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The Magic Labyrinth
''The Magic Labyrinth'' (1980) is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer, the fourth in the series of Riverworld books. The title is derived from lines in Sir Richard Francis Burton's poem ''The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî'': Originally intended to be the final book in the series, this book continues the chronicles of the adventures of Sir Richard Burton, Cyrano de Bergerac, Alice Liddell, Tom Mix, and Samuel Clemens through a bizarre afterlife in which every human is simultaneously resurrected along a single river valley covering an entire planet. Many questions about the creation and purpose of the Riverworld are answered, but several are left unanswered, prompting Farmer to write a fifth and final novel, ''Gods of Riverworld'', in 1983. Edgar L. Chapman wrote a 1984 biography of Farmer entitled ''The Magic Labyrinth of Philip José Farmer''. Plot The book begins with the Mysterious Stranger, known as X, the renegade Ethical (one of the Ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WikiProject Novels
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by '' Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant to the field at issue. For e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. Covering an area of approximately , it is the world's third largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and financial center is Shanghai. Modern Chinese trace their origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the well-attested Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a bureaucratic political system to serve hereditary monarchies, or dyna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Costikyan
Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959, in New York City), sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wargames, role-playing games, boardgames, card games, computer games, online games and mobile games. Several of his games have won Origins Awards. He co-founded Manifesto Games, now out of business, with Johnny Wilson in 2005. Personal life and education Greg Costikyan is the son of attorney and politician Edward N. and Frances (Holmgren) Costikyan. He and Warren Spector, a game designer, were friends since high school. He is a 1982 graduate (B.S.) of Brown University. (subscription required) He married Louise Disbrow (a securities analyst), September 4, 1986. They have three children. He is a frequent speaker at game industry events including the Game Developers Conference and E³. Career Greg Costikyan has been a game designer since th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Çanakkale and about miles east of the Aegean Sea. It is known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. In Ancient Greek literature, Troy is portrayed as a powerful kingdom of the Greek Heroic Age, Heroic Age, a mythic era when monsters roamed the earth and gods interacted directly with humans. The city was said to have ruled the Troad until the Trojan War led to its complete destruction at the hands of the Greeks. The story of its destruction was one of the cornerstones of Greek mythology and literature, featuring prominently in the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', and referenced in numerous other poems and plays. Its legacy played a large role in Greek society, with many prominent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Priam
In Greek mythology, Priam (; grc-gre, Πρίαμος, ) was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra. Etymology Most scholars take the etymology of the name from the Luwian 𒉺𒊑𒀀𒈬𒀀 (Pa-ri-a-mu-a-, or “exceptionally courageous”), attested as the name of a man from Zazlippa, in Kizzuwatna. A similar form is attested transcribed in Greek as ''Paramoas'' near Kaisareia in Cappadocia. Some have identified Priam with the historical figure of Piyama-Radu, a warlord active in the vicinity of Wilusa. However, this identification is disputed, and is highly unlikely, given that he was known in Hittite records as being an ally of the Ahhiyawa against Wilusa. A popular folk etymology derives the name from the Greek verb , meaning 'to buy'. This in turn gives rise to a story of Priam's sister Hesione ransoming his freedom, with a golden veil that A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcellin Marbot
Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcelin Marbot ( , ; 18 August 1782 – 16 November 1854), known as Marcellin Marbot, was a French general, famous for his memoirs depicting the Napoleonic age of warfare. He belongs to a family that has distinguished itself particularly in the career of arms, giving three generals to France in less than 50 years. His elder brother, Antoine Adolphe Marcelin Marbot, was also a military man of some note. Biography Early life Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcelin Marbot was born into a family of military nobility in Altillac, in the ancient province of Quercy in southwestern France. He was the younger son of General Jean-Antoine Marbot, former '' aide-de-camp'' to ''Lieutenant-Général'' de Schomberg, inspector general of the cavalry within the Military household of the king of France. After studying at the Sorèze Military College (1793–1798), he joined the 1st Hussards Regiment as a volunteer on 3 September 1799. He served under General Jean-Mathieu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilgamesh
sux, , label=none , image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg , alt = , caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyrian palace relief (713–706 BC), from Dur-Sharrukin, now held in the Louvre , reign=c. 2900–2700 BC ( EDI), predecessor = Dumuzid, the Fisherman (as Ensi of Uruk) , consort = , siblings = , successor = Ur-Nungal Gilgamesh ( akk, , translit=Gilgameš; originally sux, , translit= Bilgames)). His name translates roughly as "The Ancestor is a Young-man", from ''Bil.ga'' "Ancestor", Elder and ''Mes/Mesh3'' "Young-Man". See also . was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who was posthumously deified. His rule probably would have taken p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn (; bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors. Rising from obscurity, she came to the notice of Charles II, who employed her as a spy in Antwerp. Upon her return to London and a probable brief stay in debtors' prison, she began writing for the stage. She belonged to a coterie of poets and famous libertines such as John Wilmot, Lord Rochester. Behn wrote under the pastoral pseudonym Astrea. During the turbulent political times of the Exclusion Crisis, she wrote an epilogue and prologue that brought her into legal trouble; she thereafter devoted most of her writing to prose genres and translations. A staunch supporter of the Stuart line, she declined an invitation from Bishop Burnet to write a welcoming p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Turpin
Thomas Million John Turpin (November 18, 1871 – August 13, 1922) was an African American composer of ragtime music. Tom Turpin was born in Savannah, Georgia, a son of John L. Turpin and Lulu Waters Turpin. In his early twenties he opened a saloon in St. Louis, Missouri which became a meeting-place for local pianists and an incubation point for early folk ragtime, such as musician Joe Jordan. Turpin himself is credited with the first published rag by an African-American, his "Harlem Rag" of 1897 (it was composed by 1892, a year before ragtime's introduction to the world at the 1893 Worlds Fair). His other published rags include "Bowery Buck," "Ragtime Nightmare," "St. Louis Rag," and "The Buffalo Rag". Turpin was a large man, six feet (1.83 m) tall and 300 pounds (136 kg); his piano had to be raised on blocks so that he could play it standing up, otherwise his stomach would get in the way. In addition to his saloon-keeping duties and his ragtime composition, he contr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erik Bloodaxe
Eric Haraldsson ( non, Eiríkr Haraldsson , no, Eirik Haraldsson; died 954), nicknamed Bloodaxe ( non, blóðøx , no, Blodøks) and Brother-Slayer ( la, fratrum interfector), was a 10th-century Norwegian king. He ruled as King of Norway from 932 to 934, and twice as King of Northumbria: from 947 to 948, and again from 952 to 954. Sources Historians have reconstructed a narrative of Eric's life and career from the scant available historical data. There is a distinction between contemporary or near contemporary sources for Eric's period as ruler of Northumbria, and the entirely saga-based sources that detail the life of Eric of Norway, a chieftain who ruled the Norwegian Westland in the 930s. Norse sources have identified the two as the same since the late 12th century, and while the subject is controversial, most historians have identified the two figures as the same since W. G. Collingwood's article in 1901. This identification has been rejected recently by the historian Cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. A veteran World War I fighter pilot ace, Göring was a recipient of the ("The Blue Max"). He was the last commander of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 1 (Jasta 1), the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen. An early member of the Nazi Party, Göring was among those wounded in Adolf Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. While receiving treatment for his injuries, he developed an addiction to morphine which persisted until the last year of his life. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Göring was named as minister without portfolio in the new government. One of his first acts as a cabinet minister was to oversee the creation of the Gestapo, which he ceded to Heinrich Himmler in 1934. Following the establishment of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Jairus Frigate
Riverworld is a fictional planet and the setting for a series of science fiction books written by Philip José Farmer (1918–2009). Riverworld is an artificial "Super-Earth" environment where all humans (and pre-humans) are reconstructed. The books explore interactions of individuals from many different cultures and time periods. Its underlying theme is quasi-religious. The motivations of alien intelligences operating under ultra-ethical motives are also explored. Works The five novels in the series are as follows: * ''To Your Scattered Bodies Go'' (1971) – Hugo Award winner, Locus Award nominee * ''The Fabulous Riverboat'' (1971) * ''The Dark Design'' (1977) * ''The Magic Labyrinth'' (1980) * ''Gods of Riverworld'' (1983; later published as ''The Gods of Riverworld'') * ''River of Eternity'' (1983) – an earlier version of Riverworld There are also several Riverworld short stories. The first of these appeared in Farmer's anthology: * ''Riverworld and Other Stories'' (1979 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
