Book picks similar to
A Very British Genre: A Short History of British Fantasy and Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid
non-fiction
genre_science-fiction_speculative
interested
literary-criticism
Astounding Days
Arthur C. Clarke - 1990
It centers on three editors, Harry Bates, F. Orlin Tremaine, and John W. Campbell, who created the magazine now known as Analog (until 1960 it was called Astounding Science Fiction). Clarke gives his reaction to the writers and illustrators who first aroused his interest in science fiction. The scientific ferment of the 1930s and the 1940s is related to the ideas of the period and to the author's work in rocketry and radar. A sweeping view of popular science and popular fiction.- Katherine Thorp, St. Louis Univ. Lib.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Cardiac Arrest: Five Heart-Stopping Years as a CEO On the Feds' Hit-List
Howard Root - 2016
Fifteen years later, his Minnesota company had created over 500 American jobs and developed more than 50 new medical devices that saved and improved lives. But in 2011, the federal government threatened to destroy his company and put Howard behind bars for years. Why? Federal prosecutors had been sold a bill of goods – a tall tale peddled by a money-hungry ex-employee out for revenge. All over one device. A device that never harmed a single patient and made up less than 1% of the company s sales. The investigation revealed the charges to be baseless, but the scalp-hunting prosecutors didn't back off. Instead they dug in – threatening witnesses, misleading grand juries, and strategically leaking secret documents. Whatever it took to pressure a headline-grabbing settlement. Howard Root stood up to the shakedown. Five years, 121 attorneys and $25 million in legal fees later, his life's work and freedom rested in the hands of 12 strangers in a San Antonio jury room. Would Howard and his company be vindicated by the verdict, or had he made the biggest mistake of his life by challenging the federal government? Cardiac Arrest is the eye-opening true story of life on the Feds' hit-list, told from the desk of a CEO who decided to fight back. Follow Howard from the boardroom to the courtroom, as he tells the inside story of the case that sparked outrage in the pages of The Wall Street Journal and triggered a congressional investigation.
Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories
C.S. Lewis - 1966
S. Lewis's adult religious books, a repackaged edition of the revered author’s treasury of essays and stories which examine the value of creative writing and imaginative exploration.C. S. Lewis—the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics—presents a well-reasoned case for the importance of story and wonder, elements often ignored by critics of his time. He also discusses his favorite kinds of stories—children’s stories and fantasies—and offers insights into his most famous works, The Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy.
Free Kindle Books
Creep Creepersin - 2013
This is the story of one man's quest to get the entire Amazon Kindle library for free and the repercussions of what an insane obsession could bring.
The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games
Ebony Elizabeth Thomas - 2019
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.”
The Tiniest Mansion - How To Live In Luxury on the Side of the Road in an RV
Tynan - 2012
The Tiniest Mansion will teach you how to convert a small RV into a rolling palace with all the comforts of your home, plus the freedom to live anywhere you want without paying rent.The Tiniest Mansion covers everything from the essentials like choosing an RV, generating power, and dumping your tanks to more extravagant projects like installing marble floors and building an entertainment system.This book is a practical guide for anyone who is living in an RV or is considering it. Tynan, who has been living in an RV since 2006, shares all of his hard won secrets of RV living in this book.
The Owl and the Nightingale
Simon Armitage - 2021
. . in its own eccentric way, [The Owl and the Nightingale] is every bit as enticing as Gawain . . . it is arguably the greatest early Middle English poem we have. ProspectA graceful, elegant translation. GuardianFollowing his acclaimed translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl, Simon Armitage shines light on another jewel of Middle English verse. In his highly engaging version, Armitage communicates the energy and humour of the tale with all the cut and thrust of the original. An unnamed narrator overhears a fierce verbal contest between the two eponymous birds, which moves entertainingly from the eloquent and philosophical to the ribald and ridiculous. The disputed issues still resonate - concerning identity, cultural habits, class distinctions and the right to be heard. Excerpts were featured in the BBC Radio 4 podcast, The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed. Including the lively illustrations of Clive Hicks-Jenkins, this is a book for the whole household to read and enjoy.
Fashion 2.0: Blogging Your Way To The Front Row.: The insider's guide to turning your fashion blog into a profitable business and launching a new career.
Yuli Ziv - 2011
You will find practical business advice on how to: - Brand yourself as a top blogger and sought-after influencer - Build valuable relationships with PR companies and brands - Secure invitations to important industry events - Work with advertising networks - Develop new revenue streams - Land spokesperson deals and large scale sponsorships - Position yourself at the forefront of the fashion blogosphere Full of action driven exercises, helpful resources and inspirational chapters by top fashion bloggers What I Wore, College Fashion, Gala Darling, Second City Style and Corporette, the book is packed with all the advice and motivation you need to take your blogging career to the next level!
All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told
Douglas Wolk - 2021
The Marvel story is a gigantic mountain smack in the middle of contemporary culture. Thousands of writers and artists have contributed to it. Everyone recognizes its protagonists: Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men. Eighteen of the hundred highest-grossing movies of all time are based on parts of it. Yet not even the people telling the story have read the whole thing--nobody's supposed to. So, of course, that's what Wolk did: he read all 27,000+ comics that make up the Marvel Universe thus far, from Alpha Flight to Omega the Unknown.And then he made sense of it--seeing into the ever-expanding story, in its parts and as a whole, and seeing through it, as a prism through which to view the landscape of American culture. In Wolk's hands, the mammoth Marvel narrative becomes a fun-house-mirror history of the past sixty years, from the atomic night terrors of the Cold War to the technocracy and political division of the present day--a boisterous, tragicomic, magnificently filigreed epic about power and ethics, set in a world transformed by wonders.As a work of cultural exegesis, this is sneakily significant, even a landmark; it's also ludicrously fun. Wolk sees fascinating patterns--the rise and fall of particular cultural aspirations, and of the storytelling modes that conveyed them. He observes the Marvel story's progressive visions and its painful stereotypes, its patches of woeful hackwork and stretches of luminous creativity, and the way it all feeds into a potent cosmology that echoes our deepest hopes and fears. This is a huge treat for Marvel fans, but it's also a revelation for readers who don't know Doctor Strange from Doctor Doom. Here, truly, are all of the marvels.
Victim of Thought: Seeing Through the Illusion of Anxiety
Jill Whalen - 2017
As it turns out, we were sold a pack of lies! What if the only thing causing your anxiety is your own thoughts? And what if underneath your anxious thinking was your true, perfect self--whole and healthy and untouched by all your fears? How would this change your life? For Jill Whalen, understanding this information switched off a lifetime of anxiety and addictive behaviors. In Victim of Thought: Seeing Through the Illusion of Anxiety, Jill describes how she spent over 50 years in a constant state of anxiousness. While she could feel fine one minute, she never knew what might be lurking around the corner that could seemingly disturb her peace. It was only when she learned the simple truth of where her anxiety was really coming from--and that underneath it was her innate well-being--that she no longer was a victim to it. In this easy to read and understand book, Jill logically explains how having one or more insightful "aha moments" can wipe away a lifetime of anxious thinking. She shares numerous relatable stories and examples from her own life to help you see the truth in her words. Jill also provides you with step-by-step instructions to become more aware of your own thoughts, which in turn puts you back in the driver's seat of your life. But the proof is really in the pudding, and Jill encourages you at every turn seek your own examples and evidence of how you've let yourself become a victim of your own thoughts. Once you see this for yourself, your life and your anxiety will magically transform before your eyes! If you're tired of believing that you're a victim to your anxiety, and are looking for a more peaceful life, then this book is for you. ======================================================================= INITIAL REVIEWS "The book was fascinating, particularly as someone who also struggles with anxiety. I think you did a great job of explaining the concepts to a layperson. I particularly found both the Thought Stream and also the Thoughts Storm as a snow globe metaphors extremely effective! It's very easy to relate to and very eye-opening. Hopefully I can find a way to start practicing some of this thought work into my own life! The idea that our normal state is peace - so simple, but so difficult to realize without it being pointed out!" - Ashley R. "I love your book. It's so wise and clear. I'm very grateful that you sent me a copy!" - Ingrid M. "I found the thought processes you speak of very enlightening and it does seem to make the complex reasons for anxiety simpler to understand." - Cyndy F. "It's great! Well written and flows well. I like that you began with your story and laid things out really nicely. The separate sections are super helpful and make logical sense to anyone who is new (or old) to the concept. Overall this book is VERY needed and useful and just has a really nice feeling to it as well. I think it would also be a reference for someone who has anxiety. A book they go back to when they get caught up in their thoughts." - Lana B.
How Should One Read a Book?
Virginia Woolf - 1926
In revised form it appears to have been first published in The Yale Review, October, 1926. Along with other essays, it first appeared in book form in Woolf's The Common Reader: Second Series in 1932.
Faulks on Fiction
Sebastian Faulks - 2011
But it's also true, as Sebastian Faulks argues in this remarkable book, that the novel helped invent the British: for the first time we had stories that reflected the experiences of ordinary people, with characters in which we could find our reality, our understanding and our escape.In Faulks on Fiction, Faulks examines many of these enduring fictional characters from over the centuries -- Heroes from Tom Jones to John Self, Lovers from Mr Darcy to Lady Chatterly, Villains from Fagin to Barbara Covett, and Snobs from Emma Woodhouse to James Bond -- and shows us how they mapped and inspired the British psyche, and continue to do so.Published to coincide with a major BBC series, Faulks on Fiction is an engaging and opinionated look at the psychology of the British through their literature, and a unique social history of Britain from one of our most respected writers.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of "To Kill a Mockingbird"
Mary McDonagh Murphy - 2010
These interviews are compiled in Scout, Atticus, and Boo, the perfect companion to one of the most important American books of the 20th Century. Scout, Atticus, and Boo will also feature a foreword from acclaimed writer Wally Lamb.
Build Your Best Writing Life: Essential Strategies for Personal Writing Success
Kristen Kieffer - 2019
Maybe you’re frustrated with your writing progress or overwhelmed by creative doubt, burnout, or writer’s block. Maybe you just can’t seem to sit down and write.No matter the roadblock standing between you and writing success, here’s the good news: You’re capable of becoming the writer you want to be—and that work can begin today. In this actionable and empowering guide to personal writing success, Kristen Kieffer shares 25 insightful chapters designed to help you:• Cultivate confidence in your skills and stories• Develop a personal writing habit you can actually sustain• Improve your writing ability with tools for intentional growth• Discover what you (really) want from your writing life—and how to get it! By the end of Build Your Best Writing Life, you’ll know how to harness the simple techniques that can help you win your inner creative battles, finish projects you can be proud to share with the world, and work with focus to turn your writing dreams into reality.
Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde
Thomas Wright - 2008
His library was his reality, the source of so much that was vital to his life. A reader first, his readerly encounters, out of all of life's pursuits, are seen to be as significant as his most important relationships with friends, family, or lovers. Wilde's library, which Thomas Wright spent twenty years reading, provides the intellectual (and emotional) climate at the core of this deeply engaging portrait.One of the book's happiest surprises is the story of the author's adventure reading Wilde's library. Reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges's fictional hero who enters Cervantes's mind by saturating himself in the culture of sixteenth-century Spain, Wright employs Wilde as his own Virgilian guide to world literature. We come to understand how reading can be an extremely sensual experience, producing a physical as well as a spiritual delight.