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YA Book Club POSTPONED! Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to cancel this Saturday's YA book club meeting. We will reschedule and post it here and on our social media as soon as we can.
Sci Fi & Fantasy Anthologies
Hugo and Locus Award Finalist
An Economist Best Book of the Year
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Best Book of 2018
"An amazing and engrossing history...Insightful, entertaining, and compulsively readable." -- George R. R. Martin
Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers--John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard--who set off a revolution in science fiction and forever changed our world.
This remarkable cultural narrative centers on the figure of John W. Campbell, Jr., whom Asimov called "the most powerful force in science fiction ever." Campbell, who has never been the subject of a biography until now, was both a visionary author--he wrote the story that was later filmed as The Thing--and the editor of the groundbreaking magazine best known as Astounding Science Fiction, in which he discovered countless legendary writers and published classic works ranging from the I, Robot series to Dune. Over a period of more than thirty years, from the rise of the pulps to the debut of Star Trek, he dominated the genre, and his three closest collaborators reached unimaginable heights. Asimov became the most prolific author in American history; Heinlein emerged as the leading science fiction writer of his generation with the novels Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land; and Hubbard achieved lasting fame--and infamy--as the founder of the Church of Scientology.
Drawing on unexplored archives, thousands of unpublished letters, and dozens of interviews, Alec Nevala-Lee offers a riveting portrait of this circle of authors, their work, and their tumultuous private lives. With unprecedented scope, drama, and detail, Astounding describes how fan culture was born in the depths of the Great Depression; follows these four friends and rivals through World War II and the dawn of the atomic era; and honors such exceptional women as Doña Campbell and Leslyn Heinlein, whose pivotal roles in the history of the genre have gone largely unacknowledged. For the first time, it reveals the startling extent of Campbell's influence on the ideas that evolved into Scientology, which prompted Asimov to observe: "I knew Campbell and I knew Hubbard, and no movement can have two Messiahs." It looks unsparingly at the tragic final act that estranged the others from Campbell, bringing the golden age of science fiction to a close, and it illuminates how their complicated legacy continues to shape the imaginations of millions and our vision of the future itself.
Enthralling...A clarion call to enlarge American literary history." -- Washington Post
"Engrossing, well-researched... This sure-footed history addresses important issues, such as the lack of racial diversity and gender parity for much of the genre's history." -- Wall Street Journal
"A gift to science fiction fans everywhere." -- Sylvia Nasar, New York Times bestselling author of A Beautiful Mind
Black From the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing encompasses the broad spectrum of Black speculative writing, including science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, and Afrofuturism, all by Black women writers. Editors Stephanie Andrea Allen and Lauren Cherelle have gathered the voices of twenty emerging and established writers in speculative fiction and poetry; writers who've imagined the weird and the wondrous, the futuristic and the fantastical, the shadowy and the sublime.
Finalist, Creative Nonfiction IGNYTE Award, given by FIYACON for BIPOC+ in Speculative Fiction
Finalist, 2020 World Fantasy AwardsReveals the diversity crisis in children's and young adult media as not only a lack of representation, but a lack of imagination Stories provide portals into other worlds, both real and imagined. The promise of escape draws people from all backgrounds to speculative fiction, but when people of color seek passageways into the fantastic, the doors are often barred. This problem lies not only with children's publishing, but also with the television and film executives tasked with adapting these stories into a visual world. When characters of color do appear, they are often marginalized or subjected to violence, reinforcing for audiences that not all lives matter. The Dark Fantastic is an engaging and provocative exploration of race in popular youth and young adult speculative fiction. Grounded in her experiences as YA novelist, fanfiction writer, and scholar of education, Thomas considers four black girl protagonists from some of the most popular stories of the early 21st century: Bonnie Bennett from the CW's The Vampire Diaries, Rue from Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, Gwen from the BBC's Merlin, and Angelina Johnson from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. Analyzing their narratives and audience reactions to them reveals how these characters mirror the violence against black and brown people in our own world. In response, Thomas uncovers and builds upon a tradition of fantasy and radical imagination in Black feminism and Afrofuturism to reveal new possibilities. Through fanfiction and other modes of counter-storytelling, young people of color have reinvisioned fantastic worlds that reflect their own experiences, their own lives. As Thomas powerfully asserts, "we dark girls deserve more, because we are more."
Invisible Planets, edited by multi award-winning writer Ken Liu--translator of the bestselling and Hugo Award-winning novel The Three Body Problem by acclaimed Chinese author Cixin Liu--is his second thought-provoking anthology of Chinese short speculative fiction. Invisible Planets is a groundbreaking anthology of Chinese short speculative fiction.
The thirteen stories in this collection, including two by Cixin Liu and the Hugo and Sturgeon award-nominated "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang, add up to a strong and diverse representation of Chinese SF. Some have won awards, some have garnered serioius critical acclaim, some have been selected for Year's Best anthologies, and some are simply Ken Liu's personal favorites. To round out the collection, there are several essays from Chinese scholars and authors, plus an illuminating introduction by Ken Liu. Anyone with an interest in international science fiction will find Invisible Planets an indispensable addition to their collection. For more Chinese SF in translation, check out Broken Stars. Stories:"The Year of the Rat" by Chen Qiufan
"The Fist of Lijian" by Chen Qiufan
"The Flower of Shazui" by Chen Qiufan
"A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight" by Xia Jia
"Tongtong's Summer" by Xia Jia
"Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse" by Xia jia
"The City of Silence" by Ma Boyong
"Invisible Planets" by Hao Jingfang
"Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang
"Call Girl" by Tang Fei
"Grave of the Fireflies" by Cheng Jingbo
"The Circle" by Liu Cixin
"Taking Care of God" by Liu Cixin Essays:
"The Worst of All Possible Universes and the Best of All Possible Earths: Three-Body and Chinese Science Fiction" by Liu Cixin and Ken Liu
"The Torn Generation" Chinese Science Fiction in a Culture in Transition" by Chen Qiufan and Ken Liu
"What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?" by Xia Jia and Ken Liu