For much of his career, Vance has also been one of the field's most private writers, an author who preferred to let his work speak for him. Now, at last, to coincide with the release of the tribute anthology Songs of the Dying Earth, Jack gives us this intimate and fascinating glimpse into his rich and eventful life, and a valuable insight into how he went about practicing his craft. For fans of the Grand Master's work, these memoirs are something to be treasured.

    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.

    In this first collection of Harlan Ellison's cinema criticism (with expanded, never-before-collected articles as well as an essay written especially for this volume) come from the darkened interiors of a thousand movie houses where this most peculiar of all Observers of the Passing Scene has spent much of his life. The view is guaranteed to make you grind your teeth in anger, nod your head in blessed agreement, and open your eyes in a manner of judging films that is definitely not plebeian. Harlan Ellison's love affair with movies is obvious. As an essayist, he has no equal; as a film critic he has no friends. Take care.

    In this first volume of his autobiography he recounts in his candid and inimitable manner his life's work in science, science fiction, and practically everything else.Beginning in the beginning, Asimov tells of his family's emigration from Russia when he was only three. We see the young Isaac, barely more than a toddler, determined to decipher Brooklynese. Intrigued by signs in the "new" language, he taught himself to read and whizzed through school as a child prodigy, without modesty, getting A's in everything except deportment. In his early years at school he befriended a talkative little boy who held Isaac spellbound with his stories. this was Isaac's first introduction to fiction, and soon afterward he began to borrow science fiction magazines from the rack in his father's candy store, reading them in secret, and returning them still looking like new.Entering college at the age of fifteen, he emerged with a doctorate in chemistry from Columbia University. Then there were his stints at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia during World War II and in the Army (for once the military couldn't fail to recognize a genius!), his first marriage, and his years teaching biochemistry — to standing ovations from his classes — at Boston University Medical School. All this time he was rising to prominence as a storyteller, author of The Foundation Trilogy and "Nightfall," and laying the groundwork for his future as our most outstanding diverse science writer.In short, this is a book where the man who has been called a "national resource and a natural wonder" tells how he got to be that way. A treasure-trove for Asimov fans of all ages, all walks of life.

    Science Made Stupid is a book that teaches one how to discomprehend the world around us!

    In an uncompromising, often irreverent survey of the genre from Edgar Allan Poe to Philip K. Dick to Star Trek, Thomas M. Disch analyzes science fiction's impact on technological innovation, fashion, lifestyle, military strategy, the media, and much more. An illuminating look at the art of science fiction (with a practitioner's insight into craft), as well as a work of pointed literary and cultural criticism, The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of reveals how this "pulp genre" has captured the popular imagination while transforming the physical and social world in which we live.

    

    Johnson always suspected that his father was different. Only as a teenager did he discover the truth: his father was a spy, one of the CIA's most trusted officers. At first the secret was thrilling. But over time Scott began to have doubts. How could a man so rigorously trained to deceive and manipulate simply turn off those skills at home? His father had been living a double life for so long that his lies were hard to separate from the truth. When Scott embarked on a career as a foreign correspondent, he found himself returning to many of the troubled countries of his youth. In the dusty streets of Pakistan and Afghanistan, amid the cold urbanity of Yugoslavia, and down the mysterious alleys of Mexico City, he came face to face with his father's murky past--and his own complicity in it. Scott learned that his chosen profession was not so different from his father's: they both worked to gain people's trust and to uncover their secrets. The only difference was what they did with that information.In the aftermath of 9/11, father and son found themselves on assignment in Afghanistan and the Middle East, one as a CIA contractor, the other as a reporter for Newsweek. Suddenly, an unsettled Scott was forced to keep his father's secret all over again. As their professional lives collided, Scott and his father inched toward a personal reckoning, struggling to overcome a lifetime of suspicion and deception.The Wolf and the Watchman is a provocative, meditative account of truth and duplicity, of manipulation and loyalty. It is also a moving, intensely personal portrait of a bond between father and son that endured in the shadow of one of the world's most secretive and unforgiving institutions.

    The Hugo-winning short story about diners, bored teenagers, and parallel worlds.

    His blog, JustStopEatingSoMuch.com, focuses on the topics of weight loss and food addiction. McBride has made multiple appearances on the Today Show and is also the author of the book Just Stop Eating So Much!, as well as a featured blogger for the Huffington Post.Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN, is the longtime nutrition and health expert for the Today Show, a contributing editor to Woman's Day magazine, and the New York Times best-selling author of Food Cures and Joy Fit Club.

    (*Note: book was written in the 1970's)

    Aldiss * Masks by Damon Knight * Time Considered As a Helix of Semi-precious Stones by Samuel R. Delany * Hemeac by E.G. Von Wald * The Cloudbuilders by Colin Kapp * The Grand Carcass by R.A. Lafferty * A Visit to Cleveland General by Sydney Van Scyoc * The Selchey Kids by Laurence Yep * Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. * The Dance of the Changer and the Three by Terry Carr * Sword Game by H.H. Hollis * Total Environment by Brian W. Aldiss * The Square Root of Brain by Fritz Leiber * Starsong by Fred Saberhagen * Fear Hound by Katherine MacLean

    Bass grew up in the suburban sprawl of Houston, and after attending college in Utah he spent eight years working in Mississippi as a geologist, until one day he packed up and went in search of something visceral, true, and real. He found it in the remote Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana, where despite extensive logging not a single species has gone extinct since the last Ice Age. Bass has lived in “the Yaak” ever since, and in Why I Came West he chronicles his transformation into the writer, hunter, and environmental activist that he is today. He explains how the rugged, wild landscape smoothed out his own rough edges; attempts to define the appeal of the West that so transfixed him as a boy, a place of mountains and outlaws and continual rebirth; and tells of his own role as a reluctant activist—sometimes at odds with his own neighbors—unwilling to stand idly by and watch this treasured place disappear.Rick Bass is the author of many acclaimed books of nonfiction and fiction, including The Lives of Rocks, The Diezmo, and Winter.

    Page after page of inside photos from the legendary National Geographic archives document the royal's most memorable moments in the spotlight; a luminous, personal remembrance by Diana friend and biographer Tina Brown adds context and nuance to a poignant life twenty years after her tragic death. Float down memory lane through more than 100 remarkable images of Diana, from her days as a schoolgirl to her engagement to Prince Charles, the birth of Princes William and Harry, and her life in the media as an outspoken advocate for the poor, the sick, and the downtrodden. This elegant book features reflections from those who knew her best, recollections from dignitaries and celebrities like Nelson Mandela and Elton John, and personal insight through the princess's own words. This richly illustrated book is a beautiful ode to one of the world's most beloved women.

    This lavish volume, studded with graphics and nuggets of information, is the pleasing result. Science Fiction : The Illustrated Encyclopedia showcases the prophecy and pageantry of science fiction. It weaves together world history with literary history and technical developments with SF trends, providing a cultural context to the Zeitgeist of the genre. Words truly cannot do justice to the visual delights of this colorful tome: time lines, charts, author biographies and bibliographies complete with photos and signatures, illustrated analyses of SF traditions, magazine covers, classic book covers, film and television snapshots, and historical photos. Use it as a reference, read it through, or pick it up and enjoy it in bits. Science Fiction : The Illustrated Encyclopedia will arouse curiosity, joy, and pride in the hearts of SF lovers. --Bonnie Bouman