Children's literature: what are the greatest, most widely read, most influential, most translated and most adapted classics? Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) and Carlo Collodi's Le Avventur…

This work provides a thorough study of Tolkien's life and influences through an analysis of ""The History of Middle Earth"". The work begins with a brief biography and an analysis of the major influences in Tolkien's early life. Following chapters d…

Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Red Dwarf, and Torchwood represent a significant cross section of BBC science-fiction television. With such respective characters as the Doctor, an enigmatic time-traveling alien; Roj Blake, a problematic rebel leader; Dave Li…

Robert A. Heinlein's early, juvenile science fiction novels appeared between 1947 and 1963, just as America was emerging from World War II and entering the space age, and are among his richest and most warmly remembered books. This comprehensive wor…

Essays in this volume demonstrate how science fiction can serve as a bridge between science and the humanities. Essays are arranged chronologically and form a historical survey of science fiction, showing how early writers like Dante and Mary Shelle…

As a member of the Pulitzer Prize jury, the late Frank McConnell helped science fiction gain standing as serious literature, evolving his presentation of the field over the course of his career. The 16 essays reveal that evolution as presented in pa…

Created in 2006 as a spinoff of Doctor Who, the internationally popular BBC television series Torchwood is a unique blend of science fiction and fantasy, with much more of an adult flavor than its progenitor. The series' ""omnisexual"" protagonist,…

Do you find yourself contemplating the imminent end of the world? Do you wonder how society might reorganize itself to cope with global cataclysm? Have you begun hoarding canned goods and ammunition against possible alien invasion? Visions of the ap…

This book explores how contemporary fantastic fiction by women writers responds to the past and imagines the future. The first two chapters look at revisionist rewritings of fairy tales and historical texts; the third and fourth focus on future-orie…

This collection of critical essays applies a wide range of critical frameworks to the analysis of prolific fantasy author Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. Essays focus on topics such as Pratchett's treatment of noise and silence and their politica…

This book makes connections between mythopoeic fantasy - works which engage the numinous - and the critical apparatuses of ecocriticism and posthumanism. Drawing from the ideas of Rudolf Otto in The Idea of the Holy, mythopoeic fantasy is a means of…

This book is a collection of new essays, with the general objective of filling a gap in the literature about sex and science fiction. Although some work has been published, none of it is recent. The essays herein explore the myriad ways in which aut…

This book analyzes Donaldson's role as a modern writer who uses the fantasy genre to discuss situations and predicaments germane to the modern world. Donaldson, it is argued, reclaims an epic vision in his Thomas Covenant novels that is lacking in m…

We live in an information economy, a vast archive of data ever at our fingertips. In the pages of science fiction, powerful entities-governments and corporations-seek to use this archive to control society, enforcing conformity or turning citizens i…

Robert Holdstock was a prolific writer whose oeuvre included horror, fantasy, mystery and the novelization of films, often published under pseudonyms. These twelve critical essays explore Holdstock's varied output by displaying his works against the…

The birth of modern fantasy in 1930s Britain and America saw the development of new literary and film genres. J.R.R. Tolkien created modern fantasy with The Lord of the Rings, set in a fictional world based upon his life in the early 20th-century Br…

Science fiction is often considered the genre of ideas and imagination, which would seem to make it ideal for juveniles and young adults; however, the ideas are often dispensed by adults. This book considers the development of science fiction for ch…

Released in May 1977, the original ""Star Wars"" movie inaugurated the age of the movie blockbuster. It also redefined the use of cinematic special effects, creating a new textual universe that now stretches through three decades, two trilogies and…

Science fiction has always intrigued readers with depictions of an unforeseen future. Can the genre actually provide audiences with a glance into the world of tomorrow? This collection of fifteen international and interdisciplinary essays examines t…

Fantasy writing, like literature in general, provides a powerful vehicle for challenging the status quo. Via symbolism, imagery and supernaturalism, fantasy constructs secondary-world narratives that both mirror and critique the political paradigms…

The figure of the vampire is a truly global phenomenon, with popular interpretations appearing in Europe and Asia that are distinct from any versions found in the Americas. Instead, the global vampire draws from indigenous mythology as well as popul…

The 14 essays in this volume explore Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular Twilight series in the contexts of literature, religion, fairy tales, film, and the gothic. Several contributors examine Meyer's emphasis on abstinence, considering how, why, and…

Science and science fiction have become inseparable-with common stories, interconnected thought experiments, and shared language. This reference book lays out that relationship and its all-but-magical terms and ideas. Those who think seriously about…

Lois McMaster Bujold has won a shelf full of awards--Hugos, Nebulas, and others--for both her science fiction and fantasy writing. She is one of the most respected names in the field, always delivering polished, thoughtful, and well-crafted writing.…

Speculative science fiction, with its underlying socio-political dialogue, represents an important intersection of popular culture and public discourse. As a pop culture text, the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars offers critical commentary…

From wondrous fairy-lands to nightmarish hellscapes, the elements that make fantasy worlds come alive also invite their exploration and study. This first book-length study of critically acclaimed novelist Patricia A. McKillip's lyrical other-worlds…

When the first season of ""Star Trek"" opened to American television viewers in 1966, the thematically insightful sci-fi story line presented audiences with the exciting vision of a bold voyage into the final frontiers of space and strange, new gala…

One of the major figures in science fiction for over sixty years, James Gunn has been instrumental in the development of science fiction teaching and in making science fiction one of the most vibrant and engaging areas of scholarly study. His genre…

[The World of The Hunger Games is an anthology of scholarly but accessible essays on Suzanne Collins's epic trilogy. Spanning multiple disciplines, its contributors probe the trilogy's meaning using theories grounded in historicism, feminism, humani…

H. Beam Piper is one of science fiction's most enigmatic writers. In 1946 Piper appeared seemingly from out of nowhere, already at the top of his form. He published a number of memorable short stories in the premier science fiction magazine of the t…

Written by international experts from a range of disciplines, these essays examine the uniquely British contribution to science fiction film and television. Viewing British SF as a cultural phenomenon that challenges straightforward definitions of g…

This work presents the genre of mythopoeic fantasy from a holistic perspective, arguing that this subgenre of fantasy literature is largely misunderstood as a result of decades of incomplete and reductionist literary studies. The author asserts that…

Tolkien and Shakespeare: one a prolific popular dramatist and poet of the Elizabethan era, the other a twentieth-century scholar of Old English and author of a considerably smaller body of work. Though unquestionably very different writers, the two…

"In twelve critical and interdisciplinary chapters, this text examines the relationship between the fantastic in novels, movies and video games and real-world debates about nationalism, globalization and cosmopolitanism. This anthology charts a spac…

An examination of science fiction editor and author Hugo Gernsback's career, this work explores the many ways in which his work influenced the genre. The book summarizes the science fiction theories of Gernsback and his successors, considers his eff…

Brings together fourteen essays that examine the range of representations of Welsh mythology, folklore, and ritual in popular culture. Topics covered include the twentieth-century fantasy fiction of Evangeline Walton, the Welsh presence in the films…

How can comics storytelling stay exciting and innovative? How can genres be kept alive? And what makes a successful comics creator? These are the questions writers and artists working in the highly competitive US comics mainstream have always had to…

Many believe that Robert A. Heinlein was the most important American science fiction writer of the 20th century. This is the first detailed critical examination of his entire career. It is not a biography that is being done in a two-volume work by W…

The all-new essays in this book respond to the question, How do spaces in science fiction, both built and unbuilt, help shape the relationships among humans, other animals and their shared environments? Spaces, as well as a sense of place or belongi…

This companion to Frank Herbert's six original Dune novels-Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune-provides an encyclopedia of characters, locations, terms and other elements, and highlights…

These 19 essays from various critical disciplines examine how comic books and graphic narratives move between various media, while merging youth and adult cultures and popular and high art. The articles feature international perspectives on comics a…

Women authors have explored fantasy fiction in ways that connect with feminist narrative theories, as examined here by Katherine J. Weese in seven modern novels. These include Margaret Atwood's ""Lady Oracle"", Iris Murdoch's ""The Sea, the Sea"", M…

This first book-length study of French-language science fiction from Canada provides an introduction to the subgenre known as 'SFQ' (science fiction from Quebec). In addition, it offers in-depth analyses of SFQ sagas by Jacques Brossard, Esther Roch…

This collection of fresh essays addresses a broad range of topics in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, both old (1963-1989) and new (2005-present). The book begins with the fan: There are essays on how the show is viewed and iden…

This volume analyzes the use of Joseph Campbell's monomyth in twenty-six films and two SciFi Channel miniseries released and aired in the fifty year period between 1960 and 2009. In addition to serving as the underlying plot structure in the initial…

[Australia has been a frequent choice as the location for narratives about the end of the world in science fiction and speculative works, ranging from pre-colonial apocalyptic maps to key literary works from the last fifty years. This critical volum…

The on-going debate surrounding the Christian aspects of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter has revealed not only the prominence of reli…

Though animal stories and fables stretch back into the antiquity of ancient India, Persia, Greece and Rome, the reasons for writing them and their resonance for readers (and listeners) remain consistent to the present. This work argues for their ess…

Reversing a common science fiction cliche, Farscape follows the adventures of the human astronaut John Crichton after he is shot through a wormhole into another part of the universe. Here Crichton is the only human being, going from being a member o…

Philip K. Dick was a visionary writer of science fiction who has recently experienced a resurgence in popularity. His works speak to contemporary fears of being continually watched by technology and the paranoia of modern life in which we watch ours…