|
Lilith (novel)
''Lilith'' is a fantasy novel by Scottish writer George MacDonald, first published in 1895. It was reprinted in paperback by Ballantine Books as the fifth volume of the ''Ballantine Adult Fantasy series'' in September 1969. ''Lilith'' is considered among the darkest of MacDonald's works, and among the most profound. It is a story concerning the nature of life, death, and salvation. In the story, MacDonald mentions a cosmic sleep that heals tortured souls, preceding the salvation of all. MacDonald was a Christian universalist, believing that all will eventually be saved. However, in this story, divine punishment is not taken lightly, and salvation is hard-won. Plot summary Mr. Vane, the protagonist of ''Lilith'', owns a library that seems to be haunted by the former librarian, who looks much like a raven from the brief glimpses he catches of the wraith. After finally encountering the supposed ghost, the mysterious Mr. Raven, Vane learns that Raven had known his father; indeed, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George MacDonald
George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including Lewis Carroll, W. H. Auden, David Lindsay, J. M. Barrie, Lord Dunsany, Elizabeth Yates, Oswald Chambers, Mark Twain, Hope Mirrlees, Robert E. Howard, L. Frank Baum, T. H. White, Richard Adams, Lloyd Alexander, Hilaire Belloc, G. K. Chesterton, Robert Hugh Benson, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Fulton Sheen, Flannery O'Connor, Louis Pasteur, Simone Weil, Charles Maurras, Jacques Maritain, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, C. H. Douglas, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallel Universe (fiction)
A parallel universe, also known as a parallel dimension, alternate universe, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical self-contained plane of existence, co-existing with one's own. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reality is often called a "multiverse". While the four terms are generally synonymous and can be used interchangeably in most cases, there is sometimes an additional connotation implied with the term "alternate universe/reality" that implies that the reality is a variant of our own, with some overlap with the similarly named alternate history. Fiction has long borrowed an idea of "another world" from mythology, myth, legend and religion. Heaven, Hell, Twelve Olympians, Olympus, and Valhalla are all "alternative universes" different from the familiar material realm. Plato reflected deeply on the parallel realities, resulting in Platonism, in which the upper reality is perfect while the lower earthly reality is an imperfect shadow of the heavenly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imaginary Worlds – The Art Of Fantasy
''Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy'' is a study of the modern literary fantasy genre written by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in June, 1973 as the fifty-eighth volume of its ''Ballantine Adult Fantasy series''; it was the only nonfiction entry in the series. The book was among the earliest full-length critical works devoted to fantasy writers and the history of fantasy. It was the third of three such studies by Carter, being preceded by '' Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings"'' (1969) and '' Lovecraft: A Look Behind the "Cthulhu Mythos"'' (1972). These works, together with his editorial guidance of the ''Ballantine Adult Fantasy series'', established Carter as an authority on the genre. Summary Carter's study was intended to serve as an introduction to fantasy. The first eight chapters detail the history of the modern genre from the late nineteenth century through the early 1970s, when Carter was writing, a subject he had previou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shasta Publishers
Shasta Publishers was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1947 by Erle Melvin Korshak, T. E. Dikty, and Mark Reinsberg, who were all science fiction fans from the Chicago area. The name of the press was suggested by Reinsberg in remembrance of a summer job that he and Korshak had held at Mount Shasta. History As science fiction fans and book collectors, Mel Korshak, Mark Reinsberg, Ted Dikty, and Fred Shroyer recognized the need for a comprehensive list of science fiction and fantasy published up to that time. In 1940 they made plans to compile such a list and began writing letters to the readers' letter columns in the science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines, asking for help with the project; a card file was started, as was a manuscript. Unfortunately, these materials were put into storage when Dikty was drafted for service in World War II. After the war, the file and manuscript were unable to be located, and the work would have to b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Checklist Of Fantastic Literature
''The Checklist of Fantastic Literature'' is a bibliography of English science fiction, fantasy and weird books compiled and edited by Everett F. Bleiler with a preface by Melvin Korshak and a cover by Hannes Bok. With a print run of 1,933 copies, it was the first book from Shasta Publishers. The bibliography is nearly complete and lists over 5,000 titles published prior to 1949. The books are listed by author and indexed by title. Willy Ley described it as "indispensable to librarians, book dealers, and especially antiquarians.""Book Review", ''Astounding Science Fiction ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...'', July 1949, p.142. Publication history *1948, US, Shasta Publishers , Pub date 1948, Hardback *1972, US, Fax Collectors Editions , Pub date 1972, Hardback ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Voyage To Arcturus
''A Voyage to Arcturus'' is a novel by the Scottish writer David Lindsay, first published in 1920. An interstellar voyage is the framework for a narrative of a journey through fantastic landscapes. The story is set at Tormance, an imaginary planet orbiting Arcturus, which in the novel (but not in reality) is a double star system, consisting of the stars Branchspell and Alppain. The lands through which the characters travel represent philosophical systems or states of mind as the main character, Maskull, searches for the meaning of life. The book combines fantasy, philosophy, and science fiction in an exploration of the nature of good and evil and their relationship with existence. Described by critic, novelist, and philosopher Colin Wilson as the "greatest novel of the twentieth century", it was a central influence on C. S. Lewis' ''Space Trilogy'', and through him on J. R. R. Tolkien, who said he read the book "with avidity". Clive Barker called it "a masterpiece" and "an extra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Lindsay (novelist)
David Lindsay (3 March 1876 – 16 July 1945) was a Scottish author best remembered for the philosophical science fiction novel ''A Voyage to Arcturus'' (1920). Biography Lindsay was born into a middle-class Scottish Calvinist family in London, and was brought up partly in Jedburgh, where he had family background. He was educated at Colfe's School, Lewisham, and won a scholarship to university, but for financial reasons went into business, becoming an insurance clerk at Lloyd's of London."David Lindsay" by Gary K. Wolfe, in E. F. Bleiler, ed. ''Supernatural Fiction Writers:Fantasy and Horror''. New York: Scribner's, 1985. pp.541–548. He was successful, but his career was interrupted by service in the First World War, starting at the age of 40. He first joined the Grenadier Guards, then the Royal Army Pay Corps, in which he was promoted to Corporal. After the war Lindsay and his young wife, Jacqueline Silver, moved to Porth near Newquay in Cornwall, and lived there from 191 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass'' (1871). He was noted for his facility with word play, logic, and fantasy. His poems ''Jabberwocky'' (1871) and ''The Hunting of the Snark'' (1876) are classified in the genre of literary nonsense. Carroll came from a family of high-church Anglicanism, Anglicans, and developed a long relationship with Christ Church, Oxford, where he lived for most of his life as a scholar and teacher. Alice Liddell, the daughter of Christ Church's dean Henry Liddell, is widely identified as the original inspiration for ''Alice in Wonderland'', though Carroll always denied this. An avid puzzler, Carroll created the word ladder puzzle (which he then called "Doublets"), which he published in his weekly column for ''Vanity Fair ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phantastes
''Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women'' is a fantasy novel by Scottish writer George MacDonald, first published in London in 1858. It was later reprinted in paperback by Ballantine Books as the fourteenth volume of the ''Ballantine Adult Fantasy series'' in April 1970. The story centres on the character Anodos ("pathless" in Greek) and takes its inspiration from German Romanticism, particularly ''Novalis''. The story concerns a young man who is pulled into a dreamlike world and there hunts for his ideal of female beauty, embodied by the "Marble Lady". Anodos lives through many adventures and temptations while in the other world, until he is finally ready to give up his ideals. The edition published in 1905 was illustrated by Pre-Raphaelite painter Arthur Hughes. C. S. Lewis wrote, concerning his first reading of ''Phantastes'' at age sixteen, "That night my imagination was, in a certain sense, baptized; the rest of me not unnaturally, took longer. I had not the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Barron
Richard Neil Barron (23 March 1934 - 5 September 2010) was a science fiction bibliographer and scholar. His training was as a librarian. He is perhaps best known for his book '' Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction''. He won the Pilgrim Award for Lifetime Achievement in the field of science fiction scholarship in 1982. He died on September 5, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bibliography * '' Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction'' (5th ed.). Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. . * ''Fantasy and Horror''. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1999. . * ''Fantasy Literature''. Garland, 1990. . * ''Horror Literature''. Garland, 1990. . * ''Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review: The Complete Series, 1979-1980''. Borgo Press, 2009. . (with Robert Reginald) * ''What Do I Read Next?: A Reader's Guide to Current Genre Fiction''. Detroit; Washington, DC; London: Gale Research Inc., 2006. . Notes References * Clute, John and Grant, John. ''The Encyclop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
F&SF
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas had approached Spivak in the mid-1940s about creating a fantasy companion to Spivak's existing mystery title, ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''. The first issue was titled ''The Magazine of Fantasy'', but the decision was quickly made to include science fiction as well as fantasy, and the title was changed correspondingly with the second issue. ''F&SF'' was quite different in presentation from the existing science fiction magazines of the day, most of which were in pulp magazine, pulp format: it had no interior illustrations, no letter column, and text in a single column format, which in the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley (writer), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Blish
James Benjamin Blish () was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is best known for his ''Cities in Flight'' novels and his series of ''Star Trek'' novelizations written with his wife, J. A. Lawrence. His novel ''A Case of Conscience'' won the Hugo Award. He is credited with creating the term "gas giant" to refer to large planetary bodies. Blish was a member of the Futurians. His first published stories appeared in ''Super Science Stories'' and ''Amazing Stories''. Blish wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen name William Atheling Jr. His other pen names included Donald Laverty, John MacDougal, and Arthur Lloyd Merlyn. Life Blish was born on May 23, 1921, at East Orange, New Jersey. While in high school, Blish self-published a fanzine, called ''The Planeteer'', using a hectograph. The fanzine ran for six issues. Blish attended meetings of the Futurian Science Fiction Society in New York City during this period. Futurian members Damon Knight a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
