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Veniss Underground
''Veniss Underground'' is a 2003 fantasy novel by American writer Jeff VanderMeer, following the adult lives of three different protagonists across a short period of time in the decadent, surreal city of Veniss, which is situated above a vast underground labyrinth of hovels and mines ruled over by the amoral crime lord Quin. Plot summary ''Veniss Underground'' alludes in several places to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Like Orpheus, Shadrach descends into the underworld to retrieve his love, Nicola, but here from a cyborg hell, where genetic engineering and DNA splicing create fantastic and horrific creatures. Parallels also exist with Dante's ''Inferno''. Throughout the novel the idea of heaven and hell come into play. Nick looks into the chaotic world in which he tries to find purpose through what is called living art. Nick journeys into the underworld and makes a deal with the "devil", also known as Quin. As the story progresses, the reader takes on the second person persp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff VanderMeer
Jeff VanderMeer (born July 7, 1968) is an American author, editor, and literary critic. Initially associated with the New Weird literary genre, VanderMeer crossed over into mainstream success with his bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy. The trilogy's first novel, ''Annihilation'', won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, and was adapted into a Hollywood film by director Alex Garland. Among VanderMeer's other novels are '' Shriek: An Afterword'' and '' Borne''. He has also edited with his wife Ann VanderMeer such influential and award-winning anthologies as ''The New Weird'', ''The Weird'', and ''The Big Book of Science Fiction''.2017 Locus Awards Winners ," Locus Magazine, June 24, 2017. VanderMeer has been called "one of the most remarkable practitioners of the literary fantastic in A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horror Fiction
Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society. Prevalent elements of the genre include ghosts, demons, vampires, werewolves, ghouls, the Devil, witches, monsters, extraterrestrials, dystopian and post-apocalyptic worlds, serial killers, cannibalism, cults, dark magic, satanism, the macabre, gore and torture. History Before 1000 The horror genre has ancient origins, with roots in folklore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy Literature
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults. Fantasy is a subgenre of speculative fiction and is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes, respectively, though these genres overlap. Historically, most works of fantasy were written, however, since the 1960s, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music and art. Many fantasy novels originally written for children and adolescents also attract an adult audience. Examples include ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', the ''Harry Potter'' series, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', and ''The Hobbit''. History Beginnings Stories involving ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night Shade Books
Night Shade Books is an American, San Francisco–based imprint, formerly an independent publishing company, that specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Among its publications have been the U.S. edition of Iain M. Banks' novel ''The Algebraist'', which was nominated for a Hugo Award, and Paolo Bacigalupi's novel ''The Windup Girl'', which won several awards. The company was started in 1997 by Jason Williams, with Jeremy Lassen coming on board as a partner shortly after the company's founding. Night Shade won the 2003 World Fantasy Award (Non-Professional). On July 9, 2010, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) placed Night Shade Books on probation after it admitted to, and apologized to authors for, contractual irregularities. On November 30, 2011, SFWA lifted the probation based on good behavior during the probationary period. However, an investigation was reopened when further complaints were submitted to SFWA the following year. Once Night ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Books
Sean Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for founding the publishing house Prime Books and for co-editing three magazines, ''Clarkesworld Magazine'', ''The Dark Magazine'', and '' Fantasy Magazine''. He has been nominated a number of times by both the Hugo Awards and the World Fantasy Awards, won three Hugo Awards and two World Fantasy Awards, and has served as a World Fantasy Award judge. Career Wallace began publishing fiction in 1997, when he launched Cosmos Books, with Philip J. Harbottle, and released ''Fantasy Annual'', a paperback magazine of British authors including E.C. Tubb, John Russell Fearn, and Sydney Bounds. In 1999, the Cosmos Books name was licensed to Wildside Press and output greatly increased, expanding with American and Australian authors. He also became a freelance editor for Wildside Press, working from Ohio. In mid-2001, Wallace stepped in to assist an ailing co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goodreads
Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and reading lists. They can also create their own groups of book suggestions, surveys, polls, blogs, and discussions. The website's offices are located in San Francisco. Goodreads was founded in December 2006 and launched in January 2007 by Otis Chandler and Elizabeth Khuri Chandler. In December 2007, the site had 650,000 members and 10,000,000 books had been added. By July 2012, the site reported 10 million members, 20 million monthly visits, and thirty employees. On March 28, 2013, Amazon announced its acquisition of Goodreads, and by July 23, 2013, Goodreads announced their user base had grown to 20 million members. By July 2019, the site had 90 million members. History Founders Goodreads founders Otis Chandler and Elizabeth Khuri Chan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orpheus
Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and even descended into the Underworld of Hades, to recover his lost wife Eurydice. Ancient Greek authors as Strabo and Plutarch note Orpheus's Thracian origins. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music (the usual scene in Orpheus mosaics), his attempt to retrieve his wife Eurydice from the underworld, and his death at the hands of the maenads of Dionysus, who tired of his mourning for his late wife Eurydice. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eurydice
Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music. Etymology Several meanings for the name ''Eurydice'' have been proposed such as "true judgement" or "profound judgement" from the Greek: ''eur dike''. Fulgentius, a mythographer of the late 5th to early 6th century AD, gave the latter etymological meaning. Adriana Cavarero, in the book ''Relating Narratives: Storytelling and Selfhood'', wrote that "the etymology of Eurydice seems rather to indicate, in the term ''eurus'', a vastness of space or power, which, joining to ''dike'' nd thus ''deiknumi'', to show designates her as 'the one who judges with breadth' or, perhaps, 'she who shows herself amply'". In some accounts, she was instead called Agriope, which means "savage face". Mythology Marriage to Orpheus, death and afterlife Eurydice was the Auloniad wife of musicia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyborg
A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.Cyborgs and Space in ''Astronautics'' (September 1960), by Manfred E. Clynes and American scientist and researcher Nathan S. Kline. Description and definition "Cyborg" is not the same thing as bionics, , or ; it applies to an organism that has restored function ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations, the biggest examples of which are Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the dharmic religions. Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth's surface. Other afterlife destinations include heaven, paradise, purgatory, limbo, and the underworld. Other religions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe an abode of the dead, the grave, a neutral place that is located under the surface of Earth (for example, see Kur, Hades, and Sheol). Such places are sometimes equated with the English word ''hell'', though a more correct translatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of world literature. The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval worldview as it existed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language. It is divided into three parts: ''Inferno'', ''Purgatorio'', and '' Paradiso''. The narrative takes as its literal subject the state of the soul after death and presents an image of divine justice meted out as due punishment or reward, and describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Allegorically, the poem represents the soul's journey towards God, beginning with the recognition and rejection of sin (''Inferno''), followed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main news ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
