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Good News From The Vatican
"Good News from the Vatican" is a 1971 science fiction short story by American author Robert Silverberg, featuring the election of a robot to the position of Pope of the Church of Rome. It won that year's Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Plot summary The unnamed first person narrator is one of a group of tourists and travelers, including a Roman Catholic bishop and a rabbi, who find themselves in Rome during an unexpected Papal conclave to select a new Pope. The group gathers each day in an outdoor cafe close to Saint Peter's Square to discuss their thoughts about the possibility of a robot Pope, likely since news reports indicate that the leading candidates, Cardinal Asciuga of Milan and Cardinal Carciofo of Genoa, are unable to garner majority support in the conclave. The narrator and the clergymen appear to be optimistic, but the other characters openly express their misgivings about a robot serving as Pope. White smoke, the traditional sign of a successful election, is se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is an American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand Master of SF. He has attended every Hugo Awards ceremony since the inaugural event in 1953. Biography Early years Silverberg was born to Jewish parents in Brooklyn, New York. A voracious reader since childhood, he began submitting stories to science fiction magazines during his early teenage years. He received a BA in English Literature from Columbia University, in 1956. While at Columbia, he wrote the juvenile novel ''Revolt on Alpha C'' (1955), published by Thomas Y. Crowell with the cover notice: "A gripping story of outer space". He won his first Hugo in 1956 as the "best new writer". That year Silverberg was the author or co-author of four of the six stories in the August issue of ''Fantastic'', breaking his record set in the previ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artichoke
The globe artichoke (''Cynara cardunculus'' var. ''scolymus'' ),Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. also known by the names French artichoke and green artichoke in the U.S., is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as food. The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom. The budding artichoke flower-head is a cluster of many budding small flowers (an inflorescence), together with many bracts, on an edible base. Once the buds bloom, the structure changes to a coarse, barely edible form. Another variety of the same species is the cardoon, a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region. Both wild forms and cultivated varieties (cultivars) exist. Description This vegetable grows to tall, with arching, deeply lobed, silvery, glaucous-green leaves long. The flowers develop in a large head from an edible bud about diameter with numerou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Silverberg Bibliography
List of the published work of Robert Silverberg, American science fiction author. Novels Series ;''Nidorian'' #''The Shrouded Planet'' (with Randall Garrett, as Robert Randall) Gnome (1957), Mayflower-Dell (1963), Starblaze (1981) , Ace (1982) #''The Dawning Light'' (with Randall Garrett, as Robert Randall) Gnome (1959), Mayflower-Dell (1963), Starblaze (1981) 0-89865-033-X, Ace (1982) ;''Regan'' # ''Regan's Planet'' Pyramid F-986 (1964) # ''World's Fair 1992'' Follett (1970), Ace (1982) ;Majipoor series, ''Majipoor'' # ''Lord Valentine Cycle'': ## ''Lord Valentine's Castle'' Harper & Row (1980) , Bantam (1981) , Pan (1981) , Harper (1995) , Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel winner, 1981; Hugo Award nominee, 1981 ## ''Majipoor Chronicles'' Arbor House (1982) , Gollancz (1982) , Bantam (1983) , Pan (1983) , collection of 5 short stories and 5 novelettes/novellas: ##: "Thesme and the Ghayrog" (novelette), "The Time of the Burning", "In the Fifth Year of the Voyage" ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
