Fantasy and Reality in History

Fantasy and Reality in History
Author: Peter Loewenberg
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 246
Release: 1995
Genre: Irrationalism (Philosophy)
ISBN: 0195067630

Successfully integrating history, political psychology, and psychoanalysis, Fantasy and Reality in History studies individual and social anxiety, crisis management, racism and nationalism. By blending clinical and historico-political methods, Loewenberg examines the psycho-sexual conflicts of several charismatic political leaders, including, among others, Gladstone, and Zhirinovsky, Russia's contemporary fascist.

The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature

The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature
Author: Edward James
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2012-01-26
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1107493730

Fantasy is a creation of the Enlightenment, and the recognition that excitement and wonder can be found in imagining impossible things. From the ghost stories of the Gothic to the zombies and vampires of twenty-first-century popular literature, from Mrs Radcliffe to Ms Rowling, the fantastic has been popular with readers. Since Tolkien and his many imitators, however, it has become a major publishing phenomenon. In this volume, critics and authors of fantasy look at its history since the Enlightenment, introduce readers to some of the different codes for the reading and understanding of fantasy, and examine some of the many varieties and subgenres of fantasy; from magical realism at the more literary end of the genre, to paranormal romance at the more popular end. The book is edited by the same pair who produced The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (winner of a Hugo Award in 2005).

A Shadow in Summer

A Shadow in Summer
Author: Daniel Abraham
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2007-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429910151

From debut author Daniel Abraham comes A Shadow in Summer, the first book in the Long Price Quartet fantasy series. The powerful city-state of Saraykeht is a bastion of peace and culture, a major center of commerce and trade. Its economy depends on the power of the captive spirit, Seedless, an andat bound to the poet-sorcerer Heshai for life. Enter the Galts, a juggernaut of an empire committed to laying waste to all lands with their ferocious army. Saraykeht, though, has always been too strong for the Galts to attack, but now they see an opportunity. If they can dispose of Heshai, Seedless's bonded poet-sorcerer, Seedless will perish and the entire city will fall. With secret forces inside the city, the Galts prepare to enact their terrible plan. In the middle is Otah, a simple laborer with a complex past. Recruited to act as a bodyguard for his girlfriend's boss at a secret meeting, he inadvertently learns of the Galtish plot. Otah finds himself as the sole hope of Saraykeht, either he stops the Galts, or the whole city and everyone in it perishes forever. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ghost Talkers

Ghost Talkers
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2016-08-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1466860731

“Powerful, laden with emotion, and smartly written.” —Brandon Sanderson, author of Mistborn and The Way of Kings A brilliant historical fantasy novel from acclaimed author Mary Robinette Kowal featuring the mysterious spirit corps and their heroic work in World War I. Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Harford, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force. Each soldier heading for the front is conditioned to report to the mediums of the Spirit Corps when they die so the Corps can pass instant information about troop movements to military intelligence. Ginger and her fellow mediums contribute a great deal to the war efforts, so long as they pass the information through appropriate channels. While Ben is away at the front, Ginger discovers the presence of a traitor. Without the presence of her fiancé to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she's just imagining things. Even worse, it is clear that the Spirit Corps is now being directly targeted by the German war effort. Left to her own devices, Ginger has to find out how the Germans are targeting the Spirit Corps and stop them. This is a difficult and dangerous task for a woman of that era, but this time both the spirit and the flesh are willing... Other Books Forest of Memory Glamour in Glass Of Noble Family Shades of Milk and Honey Valour and Vanity Without a Summer At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In the Mirror of the Past

In the Mirror of the Past
Author: Tomasz Ratajczak
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 115
Release: 2014-09-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1443867675

These days, we are ever more often confronted by overwhelming events. Searching for a way to understand them, we turn to mythic archetypes still present in our culture. The authors of these essays pose questions about the reliability of the archetypes found in tradition, history, and scattered mythologemes. The essays in this collection deal with the presence of mythic time in modern speculative fiction, such as fantasy and alternate histories, and discuss major mythologemes and their functions in popular literature and extra-literary reality. The authors show how mythopoeic fiction becomes a (genetically) modified mythic mirror in which we hope to see answers to vexing questions, or just a reality superior to the ordinary one. In the Mirror of the Past: Of Fantasy and History is a collection of seven essays by American and Polish authors, including Brian Attebery, Terri Doughty, and Marek Oziewicz, with Mircea Eliade’s concept of “return from history to History” as their underlying theme.

Science Fiction Cinema

Science Fiction Cinema
Author: Christine Cornea
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2007-06-06
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0748628703

This major new study offers a broad historical and theoretical reassessment of the science fiction film genre. The book explores the development of science fiction in cinema from its beginnings in early film through to recent examples of the genre. Each chapter sets analyses of chosen films within a wider historical/cultural context, while concentrating on a specific thematic issue. The book therefore presents vital and unique perspectives in its approach to the genre, which include discussion of the relevance of psychedelic imagery, the 'new woman of science', generic performance and the prevalence of 'techno-orientalism' in recent films. While American films will be one of the principle areas covered, the author also engages with a range of pertinent examples from other nations, as well as discussing the centrality of science fiction as a transnational film genre. Films discussed include The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Body Snatchers, Forbidden Planet, The Quatermass Experiment, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Demon Seed, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Wars, Altered States, Alien, Blade Runner, The Brother from Another Planet, Back to the Future, The Terminator, Predator, The One, Dark City, The Matrix, Fifth Element and eXistenZ. Key Features*Thematically organised for use as a course text.*Introduces current and past theories and practices, and provides an overview of the main themes, approaches and areas of study.*Covers new and burgeoning approaches such as generic performance and aspects of postmodern identity.*Includes new interviews with some of the main practitioners in the field: Roland Emmerich, Paul Verhoeven, Ken Russell, Stan Winston, William Gibson, Brian Aldiss, Joe Morton, Dean Norris and Billy Gray.

Glamour in Glass

Glamour in Glass
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2012-04-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429987286

Mary Robinette Kowal stunned readers with her charming first novel Shades of Milk and Honey, a loving tribute to the works of Jane Austen in a world where magic is an everyday occurrence. This magic comes in the form of glamour, which allows talented users to form practically any illusion they can imagine. Shades debuted to great acclaim and left readers eagerly awaiting its sequel. Glamour in Glass continues following the lives of beloved main characters Jane and Vincent, with a much deeper vein of drama and intrigue. In the tumultuous months after Napoleon abdicates his throne, Jane and Vincent go to Belgium for their honeymoon. While there, the deposed emperor escapes his exile in Elba, throwing the continent into turmoil. With no easy way back to England, Jane and Vincent's concerns turn from enjoying their honeymoon...to escaping it. Left with no outward salvation, Jane must persevere over her trying personal circumstances and use her glamour to rescue her husband from prison . . . and hopefully prevent her newly built marriage from getting stranded on the shoals of another country's war. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Foxmask

Foxmask
Author: Juliet Marillier
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2007-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429913541

Foxmask is the second book of a fantasy duet from Juliet Marillier, weaving history and folklore into a saga of adventure, romance, and magic. The Norseman Eyvind, a fierce and loyal Wolfskin, came to a new land on top of the world to find his destiny. With his priestess bride Nessa he saved the land and weathered the treachery that was caused by Eyvind's blood-sworn friend Somerled. After much pain and sorrow the two lovers have managed to create a society where the Norse warriors and the gentle folks of the Orkney Isles live and thrive in contentment at last. A decade and more has passed since the devastating events of the creation of the settlement and Eyvind and Nessa have watched their children grow and thrive in peace. But not all on the islands are content or at peace. Thorvald, the young son of Margaret, widow of the slain king and Eyvind's war leader, has always felt apart and at odds with all he knows. He learns upon his coming to manhood that he is not his father's son but that of the love that Margaret bore for the hated Somerled and that Somerled was not killed for his treachery but sent on a boat, adrift with little more than a knife and skein of water, doomed to the god's will. Thorvald is determined to find a boat and cast off to the West in a desperate bid to find a father he never knew...and to find out if he is made of the same stuff as the heinous traitor. The tragedy of this scheme would be horrific enough...if it were not for the fact that Creidhe, the winsome daughter of Eyvind and Nessa has loved Thorvald since birth and unbeknownst to him conspires to go along on this most perilous of quests. What happens to them on their journey of discovery will ultimately change the lives of all they know and love...and will doom (or redeem) an entire people. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Wolfskin

Wolfskin
Author: Juliet Marillier
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 550
Release: 2004-08-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429934549

In this epic historical fantasy, two Viking brothers seek glory on a distant isle where magic reigns and betrayal lurks. All young Eyvind ever wanted was to perform honorable deeds as a great Viking warrior. So when his older brother Ulf hears of a magical land across the sea, ready to be conquered by men with courage, they set out in search of glory. What they find is a barren place filled with unexpected beauty, hidden treasures., and a people willing to share their bounty. Ulf's new settlement begins in harmony with the natives, led by the gentle King Engus. And Eyvind finds a treasure of his own in the king’s niece, a seer named Nessa. But there is another newcomer who is not what he seems. Somerled, the strange and lonely boy Eyvind befriended long ago, has a secret—and his own plans for the future. Soon Eyvind must make a terrible choice between loyalty and love . . .

Enchanted

Enchanted
Author: Jesse Kowalski
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0789213702

An abundantly illustrated history of fantasy art, from the Old Masters to the present For hundreds of years, artists have been inspired by the imaginative potential of fantasy. Unlike science fiction, which is based on fact, fantasy presents an impossible reality—a universe where dragons breathe fire, angels battle demons, and magicians weave spells. Published to coincide with a major exhibition organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum, this handsome volume reveals how artists have brought to life mythology, fables, and fairy tales, as well as modern epics like The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. The main text of Enchanted, by exhibition curator Jesse Kowalski, traces the emergence of the themes of fantasy in the world’s civilizations, and the development of fantasy illustration from the Old Masters to the Victorian fairy painters, to Golden Age illustrators like Howard Pyle and Arthur Rackham, to classic cover artists like Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo, to emerging talents like Anna Dittmann and Victo Ngai. Additional essays by distinguished contributors address particular aspects of fantasy illustration, such as the relationship between science and fantasy in the nineteenth century, and the illustrators of Robert E. Howard. Enchanted features more than 180 color illustrations, including numerous stunning full-page reproductions. This handsome volume is a must-have reference for artists and illustrators, and a delight for all lovers of fantasy.