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Scientific Romances
Scientific romance is an archaic, mainly British term for the genre of fiction now commonly known as science fiction. The term originated in the 1850s to describe both fiction and elements of scientific writing, but it has since come to refer to the science fiction of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, primarily that of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Arthur Conan Doyle. In recent years the term has come to be applied to science fiction written in a deliberately anachronistic style as a homage to or pastiche of the original scientific romances. History Early usages The earliest use of the term "scientific romance" is thought to have been in 1845, when critics applied it to Robert Chambers's ''Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation'', a speculative natural history published in 1844. It was used again in 1851 by the ''Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal and Literary Review'' in reference to Thoman Hunt's ''Panthea, or the Spirit of Nature''. In 1859 the ''Southern L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerial House3
Aerial may refer to: Music *Aerial (album), ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush *Aerials (song), ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down Bands *Aerial (Canadian band) *Aerial (Scottish band) *Aerial (Swedish band) Performance art *Aerial silk, apparatus used in aerial acrobatics *Aerialist, an acrobat who performs in the air Recreation and sport *Aerial (dance move) *Aerial (skateboarding) *Aerial adventure park, ropes course with a recreational purpose *Aerial cartwheel (or side aerial), gymnastics move performed in acro dance and various martial arts *Aerial skiing, discipline of freestyle skiing *Front aerial, gymnastics move performed in acro dance Technology Antennas *Aerial (radio), a radio ''antenna'' or transducer that transmits or receives electromagnetic waves **Aerial (television), an over-the-air television reception antenna Mechanical *Aerial fire apparatus, for firefighting and rescue *Aerial work platform, for positioning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Trip To The Moon
''A Trip to the Moon'' (french: Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a 1902 French adventure short film directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's 1865 novel ''From the Earth to the Moon'' and its 1870 sequel ''Around the Moon'', the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite. Its ensemble cast of French theatrical performers is led by Méliès himself as the main character Professor Barbenfouillis. The film features the overtly theatrical style for which Méliès became famous. Scholars have commented upon the film's extensive use of pataphysical and anti-imperialist satire, as well as on its wide influence on later filmmakers and its artistic significance within the French theatrical ''féerie'' tradition. Though the film disappeared into obscurity after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Original Sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (the story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden), in a line in Psalm 51:5 ("I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me"), and in Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 5:12-21 ("Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned"). The belief began to emerge in the 3rd century, but only became fully formed with the writings of Augustine of Hippo (354–430), who was the first author to use the phrase "original sin" ( la, peccatum originale). Influenced by Augustine, the councils of Carthage (411–418 AD) and Orange (529 AD) brought theological speculation about original sin into the official lexicon of the Church. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Space Trilogy
''The Space Trilogy'' or ''Cosmic Trilogy'' is a series of science fiction novels by C. S. Lewis. The trilogy consists of '' Out of the Silent Planet'' (1938), '' Perelandra'' (1943), and ''That Hideous Strength'' (1945). A philologist named Elwin Ransom is the protagonist of the first two novels and an important character in the third. Contents Summary The books in the trilogy are: *'' Out of the Silent Planet'' (1938), set mostly on Mars (Malacandra). In this book, Dr. Elwin Ransom is kidnapped and transported to Mars. While there, he meets the planet's various inhabitants and discovers that Earth is exiled from the rest of the Solar System. *'' Perelandra'' (1943). Also known as ''Voyage to Venus''. Here, Dr. Ransom journeys to an unspoiled Venus (Perelandra), where he participates in a good vs. evil battle. *''That Hideous Strength'' (1945), set on Earth. A scientific think tank called the N.I.C.E. (The National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments) is secretly in touch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hampdenshire Wonder
''The Hampdenshire Wonder'' is a 1911 science fiction novel by J. D. Beresford. It is one of the first novels to involve a wunderkind. The child in it, Victor Stott, is the son of a famous cricket player. This origin is perhaps a reference to H.G. Wells's father Joseph Wells. The novel concerns his progress from infant to almost preternaturally brilliant child. Victor Stott is subtly deformed to allow for his powerful brain. One prominent, and unpleasant, character is the local minister. As Beresford's father was a minister, and Beresford was himself partially disabled, some see autobiographical aspects to the story. However this is unproven. What is more concrete is that the story of Christian Heinrich Heineken was an inspiration for the story. Whether the biography of that child prodigy was accurate or not, "the Lubeck prodigy" is mentioned in the work. In the original version, the progressionist ideas of Henri Bergson on evolution Evolution is change in the he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olaf Stapledon
William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) – known as Olaf Stapledon – was a British philosopher and author of science fiction.Andy Sawyer, " illiamOlaf Stapledon (1886-1950)", in Bould, Mark, et al, eds. ''Fifty Key Figures in Science Fiction''. New York: Routledge, 2010. (pp. 205–210) .John Kinnaird, "Stapledon,(William) Olaf" in Curtis C. Smith, ''Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers''. Chicago, St. James, 1986. (pp. 693–6). In 2014, he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Life Stapledon was born in Seacombe, Wallasey, on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, the only son of William Clibbett Stapledon and Emmeline Miller. The first six years of his life were spent with his parents at Port Said, Egypt. He was educated at Abbotsholme School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he acquired a BA degree in Modern History (Second Class) in 1909, promoted to an MA degree in 1913. After a brief stint as a teacher at Manchester G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Maker
''Star Maker'' is a science fiction novel by British writer Olaf Stapledon, published in 1937. The book describes a history of life in the universe, dwarfing in scale Stapledon's previous book, ''Last and First Men'' (1930), a history of the human species over two billion years. ''Star Maker'' tackles philosophical themes such as the essence of life, of birth, decay and death, and the relationship between creation and creator. A pervading theme is that of progressive unity within and between different civilizations. Some of the elements and themes briefly discussed prefigure later fiction concerning genetic engineering and alien life forms. Sir Arthur C. Clarke considered ''Star Maker'' to be "probably the most powerful work of imagination ever written", and Brian W. Aldiss called it "the one great grey holy book of science fiction". Plot A human narrator from England is transported out of his body via unexplained means. He realizes he is able to explore space and other pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively forward or backward through time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle or device. Utilizing a frame story set in then-present Victorian England, Wells' text focuses on a recount of the otherwise anonymous Time Traveller's journey into the far future. A work of future history and speculative evolution, ''Time Machine'' is interpreted in modern times as a commentary on the increasing inequality and class divisions of Wells' era, which he projects as giving rise to two separate human species: the fair, childlike Eloi, and the savage, simian Morlocks, distant descendants of the contemporary upper and lower classes respectively. It is believed that Wells' depiction of the Eloi as a rac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The War Of The Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was in 1898 from publisher William Heinemann of London. Written between 1895 and 1897, it is one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between mankind and an Extraterrestrials in fiction, extra-terrestrial race. The novel is the first-person narrative of both an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and of his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martian (The War of the Worlds), Martians. The novel is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction Western canon, canon. The book's plot was similar to numerous works of invasion literature which were published around the same period, and has been variously interpreted as a commentary on the theory of evolution, British Empire, British colonia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Stableford
Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford. He has also used the pseudonym Brian Craig for a couple of very early works, and again for a few more recent works. The pseudonym derives from the first names of himself and of a school friend from the 1960s, Craig A. Mackintosh, with whom he jointly published some very early work. Biography Born in Shipley, Yorkshire, Stableford graduated with a degree in biology from the University of York in 1969 before going on to do postgraduate research in biology and later in sociology. In 1979 he received a PhD with a doctoral thesis on ''The Sociology of Science Fiction''. Until 1988, he worked as a lecturer in sociology at the University of Reading. Since then he has been a ful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Overbye
Dennis Overbye (born June 2, 1944, in Seattle, Washington) is a science writer specializing in physics and cosmology and is the cosmic affairs correspondent for ''The New York Times''. Biography Overbye received his B.S. in physics from M.I.T.—where he was a member of the Alpha Mu chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma—in 1966. He started work towards a master's degree in astronomy from U.C.L.A. in 1970. Overbye started his career by working as a scientist for Boeing and then other companies. In 1976 he became assistant editor at ''Sky and Telescope'' magazine. From 1976 to 1980 he was a senior editor at ''Discover'' magazine. Subsequently, he embarked on a freelance career, during which time he published articles in ''Time'', ''Science'', the ''Los Angeles Times'', and ''The New York Times'', among other publications. He has written two books: ''Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos'', about scientists and their quest to understand the universe, and ''Einstein in Love'', dealing with Albert Eins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forgotten Futures
''Forgotten Futures'' is a role-playing game created by Marcus Rowland to allow people to play in settings inspired by Victorian and Edwardian science fiction and fantasy (i.e., steampunk). Most of its releases begin with these stories then add background material to explain the settings (often as alternate worlds, whose history diverges from our own), adventures, and other game material. Game system The base system uses three characteristics (Body, Mind, and Soul) and a range of skills; points are used to purchase characteristics and skills based on one or more of the characteristics. Skills and characteristics are used by opposing them to a target (such as a difficulty number, an opponent's skill or characteristics, etc.) using a 2D6 dice roll. Subsequent revisions to the rules add options including a Magic characteristic, melodramatic character traits, and other complications, but the core system remains unchanged. Rowland is believed to have pioneered the concept of sha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
