Synopses & Reviews
This one volume anthology explores the last two hundred years of Science Fiction and Fantasy—featuring women and men authors of various ethnic backgrounds, and a range of both traditional canonical literature and popular culture. Designed to heighten interest in a fun and exciting topic, this book will lead readers to meaningful intellectual, social, and historic investigations. Contributing authors include Mary W. Shelly, Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Bram Stoker, Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jules Verne, Jack London, Ray Bradbury, and Kurt Vonnegut. For fans of science fiction, fantasy, and the stories presented here, who appreciate that they represent the best of humanity, and include potential warnings for where humanity is headed.
Synopsis
THE PRENTICE HALL ANTHOLOGY OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY provides a unique range of stories and discussions designed to heighten student interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy and in reading in general. Including works by authors of the last 200 years, such as Mary Shelley, Poe, Heinlein, Bradbury, Yolen, and King, the stories address important social issues, such as ethnicity, gender, war, and the environment. These tales tap into the experiences of the contemporary student and place these experiences into the larger context of world culture. The engaging use of popular media, such as books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and television, provides an all-encompassing view of Science Fiction and Fantasy. This anthology is intended for the Science Fiction and Fantasy enthusiast as well as those new to these fiction genres.
About the Author
GARYN G. ROBERTS, Ph.D., is the chair of the Communications/English Discipline of Northwestern Michigan College (Traverse City, Michigan). He was born and raised in Wisconsin, home of Stanley G. Weinbaum and the Milwaukee Fictioneers, August Derleth and Arkham House, Robert Bloch, Fredric Brown, Clifford Simak, Alice Sheldon (aka James Tiptree Jr.), and Peter Straub, and north of the land of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy and Ray Bradbury's Greentown, Illinois.
Roberts received his B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater in 1981, his M.A. in Popular Culture Studies and Ph.D. in American Culture Studies (with emphases in English, History, and Sociology) from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, in 1983 and 1986 respectively. From 1986 to 1987, he taught in the English Department at Mankato State University, Minnesota; from 1987 to 1994, he taught in the American Thought and Language Department at Michigan State University; and in 1994, he joined the faculty at Northwestern Michigan College.
Beyond his family and friends (colleagues and students included), Dr. Roberts's loves and passions include Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, the writings and creative works of Robert Bloch and Ray Bradbury, the detailed and invaluable histories and scholarship of Sam Moskowitz, dime novels and related nineteenth-century fiction, the "pulps," classic newspaper comic strips, old movies, old radio, Big Little Books, comic books, paperback books, old TV, and other related forms of popular fiction and popular media.
Roberts is the author and editor of several books and a range of book chapters, articles, and literary dictionary entries. Subject matter of these includes, in part, dime novels, pulp magazines, 1950s Science Fiction invasion movies, pulp magazine editors Hugo Gernsback and Joseph T. Shaw, Jack London, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Dean Kootz. In 1994, Roberts received an Edgar (Allan Poe) Award nomination in the "Best Critical/Biographical" category from the Mystery Writers of America for DICK TRACY AND AMERICAN CULTURE: MORALITY AND MYTHOLOGY, TEXT AND CONTEXT (McFarland, 1993). Currently, he is working on book-length tributes to Chester Gould, Robert Bloch, and Ray Bradbury.
Table of Contents
Introduction: “Stories for the Millennium: Science Fiction and Fantasy as Contemporary Mythology.”
I. TWO ARCHETYPAL STORIES. Enduring Traditions of Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe.
The Mortal Immortal: A Tale, Mary W. Shelley. The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe.
II. FANTASY. Stories of the Fantastique, Tales of the Quest.
Dark Fantasy.
Edgar Allan Poe, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, and Stephen King—and Traditions Before, Between, and Since.
Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Old Nurse's Story, Elizabeth (Cleghorn) Gaskell. No. 1 Branch Line: The Signalman, Charles (John Huffam) Dickens. The Ghost in the Cap'n Brown House, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The Body Snatcher, Robert Louis Stevenson. The Damned Thing, Ambrose Bierce. Dracula's Guest, Abraham (“Bram”) Stoker. The Monkey's Paw, W(illiam) W(ymark) Jacobs. The Colour Out of Space, H(oward) P(hillips) Lovecraft. The Three Marked Pennies, M(ary) E(lizabeth) Counselman. Catnip, Robert Bloch. The Lottery, Shirley Jackson. To Serve Man, Damon (Francis) Knight. The Third Level, Jack Finney. The Howling Man, Charles Beaumont. Duel, Richard (Burton) Matheson. The Raft, Stephen (Edwin) King. Nightcrawlers, Robert R(ichard) McCammon. High Fantasy.
Ancestors and Disciples of Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Gray Wolf, George MacDonald. The People of the Pit, A(braham) Merritt. Friend Island, Francis Stevens. The City of Singing Flame, Clark Ashton Smith. The Tower of the Elephant, Robert E(rvin) Howard. Riddles in the Dark, J(ohn) R(onald) R(uel) Tolkien. Smoke Ghost, Fritz (Reuter) Leiber, Jr. The Strange Drug of Doctor Caber, Lord Dunsany. The Anything Box, Zenna (Chlarson) Henderson. The Drowned Giant, J(ames) G(raham) Ballard. Red as Blood, Tanith Lee (Kaiine). The Malaysian Mer, Jane (Hyatt) Yolen. Troll Bridge, Neil (Richard) Gaiman. Thirteen Phantasms, James P(aul) Blaylock.
III. SCIENCE FICTION. Jules Verne, Herbert George Wells, Hugo Gernsback, and the Early Days of Modern Scientifiction.
The Diamond Lens, Fitz-James O'Brien. The Clock That Went Backward, Edward Page Mitchell. An Express of the Future, Jules (Gabriel) Verne. The Star, H(erbert) G(eorge) Wells. The Ray of Displacement, Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford. A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Eggs from Lake Tanganyika, Curt Siodmak. The Fate of Poseidonia, Clare Winger Harris. The Conquest of Gola, Leslie F(rancis) Stone. Shambleau, C(atherine) L(ucille) Moore. Robot Nemesis, E(dward) E(lmer) “Doc” Smith. A Martian Odyssey, Stanley G(rauman) Weinbaum. Robbie, Isaac Asimov. Jay Score, Eric Frank Russell. The Weapons Shop, A(lfred) E(lton) van Vogt. Arena, Frederic (William) Brown. Thunder and Roses, Theodore Sturgeon. That Only a Mother, Judith Merril. The Enchantress of Venus, Leigh (Douglass) Brackett. The Long Watch, Robert A(nson) Heinlein. There Will Come Soft Rains, Ray(mond Douglas) Bradbury. Invasion, Frank Belknap Long. The Harpers of Titan, Edmond (Moore) Hamilton. The Sentinel, Arthur C(harles) Clarke. Pictures Don't Lie, Katherine (Anne) MacLean. The Lovers, Philip José Farmer. Mousetrap, Andre Norton. Fondly Fahrenheit, Alfred Bester. Exiles of Tomorrow, Marion Zimmer Bradley. Dust Rag, Hal Clement. Or All the Sea With Oysters, Avram (James) Davidson. The Store of the Worlds, Robert Sheckley. Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut (Jr.). Without a Thought, Fred(erick Thomas) Saberhagen. The Fiend, Frederik Pohl. We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, P(hilip) K(indred) Dick. Driftglass, Samuel R(ay) (“Chip”) Delany. The Jigsaw Man, Larry Niven. The Last Flight of Dr. Ain, James Tiptree, Jr. Seed Stock, Frank )Patrick) Herbert. Roommates, Harry Harrison. When It Changed, Joanna Russ. The Undercity, Dean R(ay) Koontz. Opening Fire, Barry N(orman) Malzberg. The Engine at Heartspring's Center, Roger (Joseph) Zelazny. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card. Melancholy Elephants, Spider (Paul) Robinson. Burning Chrome, William (Ford) Gibson. Blood Music, Greg(ory Dale) Bear. Bloodchild, Octavia (Estelle) Butler. The Plague Star, George R(aymond) R(ichard) Martin. Remaking History, Kim Stanley Robinson. The Purchase of Earth, Jack Williamson.
IV. AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE.
How Science Fiction Got Its Name, Sam Moskowitz.
V. LISTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES. Fantasy and Science Fiction Film and Television.
Fantasy and Science Fiction Radio Series.
Fantasy and Science Fiction Comic Strips and Comic Books.
Fantasy and Science Fiction on the Internet.
Fantasy and Science Fiction Themes, Motifs, and Settings.
Cornerstone Studies and Anthologies of Fantasy and Science Fiction in Print Media.
Cornerstone Studies and Anthologies of Fantasy and Science Fiction in Nonprint Media.
Index.
Credits.