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Kage Baker
Kage Baker (June 10, 1952 – January 31, 2010Obituary: Kage Baker " SF Site, January 31, 2010) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. Biography Baker was born and raised in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Hollywood, California, and lived in Pismo Beach, California, Pismo Beach later in life. Before becoming a professional writer she spent many years in theater, including teaching Elizabethan English as a second language. Her unusual first name (pronounced like the word ''cage'') is a combination of the names of her two grandmothers, Kate and Genevieve. She is best known for her "Dr. Zeus Inc., Company" series of historical time travel science fiction. Her first stories were published in ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' in 1997, and her first novel, ''In the Garden of Iden'', by H ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and Universal Pictures, are located near or in Hollywood. Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910. Soon thereafter a prominent film industry emerged, having developed first on the East Coast. Eventually it became the most recognizable in the world. History Initial development H.J. Whitley, a real estate developer, arranged to buy the E.C. Hurd ranch. They agreed on a price and shook hands on the deal. Whitley shared his plans for the new town with General Harrison Gray Otis, publisher of the ''Los Angeles Times'', and Ivar Weid, a prominent businessman in the area. Daeida Wilcox, who donated land to help ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system for producing college-educated teachers. In addition to the main campus in DeKalb, it has satellite centers in Chicago, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon, Illinois. The university is composed of seven degree-granting colleges and has a student body of approximately 16,000 with over 240,000 alumni. NIU is one of only two public universities in Illinois that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the highest levels of all sports, Division I. The university's athletic teams are known as the Huskies and compete in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). History Northern Illinois University was founded as part of the expansion of the normal school program established in 1857 in Normal, Illinois. In 1895, the state legisla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Machine's Child
''The Machine's Child'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Kage Baker. It is the seventh book in the series concerning the exploits of Dr. Zeus Inc., otherwise known as The Company. Plot introduction Several elements introduced as far back as the fourth book ''The Graveyard Game'' develop in this volume. Most of the characters are immortal cyborgs created in the past by an organization, Dr. Zeus Inc., which exists in the 24th century and has both time travel and immortality technology. The official business of Dr. Zeus is the "finding", for a fee, of artifacts and living things thought lost to time, which have actually been carefully collected by the cyborgs known as Preservers, aided by the fixers, conmen and masters of deception known as Facilitators. Alec Checkerfield, introduced in ''The Life of the World to Come'', is trying to find his lost love, the Preserver known as the Botanist Mendoza. With the aid of his AI helper "Captain Morgan" and their time tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Children Of The Company
''The Children of the Company'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Kage Baker. It is another in the series concerned with the exploits of The Company, a 24th-century cabal which exploits history for profit with the aid of immortal cyborgs living in the past. Although presented as a novel, it consists mostly of pieces previously published as short fiction. The pieces are bound together by the musings, recollections and ambitions of Labienus, one of the cyborgs who occupies a position of extraordinary power and influence. Plot introduction In 1863 Labienus has just completed dispatching the tragic cyborg Mendoza to oblivion, having manipulated her into furthering Company interests. He remembers his origins, and reviews his extensive files on other cyborgs. Plot summary Like the cyborg Joseph, Labienus was recruited by the Enforcer Budu when his village was wiped out by the "Great Goat Cult" about 15,000 years ago. Unlike Joseph, Labienus was destined for high off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Life Of The World To Come
''The Life of the World to Come'' (2004) is a science fiction novel by American writer Kage Baker, the fifth installment in the time travel series concerning the exploits of The Company. Plot introduction This novel is another chapter in the disastrous life of the cyborg botanist Mendoza, recruited by the Company in 16th century Spain, and exiled to the far past. Twice in her life the same man, in different identities, has visited her, become her lover, and been killed. Neither seemed to know her at first. Alec Checkerfield is a 24th-century data pirate and smuggler who steals a time machine. He encounters Mendoza. She encounters him. It's ''deja vu'' all over again for her. He is mystified. This meeting catalyzes the most horrific event in human history. All involved are left wondering what they have done, and why. Meanwhile, Dr. Zeus seems to go from strength to strength. Plot summary The first part is an extension of the first person accounts previously supplied by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Graveyard Game
''The Graveyard Game'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Kage Baker, the fourth installment in the time travel series concerning the exploits of The Company. Plot introduction The protagonists of the series are mostly immortal cyborgs, specifically the botanist Mendoza, and the Facilitator Joseph. They were recruited as children to serve the Company in its ostensible mission to preserve artifacts from the past for a better future. Like the second novel, ''Sky Coyote'', this is a volume which fills in background that is not apparent to Mendoza, the narrator of the first and third books. The principal characters are Joseph and his friend, the Literature Specialist Lewis. Action starts in 1996 and continues through the next 250 years. Over this period the world changes profoundly. Japan suffers violent earthquakes and sinks into the sea. Japanese society relocates to Mexico. The USA fragments into independent republics. Animal rights movements and other activist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sky Coyote
''Sky Coyote'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Kage Baker. It is the second in the series of The Company, which began with ''In The Garden of Iden'' and continues with ''Mendoza in Hollywood''. American illustrator Michael Koelsch painted the cover art of Baker's first three novels in The Company series, including ''Sky Coyote''. Plot introduction The preceding novel, ''In The Garden of Iden'', introduced the Botanist Mendoza, from her time of recruitment in the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition to her love affair with a mortal in Tudor England, followed by her being sent to base New World One in the Americas. Her recruiter and also her superior on the England mission was a much older operative, Joseph, who is the narrator of this novel. The story begins almost 150 years after Mendoza's arrival at New World One, when Joseph arrives there in the dying days of 1699 with a new mission in California. This episode focuses on operatives Lewis, Latif and Imarte, all of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ex Tempore
''Ex tempore'' (Latin for "out of the moment“) is a legal term that means 'at the time'. A judge who hands down a decision in a case soon or straight after hearing it is delivering a decision ''ex tempore''. Another way a judge may deliver a decision is to reserve their decision and deliver it later in written form. An ''ex tempore'' judgment, being off the cuff, does not entail the same preparation as a reserved decision. Consequently, it will not be thought out to the same degree. In Australia, intermediate-level courts tend to have a heavy case load, and so many decisions are delivered ''ex tempore'' for reasons of time and necessity. Because many decisions are ''ex tempore'', intermediate-level courts' decisions are not binding on inferior courts - that is to say, that in New South Wales, the District Court's decisions are not binding on the Local Court (see Valentine v Eid (1992) 27 NSWLR 615 and ''stare decisis''). Ex tempore decisions are not binding on later courts due ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silent Film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when necessary, be conveyed by the use of title cards. The term "silent film" is something of a misnomer, as these films were almost always accompanied by live sounds. During the silent era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist—or even, in large cities, a small orchestra—would often play music to accompany the films. Pianists and organists would play either from sheet music, or improvisation. Sometimes a person would even narrate the inter-title cards for the audience. Though at the time the technology to synchronize sound with the film did not exist, music was seen as an essential part of the viewing experience. "Silent film" is typically used as a historical term to describe an era of cinema pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nebula Award For Best Novella
The Nebula Award for Best Novella is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novellas. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novella if it is between 17,500 and 40,000 words; awards are also given out for pieces of longer lengths in the novel category, and for shorter lengths in the short story and novelette categories. To be eligible for Nebula Award consideration, a novella must be published in English in the United States. Works published in English elsewhere in the world are also eligible, provided they are released on either a website or in an electronic edition. The Nebula Award for Best Novella has been awarded annually since 1966. Novellas published by themselves are eligible for the novel award instead, if the author requests them to be considered as such. The award has been described as one of "the most important of the American science fiction awards" and "the science-fiction and fantasy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nebula Award
The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. They were first given in 1966 at a ceremony created for the awards, and are given in four categories for different lengths of literary works. A fifth category for film and television episode scripts was given 1974–78 and 2000–09, and a sixth category for game writing was begun in 2018. In 2019 SFWA announced that two awards that were previously run under the same rules but not considered Nebula awards—the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction and the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation—were to be considered official Nebula awards. The rules governing the Nebula Awards have changed several times during the awards' history, most recently in 2010. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugo Award For Best Novella
The Hugo Award for Best Novella is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novella award is available for works of fiction of between 17,500 and 40,000 words; awards are also given out in the short story, novelette and novel categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing". The Hugo Award for Best Novella has been awarded annually since 1968. In addition to the regular Hugo awards, beginning in 1996 Retrospective Hugo Awards, or "Retro Hugos", have been available to be awarded for years 50, 75, or 100 years prior in which no awards were given. Retro Hugos may only be awarded for years after 1939 in which no awards were originally given. To date, Retro Hugo awards have been given for novellas for 1939, 1941, 1943–1946, 1951, and 1954. During the 63 nomination ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
