Praise for Joan Aiken:'Joan Aiken's invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come.'—Philip Pullman'Aiken writes with the genius of a born storyteller, with mother wit expanded and embellished by civilized learning, and with the brilliance of an avenging angel.'—The New YorkerJoan Aiken's stories captivated readers for fifty years. They're funny, smart, gentle, and occasionally very, very scary. The stories in The Monkey's Wedding are collected here for the very first time and include six never before published, as well as two previously published under the pseudonym Nicholas Dee. Here you'll find the story of a village for sale... or is the village itself the story? There's an English vicar who declares on his deathbed that he might have lived an entirely different life. After his death, a large, black, argumentative cat makes an appearance.... This hugely imaginative collection includes introductions by Aiken as well as by her daughter, Lizza Aiken.Best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken (1924-2004) wrote over a hundred books and won the Guardian and Edgar Allan Poe awards. After her first husband's death, she supported her family by copyediting at Argosy magazine and an advertising agency before turning to fiction. She went on to write for Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, Argosy, Women's Own, and many others. Visit her online at: www.joanaiken.com.

From Publishers WeeklyRyman's darkly imaginative, almost surreal improvisation on L. Frank Baum's Oz books combines a stunning portrayal of child abuse, Wizard of Oz film lore and a polyphonic meditation on the psychological burden of the past. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus ReviewsThe Scarecrow of Oz dying of AIDS in Santa Monica? Uncle Henry a child abuser? Dorothy, grown old and crazy, wearing out her last days in a Kansas nursing home? It's all here, in this magically revisionist fantasy on the themes from The Wizard of Oz. For Dorothy Gael (not a misprint), life with Uncle Henry and Aunty Em is no bed of roses: Bible-thumping Emma Gulch is as austere (though not as nasty) as Margaret Hamilton, and her foul- smelling husband's sexual assaults send his unhappy niece over the line into helpless rage at her own wickedness and sullen bullying of the other pupils in nearby Manhattan, Kansas. Despite a brush with salvation (represented by substitute teacher L. Frank Baum), she spirals down to madness courtesy of a climactic twister, only to emerge 70 years later as Dynamite Dottie, terror of her nursing home, where youthful orderly Bill Davison, pierced by her zest for making snow angels and her visions of a happiness she never lived, throws over his joyless fianc‚e and becomes a psychological therapist. Meanwhile, in intervening episodes in 1927 and 1939, Frances Gumm loses her family and her sense of self as she's transformed into The Kid, Judy Garland; and between 1956 and 1989, a little boy named Jonathan, whose imaginary childhood friends were the Oz people, grows up to have his chance to play the Scarecrow dashed by the AIDS that will draw him to Kansas--with counselor Davison in pursuit--in the hope of finding Dorothy's 1880's home and making it, however briefly, his own. This tale of homes lost and sought, potentially so sentimental, gets a powerful charge from Ryman's patient use of homely detail in establishing Dorothy's and Jonathan's childhood perspectives, and from the shocking effects of transforming cultural icons, especially in detailing Dorothy's sexual abuse. Science-fiction author Ryman (The Child Garden, 1990) takes a giant step forward with this mixture of history, fantasy, and cultural myth--all yoked together by the question of whether you can ever really go home. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"Beautifully written."— Publishers Weekly , starred review The martial Sainnites have occupied Shaftal for fifteen years. Every year the cost of resistance rises. Emil, an officer and scholar; Zanja, a diplomat and last survivor of her people; and Karis, a metalsmith, half-blood giant, and an addict, can only watch as their country falls into lawlessness and famine. Together, perhaps they can change the course of history. Laurie J. Marks' first two Elemental Logic novels ( Fire Logic and Earth Logic ) both won the Gaylactic Spectrum Award and received multiple starred reviews. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and teaches at the University of Massachusetts.

From Publishers WeeklyRyman's darkly imaginative, almost surreal improvisation on L. Frank Baum's Oz books combines a stunning portrayal of child abuse, Wizard of Oz film lore and a polyphonic meditation on the psychological burden of the past. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus ReviewsThe Scarecrow of Oz dying of AIDS in Santa Monica? Uncle Henry a child abuser? Dorothy, grown old and crazy, wearing out her last days in a Kansas nursing home? It's all here, in this magically revisionist fantasy on the themes from The Wizard of Oz. For Dorothy Gael (not a misprint), life with Uncle Henry and Aunty Em is no bed of roses: Bible-thumping Emma Gulch is as austere (though not as nasty) as Margaret Hamilton, and her foul- smelling husband's sexual assaults send his unhappy niece over the line into helpless rage at her own wickedness and sullen bullying of the other pupils in nearby Manhattan, Kansas. Despite a brush with salvation (represented by substitute teacher L. Frank Baum), she spirals down to madness courtesy of a climactic twister, only to emerge 70 years later as Dynamite Dottie, terror of her nursing home, where youthful orderly Bill Davison, pierced by her zest for making snow angels and her visions of a happiness she never lived, throws over his joyless fianc‚e and becomes a psychological therapist. Meanwhile, in intervening episodes in 1927 and 1939, Frances Gumm loses her family and her sense of self as she's transformed into The Kid, Judy Garland; and between 1956 and 1989, a little boy named Jonathan, whose imaginary childhood friends were the Oz people, grows up to have his chance to play the Scarecrow dashed by the AIDS that will draw him to Kansas--with counselor Davison in pursuit--in the hope of finding Dorothy's 1880's home and making it, however briefly, his own. This tale of homes lost and sought, potentially so sentimental, gets a powerful charge from Ryman's patient use of homely detail in establishing Dorothy's and Jonathan's childhood perspectives, and from the shocking effects of transforming cultural icons, especially in detailing Dorothy's sexual abuse. Science-fiction author Ryman (The Child Garden, 1990) takes a giant step forward with this mixture of history, fantasy, and cultural myth--all yoked together by the question of whether you can ever really go home. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Mainstream/Fantasy. 114913 words long. First published in 2009

"The impish love child of Tutuola and Marquez. Utterly delightful."?Nalo Hopkinson Karen Lord's debut novel, which won the prestigious Frank Collymore Literary Prize in Barbados, is an intricately woven tale of adventure, magic, and the power of the human spirit. Paama's husband is a fool and a glutton. Bad enough that he followed her to her parents' home in the village of Makende, now he's disgraced himself by murdering livestock and stealing corn. When Paama leaves him for good, she attracts the attention of the undying ones?the djombi?who present her with a gift: the Chaos Stick, which allows her to manipulate the subtle forces of the world. Unfortunately, a wrathful djombi with indigo skin believes this power should be his and his alone. Bursting with humor and rich in fantastic detail, Redemption in Indigo is a clever, contemporary fairy tale that introduces readers to a dynamic new voice in Caribbean literature. Lord's world of spider tricksters and indigo immortals, inspired in part by a Senegalese folk tale, will feel instantly familiar?but Paama's adventures are fresh, surprising, and utterly original. "Fantasy as a genre does not have boundaries," writes Lord. "It has roots. You may call it fantasy. I call it life." Karen Lord was born in Barbados in 1968. She holds a science degree from the University of Toronto and a PhD in the sociology of religion from the University of Wales

No woman will have Ben without a proper bachelor's suit . . . and the tailor refuses to make him one. Back from war with a nameless enemy, Ben finds that his mother is dead and his family home has been reassigned by the state. As if that isn't enough, he must now find a wife, or he'll be made a civil servant and given a permanent spot in one of the city's oppressive factories. Meanwhile, Meeks, a foreigner who lives in the park and imagines he's a member of the police, is hunted by the overzealous Brothers of Mercy. Meeks' survival depends on his peculiar friendship with a police captain--but will that be enough to prevent his execution at the annual Independence Day celebration? A dark satire rendered with the slapstick humor of a Buster Keaton film, Julia Holmes' debut marries the existentialism of Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground" to the strange charm of a Haruki Murakami novel. "Meeks" portrays a world at once hilarious and disquieting, in which frustrated revolutionaries and hopeful youths suffer alongside the lost and the condemned, just for a chance at the permanent bliss of marriage and a slice of sugar-frosted Independence Day cake. Julia Holmes was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and grew up in the Middle East, Texas, and New York, where she is currently an assistant editor at "Rolling Stone." She is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA program in fiction.

In her debut collection, Maureen F. McHugh examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations.

Love: it s a triangle. War: is coming. Betrayal: is inevitable. Sex: watch out for the naughty puppets.

Joan Aiken's stories captivated readers for fifty years. They're funny, smart, gentle, and occasionally very, very scary. The stories in *The Monkey's Wedding* are collected here for the very first time and include six never before published, as well as two previously published under the pseudonym Nicholas Dee. Here you'll find the story of a village for sale... or is the village itself the story? There's an English vicar who declares on his deathbed that he might have lived an entirely different life. After his death, a large, black, argumentative cat makes an appearance... This hugely imaginative collection includes introductions by Aiken as well as by her daughter, Lizza Aiken.Best known for *The Wolves of Willoughby Chase*, **Joan Aiken** (1924-2004) wrote over a hundred books and won the *Guardian* and Edgar Allan Poe awards. After her first husband's death, she supported her family by copyediting at *Argosy* magazine and an advertising agency before turning to fiction. She went on to write for *Vogue*, *Good Housekeeping*, *Vanity Fair*, *Argosy*, *Women's Own*, and many others. Visit her online at: [www.joanaiken.com]( ).Wörter : 63162

Amazon.com ReviewThis marvelous collection by one of science fiction's most thoughtful and graceful writers belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in literary science fiction.Collected here for the first time, Ted Chiang's award-winning stories--recipients of the Nebula, Sturgeon, Campbell, and Asimov awards--offer a feast of science, speculation, humanity, and lyricism. Standouts include "Tower of Babylon," in which a miner ascends the fabled tower in order to break through the vault of heaven; "Division by Zero," a precise and heartbreaking examination of the disintegration of hope and love; and "Story of Your Life," in which a linguist learns an alien language that reshapes her view of the world. Chiang has the gift that lies at the heart of good science fiction: a human story, beautifully told, in which the science is an expression of the deeper issues that the characters must confront. Full of remarkable ideas and unforgettable moments, Stories of Your Life and Others is highly recommended. --Roz GenesseeFrom Publishers WeeklyHere's the first must-read SF book of the year. Chiang has acquired a massive reputation on the basis of very few pieces of short fiction. This collection contains all six previously published tales, including the Nebula Award-winning "Tower of Babylon," plus a new story, "Liking What You See: A Documentary." It's rare for a writer to become so prominent so fast. In this case, though, the hype is deserved. Chiang has mastered an extremely tricky type of SF story. He begins with a startling bit of oddity, then, as readers figure out what part of the familiar world has been twisted, they realize that it was just a small part of a much larger structure of marvelous, threatening strangeness. Reading a Chiang story means juggling multiple conceptions of what is normal and right. Probably this kind of brain twisting can be done with such intensity only in shorter lengths; if these stories were much longer, readers' heads might explode. Still, the most surprising thing is how much feeling accompanies the intellectual exercises. Whether their initial subject is ancient Babylonians building a tower that reaches the base of Heaven, translation of an alien language that shows a woman a new way to view her life as a mother, or mass-producing golems in an alternative Victorian England, Chiang's stories are audacious, challenging and moving. They resemble the work of a less metaphysical Philip K. Dick or a Borges with more characterization and a grasp of cutting-edge science.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Collections : Science Fiction;Short Stories

"Draws you into a world of danger and mystery, of daring and change, at the dawning of the Civil War. Beautifully imagined and told with satisfyingly matter-of-fact detail: pot liquor and spoon bread, whips and Spanish Moss, corset covers and vévés and bitter, healing herbs. The Freedom Maze is deep, meaningful fun."—Nisi Shawl"A bold and sensitively-written novel about a supposed-white child, Sophie Fairchild returned magically to a time of her ancestors who were slavemaster and slaves in the old South. I was mesmerized."—Jane Yolen, author of The Devil's Arithmetic"A riveting, fearless, and masterful novel. I loved Sophie completely."—Nancy Werlin"A subtle and haunting book that examines what it means to be who we are."—Holly BlackThirteen-year-old Sophie isn't happy about spending summer at her grandmother's old house in the Bayou. But the house has a maze Sophie can't resist exploring once

Mainstream/Science Fiction. 54733 words long. First published in 2010

Fantasy/Mainstream. 170626 words long. First published in 2009. Tiptree Award Winner. World Fantasy Award Winner, Nebula Award(R) Finalist

Insightful, beautifully written debut collection.words : 95735

What if the world ended on your birthday — and no one came? What if your grandmother was a superhero? What if the orphan you were raising was a top-secret weapon, looked like Godzilla, and loved singing nursery rhymes? What if poet laureates fought to the death, in stadiums? Emshwiller's books (Joy in Our Cause, Carmen Dog, Ledoyt, and others) have won her a devoted cult following. Her short fiction is about women and men, monsters, obsessions, art, and falling in love. She writes witty, humane, endearingly odd stories that play with all the genres and conventions you can put a name to — science fiction, Western, romance, postmodern, tabloid, literary — and some that haven't even been invented yet. Suspect that life is much stranger than anyone ever admits? Buy this book. Unhappy in love? Buy this book. About to visit the dentist or embark on a long voyage? Buy this book. Troubled by dreams you can never quite remember in the morning? Buy this book. Love good short fiction? Buy this book.

Cara's mother has disappeared. Her father isn't talking about it. Her big brother Max is hiding behind his iPod, and her genius little brother Jackson is busy studying the creatures he collects from the beach. But when a watery specter begins to haunt the family's Cape Cod home, Cara and her brothers realize that their scientist mother may not be who they thought she was—and that the world has much stranger, much older inhabitants than they had imagined. With help from Cara's best friend Hayley, the three embark on a quest that will lead them from the Cape's hidden, ancient places to a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. They're soon on the front lines of an ancient battle between good and evil, with the terrifying "pouring man" close on their heels. Packed with memorable characters and thrilling imagery, Lydia Millet weaves a page-turning adventure even as she brings the seaside world of Cape Cod to magical life. The first in a series of books about the Sykes children, The Fires Beneath the Sea is a rip-cracking middle-grade novel that will make perfect beach reading—for readers of any age!

Fabulous, uncollected stories -- including six published here for the first time -- from a master of the form.

'A moving lament for lost childhoods and an eloquent tribute to the enduring power of art.'--The New York Times'Staggeringly original and profound...Extraordinary, wonderful.'--Time Out'A startling, stimulating book filled with angels and scarecrows, gargoyles and garlands, vaudeville and violence. Pynchon goes Munchkin, you might say.'--Washington Post Book WorldA haunting novel exploring the lives of characters intertwined with The Wizard of Oz: the'real'Dorothy Gale; Judy Garland's unhappy fame; and Jonathan, a dying actor, and his therapist, whose work at an asylum unwittingly intersects with the Yellow Brick Road.Geoff Ryman is the author of The King's Last Song, Air, The Child Garden, The Unconquered Country, and Paradise Tales. He has lived in Cambodia and Brazil, and now teaches at the University of Manchester, England.

Mainstream/Historical Fiction. 154796 words long. First published in 2008, 2008

Review "The brothel of Kathe Koja's Under the Poppy requires no time and space coordinates. It is a fictional universe unto itself—rich and bawdy and violent and sad, with a beating human heart underneath. I love KojaвЂTMs daring and flair." —Louis Bayard, author of The Black Tower "Koja can pack a lot Dickensian humor into a sentence . . . [she] takes a page from Victorian lit in her writerliness, and she reveals human nature like someone slipped her the manual." — Cleveland Plain Dealer "This book made me drunk. KojaвЂTMs language is at its poetic best, and the epic drama had me digging my nails into my palms. ItвЂTMs like a Tom Waits hurdy-gurdy loserвЂTMs lament come to life, as sinister as a dark circus." —Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing "Unlike anything IвЂTMve ever read, a world unto itself, spun out of fevered, sensual prose and vivid, compelling characters." —Lewis Shiner "A gothic, glam-rock take on love and sex and death that reads a little like what would happen if Sarah Waters and Angela Carter played a drunken game of Exquisite Corpse in a brothel . . . will make you want to get out your very finest crushed velvet, drink a couple bottles of wine, and do something a little bit illegal with someone very good-looking. In other words, itвЂTMs a winner." —Tor.com "All the elements of a great novel are present in KojaвЂTMs work: from suspense and intrigue to undying love and toxic jealousies, this highly developed read is brimming with imaginative flair and originality." —Lambda Literary "People will probably love this book or hate it–possibly both. But let me just say that it would take an author of extraordinary talent to open with a scene of a woman being sodomized by a ventriloquistвЂTMs dummy and make me want to keep reading. And Kathe Koja is that talented. Five stars." —Speak Its Name "The velvet and brocade, the rips and tears, the music and theater, you see it all as you read about what the denizens of the Poppy do to stay in business, stay ahead of the tide, stay alive." —Colleen Mondor, Chasing Ray "Frequently changing viewpoints and fluid segues in and out of flashback illuminate actions readers have already witnessed. Part of the fun is heading into the past after knowing the future; even when you know where the story will go, you wonder what will happen next." — Ann Arbor Observer "I loved Under the Poppy . It pours like chocolate—laced with brandy; sexy and utterly compelling!" —Ellen Kushner, author of Swordspoint "An atmospheric tale for those who like their historical fiction on the dark and lurid side. Those readers who enjoyed Emma DonoghueвЂTMs Slammerkin or Sarah WaterвЂTMs Fingersmith will find similar themes.” — Library Journal “A page turner with riveting language and close attention to sensory detail. Set in late 19th-century Brussels, the story follows the adventures of puppeteer Istvan and brothel owner Rupert who bond as friends and lovers.” — Publishers Weekly Product Description Love: itвЂTMs a triangle. War: is coming. Betrayal: is inevitable. Sex: watch out for the naughty puppets.

Dotty, old and maybe crazy, sees The Wizard of Oz on TV, and recognizes it as her own story.Was is a haunting novel which explores the lives of characters intertwined with The Wizard of Oz: the “real” Dorothy Gale; Judy Garland’s unhappy fame; and Jonathan, a dying actor, and his therapist, whose work at an asylum unwittingly intersects with the Yellow Brick Road.

Perfect Circle Sean Stewart William “Dead” Kennedy is in trouble. He’s thirty-two, in love with his ex-wife, has lost his job, and he’s been dreaming about ghost roads again. Sometimes a guy is haunted for a really good reason. — Nebula and World Fantasy Award finalist — A Book Sense Notable Book — Best of the Year: Booklist, Locus, San Francisco Chronicle — A Locus bestseller "Stewart's quicksilver wit makes Perfect Circle perfectly hilarious. And, a supremely skilled storyteller, he saves the best for last." — Texas Monthly "Stewart's mastery of Will's first-person narration is unflinching and unfaltering. The voice conjured here is absolutely authentic and affecting." — Washington Post "Stewart's compelling account of how DK comes to grips with his ghosts, both actual and metaphorical, is alternately poignant and hilarious, with some genuinely creepy moments and one or two powerful jolts.... Compelling ... with strong potential for crossing over into the mainstream." — Publishers Weekly "All-around terrific."— Booklist (starred review) "By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, Perfect Circle is ... an impressive example of an author using genre resources to stake out a territory that, for the moment at least, no one but he occupies. — Locus "A read-at-one-go novel.... Everything is both stated and understated, elegant, full of the mundane horror and fear that inform a normal, frustrated life.... And it is well, well worth the reading. A highly recommended work." — F&SF Sean Stewart's much-anticipated eighth novel is a dark, funny, fast-moving thriller that you won't want to put down. William "Dead" Kennedy has problems. He's haunted by family, by dead people with unfinished business, and by those perfect pop songs that you can't get out of your head. He's a 32-year-old Texan still in love with his ex-wife. He just lost his job at Pet-Co for eating cat food. His air-conditioning is broken, there's no good music on the radio, and he's been dreaming about ghost roads. When Will's cousin ("My dad married your Aunt Dot's half-sister") calls in the middle of the night about a dead girl haunting his garage, it seems like an easy way to make a thousand dollars. But nothing is ever that simple, especially when family is involved. Will's mother is planning a family reunion of epic proportions. Will's ex-wife is married to a former Marine. His twelve-year-old daughter Megan thinks Will needs someone to look after him. And recently his dead relatives seem to want something from him. +++ punk attitude: country & western life +++ " Perfect Circle is a perfect read, exciting, unique, everything here but the Second Coming, but, Sean Stewart himself is the prize. What a talent. Write on, my man. Write on." —Joe Lansdale "Needy Ghosts, bar fights, concealed weapons, R.E.M., and ramen noodles— Perfect Circle is an irreverent Texas treat. Sean Stewart is one bright, funny writer." —Stewart O'Nan "Will Kennedy has some troublesome relatives. Especially the dead ones. Perfect Circle is Sean Stewart at his spooky, funny, sad, and haunting best." —Karen Joy Fowler "A ghost story for grown-ups, frightening, funny, and finally redemptive. It kept me up way past my bedtime." —Harley Jane Kozak "I read it all in one gulp, by turns fearful and joyful for Stewart's likable loser protagonist." —Cory Doctorow "If Oprah read science fiction...This quirky, engaging novel tells the story of William "Dead" Kennedy, a thirtysomething former punk rocker and down-on-his-luck divorced dad—who sees ghosts. After a visit to his haunted cousin goes horribly wrong. From Publishers Weekly Ghosts are like homeless people, we are told by DK "Dead" Kennedy, the hero of World Fantasy Award winner Stewart's latest blend of magical realism and Texas regionalism: most of us look away, but he can't. This ability to see the other side complicates life tremendously (he can't drive because at night ghosts look just like the living, and he's wrecked cars avoiding them), especially when a distant cousin hires him to exorcise the ghost of a girl the cousin murdered. Part of the novel deals with DK's offbeat career as an alternative exorcist, but what Stewart seems really to focus on is how these abilities now threaten his relationships with family, both immediate and extended. DK still loves his ex-wife and is active in the life of his daughter, but comes to realize that he's like a ghost in their lives: "Not all ghosts are dead, but all are hungry." Stewart's compelling account of how DK comes to grips with his ghosts, both actual and metaphorical, is alternately poignant and hilarious, with some genuinely creepy moments and one or two powerful jolts. This compelling story is a genre title with strong potential for crossing over into the mainstream. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nineteen writers dig into the imaginative spaces between conventional genres—realistic and fantastical, scholarly and poetic, personal and political—and bring up gems of new fiction: interstitial fiction.This is the literary mode of the new century, a reflection of the complex, ambiguous, and challenging world that we live in. These nineteen stories, by some of the most interesting and innovative writers working today, will change your mind about what stories can and should do as they explore the imaginative space between conventional genres. The editors garnered stories from new and established authors in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, and also fiction translated from Spanish, Hungarian, and French. The collection features stories from Christopher Barzak, Colin Greenland, Holly Phillips, Rachel Pollack, Vandana Singh, Anna Tambour, Catherynne Valente, Leslie What, and others.'A wildly varied cacophony of a book, by turns beautiful, funny, frightening, frustrating, and baffling, but never boring.'—New Haven Review'Odd, Deep, Delightful'—Atlanta Journal-Constitution'This idea of playing with genre conventions is interstitiality's charm and what makes it a movement for the hypertext age. We want words to do more now and for our time not to have been spent with just one idea.'—Adrienne Martini, Baltimore City PaperDelia Sherman was born in Tokyo and brought up in New York City. She earned a PhD in Renaissance studies at Brown University and taught at Boston and North-eastern universities. She is the author of the novels Through a Brazen Mirror, The Porcelain Dove (a Mythopoeic Award winner), and Changeling. Sherman co-founded the Interstitial Arts Foundation, dedicated to promoting art that crosses genre borders.Theodora Goss was born in Hungary and spent a peripatetic childhood in various European countries. She teaches at Boston University, is completing a PhD, and is introducing classes on the fantastic tradition in English literature. She is the author of a short story collection, In the Forest of Forgetting.

<p>* Philip K. Dick Award Winner<br> * Best of the Year: <i>Locus, Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, Book Magazine</i><br> * Nominated for the Impac Award</p> <p>Charley is an athlete. He wants to grow up to be the fastest runner in the world, like his father. He wants to be painted crossing the finishing line, in his racing silks, with a medal around his neck. Charley lives in a stable. He isn't a runner, he's a mount. He belongs to a Hoot: The Hoots are alien invaders. Charley hasn't seen his mother for years, and his father is hiding out in the mountains somewhere, with the other Free Humans. The Hoots own the world, but the humans want it back. Charley knows how to be a good mount, but now he's going to have to learn how to be a human being.</p> <p>"I've been a fan of Carol Emshwiller's since the wonderful <i>Carmen Dog. The Mount</i> is a terrific novel, at once an adventure story and a meditation on the psychology of freedom and slavery. It's literally haunting (days after finishing it, I still think about all the terrible poetry of the Hoot/Sam relationship) and hypnotic. I'm honored to have gotten an early look at it."<br> —Glen David Gold</p> <p>"Carol Emshwiller's <i>The Mount</i> is a wicked book. Like Harlan Ellison's darkest visions, Emshwiller writes in a voice that reminds us of the golden season when speculative fiction was daring and unsettling. Dystopian, weird, comedic as if the Marquis de Sade had joined Monty Python, and ultimately scary, <i>The Mount</i> takes us deep into another reality. Our world suddenly seems wrought with terrible ironies and a severe kind of beauty. When we are the mounts, who—or what—is riding us?<br> —Luis Alberto Urrea</p> <p>"We are all Mounts and so should read this book like an instruction manual that could help save our lives. That it is also a beautiful funny novel is the usual bonus you get by reading Carol Emshwiller. She always writes them that way."<br> —Kim Stanley Robinson</p> <p>"This novel is like a tesseract, I started it and thought, ah, I see what she's doing. But then the dimensions unfolded and somehow it ended up being about so much more."<br> —Maureen F. McHugh</p> <p>"<i>The Mount</i> is so extraordinary as to be unpraiseable by a mortal such as I. I had to keep putting it down because it was so disturbing then picking it up because it was so amazing. A postmodernist would call it The Eros of Hegemony, but I'm no postmodernist. Nearly every sentence is simultaneously hilarious, prophetic, and disturbing. This person needs to be really, really famous."<br> —Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights Bookstore</p> <p>"Brilliantly conceived and painfully acute in its delineation of the complex relationships between masters and slaves, pets and owners, the served and the serving, this poetic, funny and above all humane novel deserves to be read and cherished as a fundamental fable for our material-minded times."<br> —<i>Publishers Weekly</i></p> <p>"Adult/High School - This veteran science-fiction writer is known for original plots and characters, and her latest novel does not disappoint, offering an extraordinary, utterly alien, and thoroughly convincing culture set in the not-too-distant future. Emshwiller brings readers immediately into the action, gradually revealing the takeover of Earth by the Hoots, otherworldly beings with superior intelligence and technology. Humans have become the Hoots' "mounts," and, in the case of the superior Seattle bloodline, valuable racing stock. Most mounts are well off, as the Hoots constantly remind them, and treated kindly by affectionate owners who use punishment poles as rarely as possible. No one agrees more than principal narrator Charley, a privileged young Seattle whose rider-in-training will someday rule the world. The adolescent mount's dream is of bringing honor to his beloved Little Master by becoming a great champion like Beauty, his sire, whose portrait decorates many Hoot walls. When Charley learns that his father now leads the renegade bands called Wilds, he and Little Master flee. This complex and compelling blend of tantalizing themes offers numerous possibilities for speculation and discussion, whether among friends or in the classroom."<br> —<i>School Library Journal</i></p> <p>"Emshwiller's prose is beautiful"<br> —Laura Miller, <i>Salon</i></p> <p>"<i>The Mount</i> is a brilliant book. But be warned: It takes root in the mind and unleashes aftershocks at inopportune moments."<br> —<i>The Women's Review of Books</i></p> <p>"Carol Emshwiller has been writing fantasy, speculative and science fiction for many years; she has a dedicated cult following and has been an influence on a number of today's top writers.... it is very easy to fall into the rhythm of Emshwiller's poetic and smooth sentences."<br> —<i>Review of Contemporary Fiction</i></p> <p>"Emshwiller's themes—the allure of submission, the temptations of complicity, the perverse nature of compassion—are not usual fare in novels of resistance and revolt, and her strikingly imaginative novel continues to surpass our expectations to the very last page."<br> —<i>The Philadelphia Inquirer</i></p> <p>"Both fantastical and unnerving in its familiarity. And like her work in romance and westerns, its genre-twisting plot resists easy classification."<br> —The Village Voice</p> <p>"Emshwiller uses a deceptively simple narrative voice that gives <i>The Mount</i> the style of a young-adult novel. But there's much going on beneath the surface of this narrative, including oblique flashes of humor and artfully articulated moments of psychological insight. The Mount emerges as one of the season's unexpected small pleasures."<br> —<i>San Francisco Chronicle</i></p> <p>"A memorable alien-invasion scenario, a wild adventure, and a reflection on the dynamics of freedom and slavery."<br> —<i>Booklist</i></p> <p>"A brilliant piece of work."<br> —<i>Bookslut</i></p> <p>"...a beautifully written allegorical tale full of hope that even the most unenlightened souls can shrug off the bonds of internalized oppression and finally see the light."<br> —<i>BookPage</i></p> <p>"A fable/fantasy/cautionary tale along the lines of, say, <i>Animal Farm.</i> It's the story of Charlie, a preadolescent human who's being used as a horse by shoulder-riding alien invaders known as Hoots. Charlie wants nothing more than to become a great Mount, a loyal slave and servant, until his father, a renegade Mount who has fled from the Hoots and now lives in the mountains, comes to take him away. Like so much of Emshwiller's work, <i>The Mount</i> asks difficult questions—in this case, What is freedom? The issue is particularly appropriate at a time when "freedom" in America is increasingly defined as "security"—freedom from uncertainty, freedom from fear, freedom from want. All of which is, in the end, not really freedom at all."—<i>Time Out New York</i></p> <p>"In a recent interview with <i>Science Fiction Weekly</i>, Ursula Le Guin called Emshwiller "the most unappreciated great writer we've got." <i>The Mount</i> proves Le Guin right.... If Emshwiller is not already on your top bookshelf, <i>The Mount</i> will put her there."<br> —<i>Rambles</i></p> <p>Carol Emshwiller's stories have appeared in <i>The Magazine of Fantasy &amp; Science Fiction, Century, Scifiction, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, TriQuarterly, Transatlantic Review, New Directions, Orbit, Epoch, The Voice Literary Supplement, Omni, Crank!, Confrontation, Trampoline, McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales,</i> and many other anthologies and magazines.<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Carol is a MacDowell Colony Fellow and has been awarded an NEA grant, a New York State Creative Artists Public Service grant, a New York State</p>

"In a singularly important publishing even, the first complete collection of Aiken’s 24 beloved Armitage cycle of stories appears here for the first time. The family who dwells in and out of magical worlds transcends fantasy and enters the world of classic, entrancing literature. Belongs on every child’s bookshelf. For all ages." — Smithsonian Magazine Notable Books for Children 2008 "For sheer charm it’s hard to beat these wonderful, dead-pan comic tales about one family’s adventures—nearly always on a Monday—with ghosts, witches, time travel, the Furies and every sort of magic." —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World "Buy it to read to your kids, and you’ll find yourself sneaking tastes on the sly; a little Aiken is a fine thing to have in your system at any age." — Salon.com "Joan Aiken’s invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come." —Philip Pullman “The best kind of writer, strange and spooky and surprising, never sentimental or whimsical.” —Kelly Link "Gathered under one cover from several Aiken collections, the magical, eccentric and very British Armitage family reappears in a collection of 24 stories, four never before published. The Armitages’ wacky magic (usually a Monday occurrence) and that of their fantastical town, a place filled with witches and magical beings, rises from the pages when matters go slightly awry, in the manner of Edward Eager and E. Nesbit." — Kirkus Reviews "The Armitage family stories are stories of a seemingly ordinary British family to whom magical things seemed to happen regularly. Collected here for the first time are all of Joan Aiken's twenty-four Armitage family stories, four of which have never been published before. These are short stories for children which, with their mix of magic, myth, and humor, appeal broadly to adults as well." —About.com, Holiday Gift Books 2008 "Readers of all ages have the opportunity to enjoy some of the best writing by one of the most superb and timeless fantasy writers." — Green Man Review "The Armitage’s world grows richer as it is extended. This is a collection of stories which allow—in fact demand—the reader joins in with their own imagination and remakes the story inside their own head. Aiken’s pragmatism shows through in her stories. Instead of remaining in or reflecting upon the past like some of her contemporaries, they show an author making the best of the world and coming out ahead with humor and imagination.” — January Magazine "Each of the tales brims with old-fashioned adventure and charm. An excellent way to show Harry Potter fans that magic can come in small doses too." — Author Magazine This is the first complete collection of Joan Aiken’s beloved Armitage stories—and it includes four new, unpublished stories. After Mrs. Armitage makes a wish, the Armitage family has “interesting and unusual” experiences every Monday (and the occasional Tuesday). The Board of Incantation tries to take over their house to use as a school for young wizards; the Furies come to stay; and a cutout from a cereal box leads into a beautiful and tragic palace garden. Charming and magical, the uncommon lives of the Armitage family will thrill and delight readers young and old. Includes Joan Aiken’s “Prelude” from Armitage, Armitage, Fly Away Home , as well as introductions from Joan Aiken’s daughter, Lizza Aiken, and best-selling author Garth Nix. Illustrated by Andi Watson. Praise for Joan Aiken: "A writer of wild humor and unrestrained imagination." — Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature "This year can boast one genuine small masterpiece. . . . The Wolves of Willoughby Chase . . . almost a copybook lesson in those virtues that a classic children’s book must possess." — Time Magazine Best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase , Joan Aiken (1924-2004) wrote over a hundred books and won the Guardian and Edgar Allan Poe awards. After her first husband’s death, she supported her family by copyediting at Argosy magazine and an advertising agency before turning to fiction. She went on to write for Vogue , Good Housekeeping , Vanity Fair , Argosy , Women’s Own , and many others.

Praise for Joan Aiken:'Joan Aiken's invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come.'—Philip Pullman'Aiken writes with the genius of a born storyteller, with mother wit expanded and embellished by civilized learning, and with the brilliance of an avenging angel.'—The New YorkerJoan Aiken's stories captivated readers for fifty years. They're funny, smart, gentle, and occasionally very, very scary. The stories in The Monkey's Wedding are collected here for the very first time and include six never before published, as well as two previously published under the pseudonym Nicholas Dee. Here you'll find the story of a village for sale... or is the village itself the story? There's an English vicar who declares on his deathbed that he might have lived an entirely different life. After his death, a large, black, argumentative cat makes an appearance.... This hugely imaginative collection includes introductions by Aiken as well as by her daughter, Lizza Aiken.Best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken (1924-2004) wrote over a hundred books and won the Guardian and Edgar Allan Poe awards. After her first husband's death, she supported her family by copyediting at Argosy magazine and an advertising agency before turning to fiction. She went on to write for Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, Argosy, Women's Own, and many others. Visit her online at: www.joanaiken.com.

Time Magazine: 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time World Fantasy, British Fantasy, & Crawford Award winner Jevick, the pepper merchant's son, has been raised on stories of Olondria, a distant land where books are as common as they are rare in his home. When his father dies and Jevick takes his place on the yearly selling trip to Olondria, Jevick's life is as close to perfect as he can imagine. But just as he revels in Olondria's Rabelaisian Feast of Birds, he is pulled drastically off course and becomes haunted by the ghost of an illiterate young girl. In desperation, Jevick seeks the aid of Olondrian priests and quickly becomes a pawn in the struggle between the empire's two most powerful cults. Yet even as the country shimmers on the cusp of war, he must face his ghost and learn her story before he has any chance of becoming free by setting her free: an ordeal that challenges his understanding of art and life, home and exile, and the limits of that seductive necromancy, reading. A Stranger in Olondria is a skillful and immersive debut fantasy novel that pulls the reader in deeper and deeper with twists and turns reminiscent of George R. R. Martin and Joe Hill.

"In a singularly important publishing even, the first complete collection of Aiken’s 24 beloved Armitage cycle of stories appears here for the first time. The family who dwells in and out of magical worlds transcends fantasy and enters the world of classic, entrancing literature. Belongs on every child’s bookshelf. For all ages." — Smithsonian Magazine Notable Books for Children 2008 "For sheer charm it’s hard to beat these wonderful, dead-pan comic tales about one family’s adventures—nearly always on a Monday—with ghosts, witches, time travel, the Furies and every sort of magic." —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World "Buy it to read to your kids, and you’ll find yourself sneaking tastes on the sly; a little Aiken is a fine thing to have in your system at any age." — Salon.com "Joan Aiken’s invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come." —Philip Pullman “The best kind of writer, strange and spooky and surprising, never sentimental or whimsical.” —Kelly Link "Gathered under one cover from several Aiken collections, the magical, eccentric and very British Armitage family reappears in a collection of 24 stories, four never before published. The Armitages’ wacky magic (usually a Monday occurrence) and that of their fantastical town, a place filled with witches and magical beings, rises from the pages when matters go slightly awry, in the manner of Edward Eager and E. Nesbit." — Kirkus Reviews "The Armitage family stories are stories of a seemingly ordinary British family to whom magical things seemed to happen regularly. Collected here for the first time are all of Joan Aiken's twenty-four Armitage family stories, four of which have never been published before. These are short stories for children which, with their mix of magic, myth, and humor, appeal broadly to adults as well." —About.com, Holiday Gift Books 2008 "Readers of all ages have the opportunity to enjoy some of the best writing by one of the most superb and timeless fantasy writers." — Green Man Review "The Armitage’s world grows richer as it is extended. This is a collection of stories which allow—in fact demand—the reader joins in with their own imagination and remakes the story inside their own head. Aiken’s pragmatism shows through in her stories. Instead of remaining in or reflecting upon the past like some of her contemporaries, they show an author making the best of the world and coming out ahead with humor and imagination.” — January Magazine "Each of the tales brims with old-fashioned adventure and charm. An excellent way to show Harry Potter fans that magic can come in small doses too." — Author Magazine This is the first complete collection of Joan Aiken’s beloved Armitage stories—and it includes four new, unpublished stories. After Mrs. Armitage makes a wish, the Armitage family has “interesting and unusual” experiences every Monday (and the occasional Tuesday). The Board of Incantation tries to take over their house to use as a school for young wizards; the Furies come to stay; and a cutout from a cereal box leads into a beautiful and tragic palace garden. Charming and magical, the uncommon lives of the Armitage family will thrill and delight readers young and old. Includes Joan Aiken’s “Prelude” from Armitage, Armitage, Fly Away Home , as well as introductions from Joan Aiken’s daughter, Lizza Aiken, and best-selling author Garth Nix. Illustrated by Andi Watson. Praise for Joan Aiken: "A writer of wild humor and unrestrained imagination." — Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature "This year can boast one genuine small masterpiece. . . . The Wolves of Willoughby Chase . . . almost a copybook lesson in those virtues that a classic children’s book must possess." — Time Magazine Best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase , Joan Aiken (1924-2004) wrote over a hundred books and won the Guardian and Edgar Allan Poe awards. After her first husband’s death, she supported her family by copyediting at Argosy magazine and an advertising agency before turning to fiction. She went on to write for Vogue , Good Housekeeping , Vanity Fair , Argosy , Women’s Own , and many others.

Nine new stories from a long-time star of the science fiction field including the Hugo Award winner "The Erdmann Nexus" and Nebula Award winner "The Fountain of Age." These stories have been reprinted in *The Year's Best Science Fiction*, *Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year*, and *Best of the Web*.Kress unpacks the future the way DNA investigators unravelled the double helix: one gene at a time. In many of these stories gene sculpting is illegal yet commonplace and the effects range between slow catastrophe (“End Game”), cosmic (“First Rites”), and tragic (“Safeguard”). Then there’s the morning when Rochester disappears and Jenny has to rely on “The Kindness of Strangers.” There’s Jill, who is kidnapped by aliens and trying to learn the “Laws of Survival.” And there’s Hope, whose Grandma is regretting the world built “By Fools Like Me.”words : 109883

<p>"Stephen King meets Ibsen. Trust me."<br> —Neal Stephenson</p> <p>"Witty, wicked, and wise. Wonderful!"<br> —Karen Joy Fowler, <i>The Jane Austen Book Club</i></p> <p>"A wonderfully vivid and unexpected blend of magic realism and finely-observed contemporary experience."<br> —William Gibson</p> <p>Elena Beauchamp used magic the way other people used credit cards, and now that she's dead, her daughters Toni and Candy have a debt to pay. Set in modern-day Houston, Texas, this is a funny and moving novel of voodoo, pregnancy, and family ties. While Toni sorts out the mess that Elena left behind, she must also come to terms with her childhood and with the supernatural and dangerous gift that she has inherited from her mother.</p> <p>—With a new Afterword by the author.<br> — A <i>New York Times</i> Notable Book.<br> — World Fantasy and Nebula Award Finalist&nbsp;</p> <p>Reviews</p> <p>"Hands down the best novel I have read in 2005, and one of the best I've ever had the privilege to read."<br> —Park Road Books, Charlotte, NC</p> <p>"The story of a young woman who grudgingly inherits her mother's psychic powers. This book reads like a shot of whiskey—sweet, fiery swirls in the throat that linger on."<br> —Mary-Jo, Powells.com</p> <p>"One of the most enjoyable books of the year."<br> —<i>San Francisco Chronicle</i></p> <p>"Earthily charming and hilarious."<br> —<i>Booklist</i></p> <p>"Humor and a Southern sauciness. . . . [Stewart's] poignant take on voodoo among middle-class women makes for delicious fun."<br> —<i>Publishers Weekly</i></p> <p>"A gentle, funny, affirming novel. . . . Stewart writes beautifully and affectionately about this family and their acquaintances, friends, and business partners. Like a poet with a cattle prod, he crafts his phrasing carefully, then rocks the reader back on his heels with an insight or an insult."<br> —<i>San Diego Union-Tribune</i></p> <p>"Stewart's best, most perfectly balanced novel yet. . . . a small masterpiece. Stewart's control of tone is nothing short of brilliant; Toni's no-nonsense Texas narrative voice immediately disarms us with its tall-tale overtones and its authentic (and genuinely funny) humor. . . . A work of genuine brilliance."<br> —<i>Locus</i></p> <p><b>Sean Stewart</b> is the author of the "I Love Bees" and "Beast" search operas, two short stories and seven novels: <i>Perfect Circle, The Night Watch, Nobody's Son, Clouds End, Passion Play, Resurrection Man,</i> and <i>Galveston.</i> With Jordan Weisman, he is the author of <i>Cathy's Book</i> and <i>Cathy's Key.</i> His novels have received the Aurora, Arthur Ellis, Sunburst, Canadian Library, and World Fantasy awards. He lives in Davis, CA, with his wife and two daughters.</p> <p>The 1999 Best Novel World Fantasy Award Nominee. </p>

'Rosenbaum's The Ant King and Other Stories contains invisible cities and playful deconstructions of the form. In'Biographical Notes to'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, With Air-Planes,'by Benjamin Rosenbaum'—yes, his name is part of the title—the author imagines a world whose technologies and philosophies differ wildly from ours. The result is a commentary on the state of the art that is itself the state of the art.'—Los Angeles Times Favorite Books of 2008•'Give him some prizes, like, perhaps,'best first collection'for this book.'—Booklist (Starred review, Top 10 SF Books of the Year)'Featuring outlandish and striking imagery throughout—a woman in love with an elephant, an orange that ruled the world—this collection is a surrealistic wonderland.'—Publishers Weekly'Rosenbaum proves he's capable of sustained fantasy with'Biographical Notes,'a steampunkish alternate history of aerial piracy, and'A Siege of Cranes,'a fantasy about a battle between a human insurgent and the White Witch that carries decidedly modern undercurrents.... Perhaps none of the tales is odder than'Orphans,'in which girl-meets-elephant, girl-loses-elephant.'—Kirkus Reviews'Urbane without being arch, sweet without being maudlin, mysterious without being cryptic.'—Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing'Lively, bizarre, and funny as well as dark, sinister, and sensual.'—Boston Phoenix A dazzling, postmodern debut collection of pulp and surreal fictions: a writer of alternate histories defends his patron's zeppelin against assassins and pirates; a woman transforms into hundreds of gumballs; an emancipated children's collective goes house hunting.Benjamin Rosenbaum's stories have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction and McSweeney's, been translated into fourteen languages, and listed in The Best American Short Stories 2006. Shortlisted for the Hugo and Nebula awards, Rosenbaum's work has been reprinted in Harper's and The Year's Best Science Fiction. He lives in Switzerland with his family.

الحكاية الساحرة عن الأذى والأسطورة - المستوحاة من الفولكلور في غرب أفريقيا - والتي أصبحت قصة خيالية كلاسيكية، من مؤلف العالم الأزرق الجميل العالم الجميل الأزرق باما هو طباخ رائع كان من سوء حظه أن يتزوج من أنسيج. لقد كان العازب الأقل تأهيلاً في قريته: أناني، وأحمق، ومهووس بالطعام. لقد سئمت باما من هذه الحياة البائسة مع زوجها الشره، ولذلك تركته لتعود إلى حياتها القديمة مع عائلتها. لكن باما لا تعرف أن هذه هي بداية مغامرة رائعة. لأن الكائنات التي لا تموت تراقبها. تراقب هذه الأرواح حماقات الحياة الفانية. . . وأحيانًا تتدخل وتتسبب في الأذى. يقدم لها أحد هذه الكائنات قطعة أثرية سحرية تُعرف باسم عصا الفوضى، والتي يقول إنها "رائعة لإثارة الأمور". عندما تتعرف باما على قوى هذه الهدية الرائعة، تعلم أن عصا الفوضى قد سُرقت من أحد المنافسين... خيالي; الخيال العلمي; الكبار; Translated by Ebook Translator: https://translator.bookfere.com; جروب روايات بوليسية-مترجمة آليا

<p><i>Publishers Weekly</i> Top 10 Best of the Year</p> <p>In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced overseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague.</p> <p>Praise for Maureen F. McHugh:</p> <p>"Gorgeously crafted stories."—Nancy Pearl, NPR</p> <p>"Hauntingly beautiful."—<i>Booklist</i></p> <p>"Unpredictable and poetic work."—<i>The Plain Dealer</i></p> <p><b>Maureen F. McHugh</b> has lived in New York; Shijiazhuang, China; Ohio; Austin, Texas; and now lives in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of a Story Prize finalist collection, <i>Mothers &amp; Other Monsters</i>, and four novels, including Tiptree Award-winner <i>China Mountain Zhang</i> and <i>New York Times</i> editor's choice <i>Nekropolis</i>. McHugh has also worked on alternate reality games for <i>Halo 2</i>, The Watchmen, and Nine Inch Nails, among others.</p> <p>io9 Best SF&amp;F Books of 2011</p> <p>Tiptree Award Honor List</p> <p>Philip K. Dick Award finalist</p> <p>Story Prize Notable Book</p>

<p>“An alchemical mix of Borges, Raymond Chandler and <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer.</i>”—Salon.com (Best of the Year)</p> <p>“A delightful collection.”—<i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i></p> <p>“My favorite fantasy writer.”—Alan Cheuse, <i>All Things Considered</i></p> <p>"Link's stories defy explanation, or at least, brief summary, instead working on the plane between dream and cognitive dissonance. They are true to themselves: witty, beautiful, funny, and startling."—<i>Rain Taxi</i></p> <p>"Link uses the nonsensical to illuminate truth, blurring the distinctions between the mundane and the fantastic to tease out the underlying meanings of modern life."—<i>Booklist</i></p> <p>"The 11 fantasies in this first collection from rising star Link are so quirky and exuberantly imagined that one is easily distracted from their surprisingly serious underpinnings of private pain and emotional estrangement."<br> —<i>Publishers Weekly</i></p> <p>Kelly Link's collection of stories, <i>Stranger Things Happen,</i> really scores.<br> —Daniel Mendelsohn, <i>New York Magazine</i></p> <p>"A tremendously appealing book, and lovers of short fiction should fall over themselves getting out the door to find a copy."<br> —<i>Washington Post Book World</i></p> <p>"Stylistic pyrotechnics light up a bizarre but emotionally truthful landscape. Link's a writer to watch."<br> —<i>Kirkus Reviews</i></p> <p>"A set of stories that are by turns dazzling, funny, scary, and sexy, but only when they're not all of these at once. Kelly Link has strangeness, charm and spin to spare. Writers better than this don't happen."<br> —Karen Joy Fowler</p> <p>"Kelly Link is probably the best short story writer currently out there, in any genre or none. She puts one word after another and makes real magic with them-funny, moving, tender, brave and dangerous. She is unique, and should be declared a national treasure, and possibly surrounded at all times by a cordon of armed marines."<br> —Neil Gaiman</p> <p>"Kelly Link is the exact best and strangest and funniest short story writer on earth that you have never heard of at the exact moment you are reading these words and making them slightly inexact. Now pay for the book."<br> —Jonathan Lethem</p> <p>The eleven stories in Kelly Link’s debut collection are funny, spooky, and smart. They all have happy endings. They were all especially written for you. A Best of the Year pick from Salon.com, <i>Locus, The Village Voice,</i> and <i>San Francisco Chronicle.</i> Includes Nebula, World Fantasy, and Tiptree award-winning stories.</p> <p><b>Kelly Link</b> is the author of three collections of short fiction <i>Stranger Things Happen</i>, <i>Magic for Beginners</i>, and <i>Pretty Monsters</i>. Her short stories have won three Nebula, a Hugo, and a World Fantasy Award. She was born in Miami, Florida, and once won a free trip around the world by answering the question “Why do you want to go through the world?” (”Because you can’t go through it.”)</p> <p>Link lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she and her husband, Gavin J. Grant, run Small Beer Press, co-edit the fantasy half of <i>The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror</i>, and play ping-pong. In 1996 they startd the occasional zine <i>Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.</i></p>

'In a singularly important publishing even, the first complete collection of Aiken's 24 beloved Armitage cycle of stories appears here for the first time. The family who dwells in and out of magical worlds transcends fantasy and enters the world of classic, entrancing literature. Belongs on every child's bookshelf. For all ages.'—Smithsonian Magazine Notable Books for Children 2008'For sheer charm it's hard to beat these wonderful, dead-pan comic tales about one family's adventures—nearly always on a Monday—with ghosts, witches, time travel, the Furies and every sort of magic.'—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World'Buy it to read to your kids, and you'll find yourself sneaking tastes on the sly; a little Aiken is a fine thing to have in your system at any age.'—Salon.com'Joan Aiken's invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come.'—Philip Pullman“The best kind of writer, strange and spooky and surprising, never sentimental or whimsical.”—Kelly Link'Gathered under one cover from several Aiken collections, the magical, eccentric and very British Armitage family reappears in a collection of 24 stories, four never before published. The Armitages'wacky magic (usually a Monday occurrence) and that of their fantastical town, a place filled with witches and magical beings, rises from the pages when matters go slightly awry, in the manner of Edward Eager and E. Nesbit.'—Kirkus Reviews'Readers of all ages have the opportunity to enjoy some of the best writing by one of the most superb and timeless fantasy writers.'—Green Man Review'The Armitage's world grows richer as it is extended. This is a collection of stories which allow—in fact demand—the reader joins in with their own imagination and remakes the story inside their own head. Aiken's pragmatism shows through in her stories. Instead of remaining in or reflecting upon the past like some of her contemporaries, they show an author making the best of the world and coming out ahead with humor and imagination.” —January Magazine'Each of the tales brims with old-fashioned adventure and charm. An excellent way to show Harry Potter fans that magic can come in small doses too.'—Author MagazineThis is the first complete collection of Joan Aiken's beloved Armitage stories—and it includes four new, unpublished stories. After Mrs. Armitage makes a wish, the Armitage family has “interesting and unusual” experiences every Monday (and the occasional Tuesday). The Board of Incantation tries to take over their house to use as a school for young wizards; the Furies come to stay; and a cutout from a cereal box leads into a beautiful and tragic palace garden. Charming and magical, the uncommon lives of the Armitage family will thrill and delight readers young and old. Includes Joan Aiken's “Prelude” from Armitage, Armitage, Fly Away Home, as well as introductions from Joan Aiken's daughter, Lizza Aiken, and best-selling author Garth Nix. Illustrated by Andi Watson.Best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken (1924-2004) wrote over a hundred books and won the Guardian and Edgar Allan Poe awards. After her first husband's death, she supported her family by copyediting at Argosy magazine and an advertising agency before turning to fiction. She went on to write for Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, Argosy, Women's Own, and many others.

'Rosenbaum's The Ant King and Other Stories contains invisible cities and playful deconstructions of the form. In'Biographical Notes to'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, With Air-Planes,'by Benjamin Rosenbaum'—yes, his name is part of the title—the author imagines a world whose technologies and philosophies differ wildly from ours. The result is a commentary on the state of the art that is itself the state of the art.'—Los Angeles Times Favorite Books of 2008•'Give him some prizes, like, perhaps,'best first collection'for this book.'—Booklist (Starred review, Top 10 SF Books of the Year)'Featuring outlandish and striking imagery throughout—a woman in love with an elephant, an orange that ruled the world—this collection is a surrealistic wonderland.'—Publishers Weekly'Rosenbaum proves he's capable of sustained fantasy with'Biographical Notes,'a steampunkish alternate history of aerial piracy, and'A Siege of Cranes,'a fantasy about a battle between a human insurgent and the White Witch that carries decidedly modern undercurrents.... Perhaps none of the tales is odder than'Orphans,'in which girl-meets-elephant, girl-loses-elephant.'—Kirkus Reviews'Urbane without being arch, sweet without being maudlin, mysterious without being cryptic.'—Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing'Lively, bizarre, and funny as well as dark, sinister, and sensual.'—Boston Phoenix A dazzling, postmodern debut collection of pulp and surreal fictions: a writer of alternate histories defends his patron's zeppelin against assassins and pirates; a woman transforms into hundreds of gumballs; an emancipated children's collective goes house hunting.Benjamin Rosenbaum's stories have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction and McSweeney's, been translated into fourteen languages, and listed in The Best American Short Stories 2006. Shortlisted for the Hugo and Nebula awards, Rosenbaum's work has been reprinted in Harper's and The Year's Best Science Fiction. He lives in Switzerland with his family.

The apocalypse was yesterday. These stories are today.Following up on her first collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh explores the catastrophes, small and large, of twenty-first century life—and what follows after. What happens after the bird flu pandemic? Are our computers smarter than we are? What does the global economy mean for two young girls in China? Are we really who we say we are? And how will we survive the coming zombie apocalypse?words : 62279Auszeichnung : isbn searched

Kelly Link riffs on haunted convenience stores, husbands and wives, rabbits, zombies, weekly apocalyptic poker parties, witches, superheroes, marriage, and cannons in her new collection. Each story is illustrated by artist Shelley Jackson, and Jackson's cover illustration is modeled on Leonardo Da Vinci's painting'Lady with an Ermine.'Magic for Beginners was selected as a Best Book of the Year by Time Magazine, BookSense, and Salon, and as a Best of the Decade by Salon, The Onion, HTML Giant, and the Village Voice. Link's stories have been awarded the Tiptree, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. Her stories have been published in A Public Space, One Story, McSweeney's, and Conjunctions, as well as translated into Japanese, German, Czech, Korean, French, and Greek. She lives with her family in Northampton, MA, although she can often be found driving across the country.

Geoff Ryman writes about the other and leaves us dissected in the process. His stories are set in recognizable placesLondon, Cambodia, tomorrowand feature men and women caught in recognizable situations (or technologies) and not sure which way to turn. They, we, should obviously choose what's right. But what if that's difficult? What will we do? What we should, or . . . ? Paradise Tales builds on the success of his most recent novel, The King's Last Song , and on the three Cambodian stories included here, "The Last Ten Years of the Hero Kai," "Blocked," and the exceedingly-popular "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter." Paradise Tales includes stories selected from the many periods of Rymans career including Birth Days, Omnisexual, The Film-makers of Mars, and a new story, K is for Kosovo (or, Massimos Career). To complement this first full-length short story collection, Small Beer Press is reprinting Ryman's backlist: Was , The Child Garden , and a book of four novellas, The Unconquered Countries , with new introductions to continue to build the readership of one of the most fascinating writers exploring the edges of being, gender, science, and fiction. Geoff Ryman is the author of the novels The King's Last Song , The Child Garden , Air (a Clarke and Tiptree Award winner), and The Unconquered Country (a World Fantasy Award winner). Canadian by birth, he has lived in Cambodia and Brazil and now teaches creative writing at the University of Manchester in England.

Raedawn Somershoe lives in a trailer on the banks of the Fox River. She likes men and men like her. It runs in the family: her mother, Gelia, can seduce a man just by walking across a road. Alexander Caebeau drives a bucketloader for a construction company. He's lonely, homesick, tired of cutting down trees and putting up ugly buildings. He dreams of going back to the Bahamas, but when Alexander meets Raedawn Somershoe, something magical happens. Raedawn has just lost her lover. Her mother is keeping secrets from her. Her childhood sweetheart has come home and is looking for answers. Riverfront developers want Rae and her family gone. She may just be falling in love with Alexander Caebeau. And the Fox River is beginning to rise.... Trash Sex Magic is a tender, joyful, raunchy, sprawling, radiant first novel of two people who fall in love. Jennifer Stevenson delivers lyrical prose, scenes brimming with magic, and unforgettable characters.

Praise for Joan Aiken: "Joan Aiken's invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come."—Philip Pullman "Aiken writes with the genius of a born storyteller, with mother wit expanded and embellished by civilized learning, and with the brilliance of an avenging angel."— The New Yorker Joan Aiken's stories captivated readers for fifty years. They're funny, smart, gentle, and occasionally very, very scary. The stories in The Monkey's Wedding are collected here for the very first time and include six never before published, as well as two previously published under the pseudonym Nicholas Dee. Here you'll find the story of a village for sale . . . or is the village itself the story? There's an English vicar who declares on his deathbed that he might have lived an entirely different life. After his...

Kelly Link riffs on haunted convenience stores, husbands and wives, rabbits, zombies, weekly apocalyptic poker parties, witches, superheroes, marriage, and cannons in her new collection. Each story is illustrated by artist Shelley Jackson, and Jackson's cover illustration is modeled on Leonardo Da Vinci's painting'Lady with an Ermine.'Magic for Beginners was selected as a Best Book of the Year by Time Magazine, BookSense, and Salon, and as a Best of the Decade by Salon, The Onion, HTML Giant, and the Village Voice. Link's stories have been awarded the Tiptree, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. Her stories have been published in A Public Space, One Story, McSweeney's, and Conjunctions, as well as translated into Japanese, German, Czech, Korean, French, and Greek. She lives with her family in Northampton, MA, although she can often be found driving across the country.

Gathers stories set in London, Cambodia, and other places during various periods including the future, that include a ghost story, a look at a society where health care is unattainable, and a tale of a boy and his robot surrogate mother.

This new edition of Ted Chiang's masterful first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, includes his first eight published stories plus the author's story notes and a cover that the author commissioned himself. Combining the precision and scientific curiosity of Kim Stanley Robinson with Lorrie Moore's cool, clear love of language and narrative intricacy, this award-winning collection offers readers the dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar. Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. In the amazing and much-lauded title story, a grieving mother copes with divorce and the death of her daughter by drawing on her knowledge of alien languages and non-linear memory recollection. A clever pastiche of news reports and interviews chronicles a college's initiative to "turn off" the human ability to recognize beauty in "Liking What You See: A Documentary." With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty and constant change, and also by beauty and wonder. Ted Chiang is one of the most celebrated science fiction authors writing today and is the author of numerous short stories, including most recently "Exhalation," which won the Hugo, British Science Fiction, and Locus awards. He lives near Seattle.**Amazon.com ReviewThis marvelous collection by one of science fiction's most thoughtful and graceful writers belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in literary science fiction.Collected here for the first time, Ted Chiang's award-winning stories--recipients of the Nebula, Sturgeon, Campbell, and Asimov awards--offer a feast of science, speculation, humanity, and lyricism. Standouts include "Tower of Babylon," in which a miner ascends the fabled tower in order to break through the vault of heaven; "Division by Zero," a precise and heartbreaking examination of the disintegration of hope and love; and "Story of Your Life," in which a linguist learns an alien language that reshapes her view of the world. Chiang has the gift that lies at the heart of good science fiction: a human story, beautifully told, in which the science is an expression of the deeper issues that the characters must confront. Full of remarkable ideas and unforgettable moments, Stories of Your Life and Others is highly recommended. --Roz GenesseeFrom Publishers WeeklyHere's the first must-read SF book of the year. Chiang has acquired a massive reputation on the basis of very few pieces of short fiction. This collection contains all six previously published tales, including the Nebula Award-winning "Tower of Babylon," plus a new story, "Liking What You See: A Documentary." It's rare for a writer to become so prominent so fast. In this case, though, the hype is deserved. Chiang has mastered an extremely tricky type of SF story. He begins with a startling bit of oddity, then, as readers figure out what part of the familiar world has been twisted, they realize that it was just a small part of a much larger structure of marvelous, threatening strangeness. Reading a Chiang story means juggling multiple conceptions of what is normal and right. Probably this kind of brain twisting can be done with such intensity only in shorter lengths; if these stories were much longer, readers' heads might explode. Still, the most surprising thing is how much feeling accompanies the intellectual exercises. Whether their initial subject is ancient Babylonians building a tower that reaches the base of Heaven, translation of an alien language that shows a woman a new way to view her life as a mother, or mass-producing golems in an alternative Victorian England, Chiang's stories are audacious, challenging and moving. They resemble the work of a less metaphysical Philip K. Dick or a Borges with more characterization and a grasp of cutting-edge science.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Karen Lord’s debut novel won the prestigious Frank Collymore Literary Prize in Barbados, the Mythopeic, Carl Brandon Parallax, and Crawford Awards. It is an intricately woven tale of adventure, magic, and the power of the human spirit.Paama’s husband is a fool and a glutton. Bad enough that he followed her to her parents’ home in the village of Makende, now he’s disgraced himself by murdering livestock and stealing corn. When Paama leaves him for good, she attracts the attention of the undying ones—the djombi—who present her with a gift: the Chaos Stick, which allows her to manipulate the subtle forces of the world. Unfortunately, a wrathful djombi with indigo skin believes this power should be his and his alone.Bursting with humor and rich in fantastic detail, Redemption in Indigo is a clever, contemporary fairy tale that introduces readers to a dynamic new voice in Caribbean literature. Lord’s world of spider tricksters and indigo immortals, inspired in part by a Senegalese folk tale, will feel instantly familiar—but Paama’s adventures are fresh, surprising, and utterly original.

<p>“An alchemical mix of Borges, Raymond Chandler and <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer.</i>”—Salon.com (Best of the Year)</p> <p>“A delightful collection.”—<i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i></p> <p>“My favorite fantasy writer.”—Alan Cheuse, <i>All Things Considered</i></p> <p>"Link's stories defy explanation, or at least, brief summary, instead working on the plane between dream and cognitive dissonance. They are true to themselves: witty, beautiful, funny, and startling."—<i>Rain Taxi</i></p> <p>"Link uses the nonsensical to illuminate truth, blurring the distinctions between the mundane and the fantastic to tease out the underlying meanings of modern life."—<i>Booklist</i></p> <p>"The 11 fantasies in this first collection from rising star Link are so quirky and exuberantly imagined that one is easily distracted from their surprisingly serious underpinnings of private pain and emotional estrangement."<br> —<i>Publishers Weekly</i></p> <p>Kelly Link's collection of stories, <i>Stranger Things Happen,</i> really scores.<br> —Daniel Mendelsohn, <i>New York Magazine</i></p> <p>"A tremendously appealing book, and lovers of short fiction should fall over themselves getting out the door to find a copy."<br> —<i>Washington Post Book World</i></p> <p>"Stylistic pyrotechnics light up a bizarre but emotionally truthful landscape. Link's a writer to watch."<br> —<i>Kirkus Reviews</i></p> <p>"A set of stories that are by turns dazzling, funny, scary, and sexy, but only when they're not all of these at once. Kelly Link has strangeness, charm and spin to spare. Writers better than this don't happen."<br> —Karen Joy Fowler</p> <p>"Kelly Link is probably the best short story writer currently out there, in any genre or none. She puts one word after another and makes real magic with them-funny, moving, tender, brave and dangerous. She is unique, and should be declared a national treasure, and possibly surrounded at all times by a cordon of armed marines."<br> —Neil Gaiman</p> <p>"Kelly Link is the exact best and strangest and funniest short story writer on earth that you have never heard of at the exact moment you are reading these words and making them slightly inexact. Now pay for the book."<br> —Jonathan Lethem</p> <p>The eleven stories in Kelly Link’s debut collection are funny, spooky, and smart. They all have happy endings. They were all especially written for you. A Best of the Year pick from Salon.com, <i>Locus, The Village Voice,</i> and <i>San Francisco Chronicle.</i> Includes Nebula, World Fantasy, and Tiptree award-winning stories.</p> <p><b>Kelly Link</b> is the author of three collections of short fiction <i>Stranger Things Happen</i>, <i>Magic for Beginners</i>, and <i>Pretty Monsters</i>. Her short stories have won three Nebula, a Hugo, and a World Fantasy Award. She was born in Miami, Florida, and once won a free trip around the world by answering the question “Why do you want to go through the world?” (”Because you can’t go through it.”)</p> <p>Link lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she and her husband, Gavin J. Grant, run Small Beer Press, co-edit the fantasy half of <i>The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror</i>, and play ping-pong. In 1996 they startd the occasional zine <i>Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.</i></p>

<p><i>Publishers Weekly</i> Top 10 Best of the Year</p> <p>In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced overseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague.</p> <p>Praise for Maureen F. McHugh:</p> <p>"Gorgeously crafted stories."—Nancy Pearl, NPR</p> <p>"Hauntingly beautiful."—<i>Booklist</i></p> <p>"Unpredictable and poetic work."—<i>The Plain Dealer</i></p> <p><b>Maureen F. McHugh</b> has lived in New York; Shijiazhuang, China; Ohio; Austin, Texas; and now lives in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of a Story Prize finalist collection, <i>Mothers &amp; Other Monsters</i>, and four novels, including Tiptree Award-winner <i>China Mountain Zhang</i> and <i>New York Times</i> editor's choice <i>Nekropolis</i>. McHugh has also worked on alternate reality games for <i>Halo 2</i>, The Watchmen, and Nine Inch Nails, among others.</p> <p>io9 Best SF&amp;F Books of 2011</p> <p>Tiptree Award Honor List</p> <p>Philip K. Dick Award finalist</p> <p>Story Prize Notable Book</p>

Henry Sullivan makes his living as a book hound. When an ex-lover is murdered, he mounts an unofficial investigation that leads him through the murky depths of Boston's literary world.

Time Magazine: 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time · World Fantasy, British Fantasy, & Crawford Award winnerJevick, the pepper merchant's son, has been raised on stories of Olondria, a distant land where books are as common as they are rare in his home. When his father dies and Jevick takes his place on the yearly selling trip to Olondria, Jevick's life is as close to perfect as he can imagine. But just as he revels in Olondria's Rabelaisian Feast of Birds, he is pulled drastically off course and becomes haunted by the ghost of an illiterate young girl.In desperation, Jevick seeks the aid of Olondrian priests and quickly becomes a pawn in the struggle between the empire's two most powerful cults. Yet even as the country shimmers on the cusp of war, he must face his ghost and learn her story before he has any chance of becoming free by setting her free: an ordeal that challenges his understanding of art and life, home and exile, and the limits of that seductive necromancy, reading.A Stranger in Olondria is a skillful and immersive debut fantasy novel that pulls the reader in deeper and deeper with twists and turns reminiscent of George R. R. Martin and Joe Hill.