The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories Pre-Owned Hardcover 0192142046 9780192142047 H. G. Wells Rudyard Kipling Arthur C. Clarke J. G. Ballard

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This is a Pre-Owned book. All our books are in Good or better condition. Format: Hardcover Author: H. G. Wells Rudyard Kipling Arthur C. Clarke J. G. Ballard ISBN10: 0192142046 ISBN13: 9780192142047 In Swarm Bruce Stirling takes the reader inside the Nest a vast honeycomb of caverns within an asteroid orbiting Betelgeuse peopled by hundreds of thousands of large insectlike aliens including eight-legged furred workers the size of Great Danes and horse-sized warriors with heavy fanged heads. In The Screwfly Solution Raccoona Sheldon creates a world much like modern America except that something-an insect virus a mass religious delusion or an alien-is infecting men worldwide converting their sexual drive into homicidal rage against women. And J.G. Ballard in Billennium portrays the end result of unchecked population growth a claustrophobic city of 30 million people where by law the unmarried must live in cubicles four meters square. These three tales though strikingly different have one thing in common-each evokes a world that is uniquely the authors own. Indeed to read any science fiction writer is to enter into another world. It may be a world far off in space or time or it may be right here right now but with a twist-an invention or event or visitor-that suddenly changes everything. In The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories Tom Shippey has brought together thirty classic science fiction tales each of which offers a unique vision an altered reality a universe all its own. Here are some of the great names in science fiction-H.G. Wells Arthur C. Clarke Frederik Pohl Brian Aldiss Ursula K. Le Guin Thomas Disch Bruce Sterling William Gibson and David Brin. To give readers a sense of how the genres range vitality and literary quality evolved over time Shippey has organized these stories chronologically. Readers can sample H.G. Wells 1903 story The Land Ironclads which predicted the stalemate of trench warfare and the invention of the tank Jack Williamsons The Metal Man a rarely anthologized gem written in 1928 Clifford D. Simaks 1940s classic Desertion set on the howling maelstrom that was Jupiter Frederik Pohls 1955 The Tunnel Under the World with its gripping first line On the morning of June 15th Guy Burckhardt woke up screaming out of a dream right up to the current crop of writers such as cyberpunks Bruce Sterling and William Gibson whose 1982 story Burning Chrome foreshadows the idea of virtual reality and David Brins Piecework written in 1990. In addition Shippey provides an informative introduction examining the history of the genre it major themes and its literary techniques. Here then is a galaxy of classic science fiction tales written by the stars of the genre. Anyone with a serious interest in science fiction-and everyone who has entertained a curiosity about the genre-will find this volume enthralling.