacture. Hardcovers are frequently protected by artistic dust jackets, but a "jacketless" alternative has increased in popularity: these "paper-over-board" or "jacketless" hardcover bindings forgo the dust jacket in favor of printing the cove ...
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Paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, leather, paper, or plastic. Inexpensive books bound in paper have existed since at least the 19th century in such forms as pamphlets, yellow-backs, yellowbacks, dime novels, and airport novels. Modern paperbacks can be differentiated from one another by size. In the United States, there are "mass-market paperbacks" and larger, more durable "trade paperbacks". In the United Kingdom, there are A-format, B-format, and the largest C-format sizes. Paperback editions of books are issued when a publisher decides to release a book in a low-cost format. Lower-quality paper, glued (rather than stapled or sewn) bindings, and the lack of a hard cover may contribute to the lower cost of paperbacks. Paperb ...
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Short, Sharp Shock
The phrase "short, sharp shock" means "a punishment that is ... severe but only lasts for a short time". It is an example of alliteration. Although the phrase originated earlier, it was popularised in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera ''The Mikado'', where it appears in the song near the end of Act I, "I Am So Proud". It has since been used in popular songs, song titles, and literature, as well as in general speech. Origin Mary I of England used the phrase in 1555 to refer to what she hoped would be a brief and effective use of brutality to persuade the populace to return to Catholicism by publicly burning a small number of visible Protestant heretics, rather than making a larger more systemic purge. John Conington's 1870 translation of the '' First Satire of Horace'' includes the following lines: :Yon soldier's lot is happier, sure, than mine: :One short, sharp shock, and presto! all is done. ''The Mikado'' In Act I of the 1885 Gilbert and Sullivan opera ''The Mikado'' ...
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Gilbert And Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', ''The Pirates of Penzance'' and ''The Mikado'' are among the best known.Davis, Peter G''Smooth Sailing'' ''New York'' magazine, 21 January 2002, accessed 6 November 2007 Gilbert, who wrote the libretti for these operas, created fanciful "topsy-turvy" worlds where each absurdity is taken to its logical conclusion; fairies rub elbows with British lords, flirting is a capital offence, gondoliers ascend to the monarchy, and pirates emerge as noblemen who have gone astray.Mike Leigh, Leigh, Mike"True anarchists" ''The Guardian'', 4 November 2007, accessed 6 November 2007 Sullivan, six years Gilbert's junior, composed the music, contributing memorable melodies that could convey both humour and pathos. Their operas have enj ...
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The Mikado
''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, the second-longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time.The longest-running piece of musical theatre was the operetta ''Les Cloches de Corneville'', which held the title until ''Dorothy (opera), Dorothy'' opened in 1886, which pushed ''The Mikado'' down to third place. By the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera.H. L. Mencken, Mencken, H. L.]Article on ''The Mikado'', ''Baltimore Evening Sun'', 29 November 1910 ''The Mikado'' is the most internationally successful Savoy opera and has been especially popular with amateur and school productions. The work has ...
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1990 American Novels
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Mesopotamia is partitioned into two Roman provinces divided by the Euphrates, Mesopotamia and Osroene. * Emperor Septimius Severus lays siege to the city-state Hatra in Central-Mesopotamia, but fails to capture the city despite breaching the walls. * Two new legions, I Parthica and III Parthica, are formed as a permanent garrison. China * Battle of Yijing: Chinese warlord Yuan Shao defeats Gongsun Zan. Korea * Geodeung succeeds Suro of Geumgwan Gaya, as king of the Korean kingdom of Gaya (traditional date). By topic Religion * Pope Zephyrinus succeeds Pope Victor I, as the ...
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Novels By Kim Stanley Robinson
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the historica ...
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