Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction

Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction
Author: Peter Hunt
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2005-08-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0826477607

Edited by Morag Styles and written by an international team of acknowledged experts, this series provides jargon-free, critical discussion and a comprehensive guide to literary and popular texts for children. Each book introduces the reader to a major genre of children's literature, covering the key authors, major works and contexts in which those texts are published, read and studied. This book provides an illuminating guide to literature that creates alternative worlds for young readers. Focusing on the work of Ursula Le Guin, Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman, the book considers both the genre of ?alternative worlds? and the distinctiveness of these authors? texts, including Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass.

Wyvernhail

Wyvernhail
Author: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2007-09-11
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0375890858

HAI HAS ALWAYS been an outsider. With a falcon mother and a deceased cobra father, she is considered a mongrel by most, an ally by some, and a friend by few. Hai's broken falcon wings are a painful reminder of the life she once led on the island of Ahnmik. And here in Wyvern's Court, the avian and serpiente royal family keep their distance, refusing to acknowledge her cobra bloodline. They know that Hai's magic is so volatile, she can barely control it, and images of the past and future threaten to overwhelm her.When Hai's cousin, Oliza Shardae Cobriana, abdicates the throne of Wyvern's Court, Hai has visions only of destruction: the serpiente king Salem, dying in her arms; the dutiful guard, Nicias, unable to save a generation of children; and Wyvern's Court engulfed in flames.Now Hai will do anything to protect her new home - even if it means betraying the very people who need her most.

Uranian Worlds

Uranian Worlds
Author: Eric Garber
Publisher: Hall Reference Books
Total Pages: 338
Release: 1990
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

This reference has been updated and expanded to include some 100 new listings, and the addition of films and videos. It gives detailed annotations that document the representation of alternative sexuality in novels and stories as well as films; evaluates the writers' overall representation of gay and lesbian issues; and reveals changing popular attitudes toward sexual variance over several centuries. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Jackaroo

Jackaroo
Author: Cynthia Voigt
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 312
Release: 1985
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0689311230

When hard times among the People revive the old stories of the hero Jackaroo, an innkeeper's daughter follows her own quest to unlock the secret reality behind the legend.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing

Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Tin House Books
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2018-04-03
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1947793004

Ursula K. Le Guin discusses her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry?both her process and her philosophy?with all the wisdom, profundity, and rigor we expect from one of the great writers of the last century. When the New York Times referred to Ursula K. Le Guin as America’s greatest writer of science fiction, they just might have undersold her legacy. It’s hard to look at her vast body of work?novels and stories across multiple genres, poems, translations, essays, speeches, and criticism?and see anything but one of our greatest writers, period. In a series of interviews with David Naimon (Between the Covers), Le Guin discusses craft, aesthetics, and philosophy in her fiction, poetry, and nonfiction respectively. The discussions provide ample advice and guidance for writers of every level, but also give Le Guin a chance to to sound off on some of her favorite subjects: the genre wars, the patriarchy, the natural world, and what, in her opinion, makes for great writing. With excerpts from her own books and those that she looked to for inspiration, this volume is a treat for Le Guin’s longtime readers, a perfect introduction for those first approaching her writing, and a tribute to her incredible life and work.

Counternarratives

Counternarratives
Author: John Keene
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2016-05-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 081122435X

Now in paperback, a bewitching collection of stories and novellas that are “suspenseful, thought-provoking, mystical, and haunting” (Publishers Weekly) Ranging from the seventeenth century to the present, and crossing multiple continents, Counternarratives draws upon memoirs, newspaper accounts, detective stories, and interrogation transcripts to create new and strange perspectives on our past and present. “An Outtake” chronicles an escaped slave’s take on liberty and the American Revolution; “The Strange History of Our Lady of the Sorrows” presents a bizarre series of events that unfold in Haiti and a nineteenth-century Kentucky convent; “The Aeronauts” soars between bustling Philadelphia, still-rustic Washington, and the theater of the U. S. Civil War; “Rivers” portrays a free Jim meeting up decades later with his former raftmate Huckleberry Finn; and in “Acrobatique,” the subject of a famous Edgar Degas painting talks back.

The Myriad

The Myriad
Author: R. M. Meluch
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2006-01-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101099348

The U.S.S. Merrimack was the finest battleship class spaceship in Earth's fleet, able to stand up against the best the Palatine Empire could throw at them, even able to attack and kill swarms of the seemingly unstoppable Hive. But nothing could have prepared the captain and crew of the Merrimack to face the Myriad-three colonized worlds in the midst of a globular cluster that the Hive had somehow overlooked.

Magic Casement

Magic Casement
Author: Dave Duncan
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 590
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1497606454

The Man of His Word series debut—a novel “with enough fresh ideas to allow it to sit unashamedly alongside the great fantasy books of recent times” (Fantasy Book Review). “Duncan’s unique concept of goblins, fauns, and imps adds a new twist to this imaginative fantasy adventure” as Princess Inosolan is forced to leave behind her carefree childhood—as well as her dear friend, the stableboy Rap (Library Journal). Now of marriageable age, she is sent to a finishing school to hone the skills that all noble ladies should possess. Mystery, menace, and the gods appear in short order, as Inos and Rap begin to discover their magical powers, even as Inos is courted by a charming man with motives far more dangerous than the eye—and heart—can see . . . “Magic Casement has a charm and vibrant sense of humor. . . . If it’s traditional fantasy adventure with a bit of nudge-nudge wink-wink you’re after, Dave Duncan is your go-to guy.” —SFReviews.net

The Fallen Odyssey

The Fallen Odyssey
Author: Corey McCullough
Publisher: Corey McCullough
Total Pages: 504
Release:
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN:

Lost in a parallel universe of swords, shields, magic, and monsters, a young man searches for a way home. When seventeen-year-old Justin Holmes wakes up in a strange, fantastic world, all he wants is to find a way back to his ordinary life in small-town America. But his search for answers takes an unexpected turn when he and a band of unlikely allies are attacked by dark forces wielding otherworldly power. Forced to flee into the wilderness, Justin feels farther than ever from discovering how he accidentally arrived in this strange realm. Can he help his new friends in their desperate quest? Will he ever see home again? And was his transportation from Earth an accident at all? Ancient secrets are revealed that could shake the foundations of this alternate world... and might unlock Justin's portal home. The start of a four-book epic fantasy series that readers call FUN, ENGROSSING, and JAW-DROPPING.