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The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature
by Jeff VanderMeer“Wonderful essays on everything steampunk, written by well-known names in the movement who are living steampunk every day” (Wired.com).Steampunk—a grafting of Victorian aesthetic and punk rock attitude onto various forms of science-fiction culture—is a phenomenon that has come to influence film, literature, art, music, fashion, and more. The Steampunk Bible is the first compendium about the movement, tracing its roots in the works of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells through its most recent expression in movies such as Sherlock Holmes. Its adherents celebrate the inventor as an artist and hero, re-envisioning and crafting retro technologies including antiquated airships and robots. A burgeoning DIY community has brought a distinctive Victorian-fantasy style to their crafts and art. Steampunk evokes a sense of adventure and discovery, and embraces extinct technologies as a way of talking about the future. This ultimate manual will appeal to aficionados and novices alike as author Jeff VanderMeer takes the reader on a wild ride through the clockwork corridors of Steampunk history.Praise for The Steampunk Bible“An informed, informative and beautifully illustrated survey of the subject.” —The Financial Times“The Steampunk Bible is far and away the most intriguing catalog of all things steam yet written.” —The Austin Chronicle
The Steampunk Trilogy (Di Filippo, Paul Ser.)
by Paul Di FilippoAn outrageous trio of novellas that twist the Victorian era out of shape, by a master of alternate history: “Spooky, haunting, hilarious” (William Gibson). Welcome to the world of steampunk, a nineteenth century outrageously reconfigured through weird science. With his magnificent trilogy, acclaimed author Paul Di Filippo demonstrates how this unique subgenre of science fiction is done to perfection—reinventing a mannered age of corsets and industrial revolution with odd technologies born of a truly twisted imagination. In “Victoria,” the inexplicable disappearance of the British monarch-to-be prompts a scientist to place a human-lizard hybrid clone on the throne during the search for the missing royal. But the doppelgänger queen comes with a most troubling flaw: an insatiable sexual appetite. The somewhat Lovecraftian “Hottentots” chronicles the very unusual adventure of Swiss naturalist and confirmed bigot Louis Agassiz as his determined search for a rather grisly fetish plunges him into a world of black magic and monsters. Finally, in “Walt and Emily,” the hitherto secret and quite steamy love affair between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman is revealed in all its sensuous glory—as are their subsequent interdimensional travels aboard a singular ship that transcends the boundaries of time and reality. Ingenious, hilarious, ribald, and utterly remarkable, Di Filippo’s The Steampunk Trilogy is a one-of-a-kind literary journey to destinations at once strangely familiar and profoundly strange.
The Steel Crocodile
by D. G. ComptonIn answer to an unanswerable future, science has created Bohn, the omnipotent computer whose flashing circuits and messianic [pronouncements dictate what tomorrow will - or will not - be. But Matthew Oliver is flesh and blood and full of questions - not nearly as certain as the machine he's appointed to serve. And the right hand of science seldom knows what the left hand is doing . . .
The Steel Crocodile (Gateway Essentials #49)
by D.G. ComptonIn answer to an unanswerable future, science has created Bohn, the omnipotent computer whose flashing circuits and messianic pronouncements dictate what tomorrow will - or will not - be.But Matthew Oliver is flesh and blood and full of questions - not nearly as certain as the machine he's appointed to serve.And the right hand of science seldom knows what the left hand is doing . . .
The Steel Remains (A Land Fit for Heroes #1)
by Richard K. MorganA dark lord will rise. Such is the prophecy that dogs Ringil Eskiath-Gil, for short-a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose cynicism is surpassed only by the speed of his sword. Gil is estranged from his aristocratic family, but when his mother enlists his help in freeing a cousin sold into slavery, Gil sets out to track her down. But it soon becomes apparent that more is at stake than the fate of one young woman. Grim sorceries are awakening in the land. Some speak in whispers of the return of the Aldrain, a race of widely feared, cruel yet beautiful demons. Now Gil and two old comrades are all that stand in the way of a prophecy whose fulfillment will drown an entire world in blood. But with heroes like these, the cure is likely to be worse than the disease. From the Hardcover edition.
The Steel Remains (Land Fit For Heroes Ser. #Bk. 1)
by Richard MorganRingil, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteran of the wars against the lizards he makes a living from telling credulous travellers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade. Where he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives.Archeth - pragmatist, cynic and engineer, the last of her race - is called from her work at the whim of the most powerful man in the Empire and sent to its farthest reaches to investigate a demonic incursion against the Empire's borders.Egar Dragonbane, steppe-nomad, one-time fighter for the Empire finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervour. But out in the wider world there is something on the move far more alien than any of his tribe's petty gods. Anti-social, anti-heroic, and decidedly irritated, all three of them are about to be sent unwillingly forth into a vicious, vigorous and thoroughly unsuspecting fantasy world. Called upon by an Empire that owes them everything and gave them nothing.Richard Morgan brings his trademark visceral writing style, turbo-driven plotting and thought provoking characterisation to the fantasy genre and produces a landmark work with his first foray.
The Steel Remains (Land Fit for Heroes)
by Richard MorganRingil, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteran of the wars against the lizards he makes a living from telling credulous travellers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade. Where he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives.Archeth - pragmatist, cynic and engineer, the last of her race - is called from her work at the whim of the most powerful man in the Empire and sent to its farthest reaches to investigate a demonic incursion against the Empire's borders.Egar Dragonbane, steppe-nomad, one-time fighter for the Empire finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervour. But out in the wider world there is something on the move far more alien than any of his tribe's petty gods. Anti-social, anti-heroic, and decidedly irritated, all three of them are about to be sent unwillingly forth into a vicious, vigorous and thoroughly unsuspecting fantasy world. Called upon by an Empire that owes them everything and gave them nothing.Richard Morgan brings his trademark visceral writing style, turbo-driven plotting and thought provoking characterisation to the fantasy genre and produces a landmark work with his first foray.
The Steel Remains (Land Fit for Heroes)
by Richard MorganRingil, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteran of the wars against the lizards he makes a living from telling credulous travellers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade. Here he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives.Archeth - pragmatist, cynic and engineer, the last of her race - is called from her work at the whim of the most powerful man in the Empire and sent to its farthest reaches to investigate a demonic incursion against the Empire's borders.Egar Dragonbane, steppe-nomad, one-time fighter for the Empire finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervour. But out in the wider world there is something on the move far more alien than any of his tribe's petty gods. Anti-social, anti-heroic, and decidedly irritated, all three of them are about to be sent unwillingly forth into a vicious, vigorous and thoroughly unsuspecting fantasy world. Called upon by an Empire that owes them everything and gave them nothing.Richard Morgan brings his trademark visceral writing style, turbo-driven plotting and thought provoking characterisation to the fantasy genre and produces a landmark work with his first foray.Read by Simon Vance(p) 2009 Tantor, Inc
The Steel Seraglio
by Mike Carey Linda Carey Louise Carey“A confident One Thousand and One Nights for our present . . . Furious pop entertainment—full of sex, passion, violence, and magic” (Slant Magazine). The sultan Bokhari Al-Bokhari of Bessa has 365 concubines—until a violent coup puts the city in the hands of the religious zealot Hakkim Mehdad. Hakkim has no use for the pleasures of the flesh: He condemns the women first to exile and then to death. Cast into the desert, the concubines must rely on themselves and each other to escape from the new sultan’s fanatical pursuit. But their goals go beyond mere survival: With the aid of the champions who emerge from among them, they intend to topple the usurper and retake Bessa from the repressive power that now controls it. The assassin, Zuleika, whose hands are weapons. The seer, Rem, whose tears are ink. The wise Gursoon, who was the dead sultan’s canniest advisor. The camel-thief, Anwar Das, who offers his lying tongue to the concubines’ cause. Together, they must forge the women of the harem into an army, a seraglio of steel, and use it to conquer a city. But even if they succeed, their troubles will just be beginning—because their most dangerous enemy is within their own number. “The Steel Seraglio is not a work of feminist or utopian theory. Nor is it a historical fantasy, a romance, a thriller, a poem, an allegory, or an epic. Rather, somehow, it is all of these things.” —Neon Magazine “A masterful, engaging and utterly fascinating story by three wonderful writers.” —SF Revu
The Steel Seraglio
by Mike Carey Linda Carey Louise Carey&“A confident One Thousand and One Nights for our present . . . Furious pop entertainment—full of sex, passion, violence, and magic.&” —Slant magazine This is the story of the legendary City of Women, told through the tales of those who founded it, championed it, and made it flourish. When the city of Bessa undergoes a violent coup, its lazy, laissez-faire ruler, Bokhari Al-Bokhari, is replaced by the religious zealot Hakkim Mehdad. With little use for the pleasures of the flesh, Hakkim sends his predecessor&’s 365 concubines to a neighboring sultan as a gift. But when the new sultan discovers the concubines are harboring Al-Bokhari&’s youngest son—a child who might grow up to challenge his rule—he repents of his mercy and sends his soldiers to slaughter the seraglio down to the last woman and child. What he doesn&’t count on is a concubine trained in the art of murder—or the courage and fortitude of the women who will rise up with her to forge their own city out of the unforgiving desert. It&’s an undertaking beset with challenges: hunger and thirst, Hakkim&’s relentless hate, and the struggle to make a place for themselves in a world determined to underestimate and undermine them. Through a mosaic of voices and tales, we learn of the women&’s miraculous rise, their time of prosperity—and how they carried with them the seed of their own destruction. &“A thrilling tale.&” —Publishers Weekly &“A masterful, engaging and utterly fascinating story by three wonderful writers.&” —SFRevu.com &“The Steel Seraglio brings its alternate world of struggle, politics and magic very much to life.&” —Locus
The Steel Tsar
by Michael MoorcockIn his epic adventures in the alternative Twentieth Centuries, Chrononaut Oswald Bastable, member of the League of Temporal Adventurers, has crossed and re-crossed many different time-streams. Some of his previous experiences have been told in The Land Leviathan and The Warlord of the Air.Now, in what may be the last communication from him, he tells of a world in which the Bolshevik Revolution never happened...The Steel Tsar finds him travelling backwards in time from a shell-shocked Singapore to a Russian Empire seething with conflict and preyed on by motley bands of rogues and adventurers. Here he meets up with fellow-time-traveler Miss Una Persson, and together they change the course of a history whose legendary deeds exceed the bounds of everyday imagination and glitter in the exuberant land of the eternal present.
The Steel of Raithskar (The Gandalara Cycle #1)
by Randall Garrett Vicki Ann Heydron“A fast, light and entertaining read which sets up the Gandalara Cycle very well . . . an escapist adventure in the classic mold” (SFF Chronicles).The last thing terminally ill language professor Ricardo Carillo remembers is standing on the deck of a Mediterranean cruise ship, watching a giant fireball hurtle toward him. He awakens in the body of a young Gandalaran named Markasset, sharing a telepathic bond with a giant, intelligent feline named Keeshah.Ricardo faces two challenges: navigating this unfamiliar desert world, and learning about his new identity and mission. Markasset turns out to be a talented swordsman with a powerful father who’s a Supervisor in the city of Raithskar. But Markasset’s own reputation is more dubious. He has gambling debts and a shadowy past—and he’s suspected of stealing a sacred gem, the Ra’ira, that was under his father’s protection.With few allies except a beautiful fiancée and the loyal Keeshah, Ricardo is determined to piece together what really happened to the Ra’ira. The truth will either prove his innocence—or endanger the new life he has only just begun.Praise for the Gandalara Cycle“Entertaining and well-paced . . . Full of swordplay and giant cats.” —Theodore Sturgeon, The Twilight Zone Magazine“This series as a whole is possibly the best of its kind in many years.” —SF Chronicle
The Steep and Thorny Way
by Cat Winters<p>A thrilling reimagining of Shakespeare's Hamlet, The Steep and Thorny Waytells the story of a murder most foul and the mighty power of love and acceptance in a state gone terribly rotten. <p>1920s Oregon is not a welcoming place for Hanalee Denney, the daughter of a white woman and an African American man. She has almost no rights by law, and the Ku Klux Klan breeds fear and hatred in even Hanalee's oldest friendships. Plus, her father, Hank, died a year ago, hit by a drunk-driving teenager. Now the killer is out of jail and back in town, and he's claiming that Hanalee's father's death wasn't an accident at all. Instead, he says that Hank was poisoned by the doctor who looked after him--who just so happens to be Hanalee's new stepfather. <p>In order to get the answers she needs, Hanalee will have to ask a "haint" wandering the roads at night--her father himself.</p>
The Steerswoman's Road
by Rosemary KirsteinFrom the book's back cover: A Steerswoman must reply. A steerswoman will speak only the truth to you, as long as she knows it- and you must do the same for her. And so, across the centuries, the steerswomen-questioning, searching, investigating- have slowly learned more and more about the world through which they wander. All knowledge the steerswomen possess is given freely to those who ask. But there is one kind of knowledge that has always been denied them: Magic. When the steerswoman Rowan discovers a lovely blue jewel of obvious magical origin, her innocent questions lead to secret after startling secret, each more dangerous than the last-and suddenly Rowan must flee or fight for her life. Or worse, she must lie. As every wizard in the world searches for her, Rowan finds unexpected assistance. A chance-met traveler turned friend, Bel is a warrior-poet, an Outskirter, and a member of a barbaric and violent people. Or so it would seem. For Bel, unknowing, possesses secrets of her own: secrets embedded in her culture, in her people, in the very soil of her homeland. From the Inland Sea to the deadly Outskirts, surrounded by danger and deceit, Rowan and Bel uncover more and more of the wizards' hidden knowledge. As the new truths accumulate, the two women edge closer to the single truth that lies at the center, the most unexpected secret of them all. . . .
The Stellar Legion
by E. C. TubbWilson, an unwanted waif of the generation-long war of unity, spends his boyhood in forced labour and persecution. Rebelling, he is sent as a convicted murderer to the newly colonised penal world of Stellar. He survives to win promotion in the Stellar Legion, the most brutal military system ever founded. Laurance, Director of the Federation of Man, is afraid of the thing he has helped create, and tries to dissolve the Stellar Legion. He pits his wits against its commander, Hogarth, terrified lest the human wolves trained and hardened in blood and terror should range the defenceless galaxy...
The Stellar Legion
by E.C. TubbWilson, an unwanted waif of the generation-long war of unity, spends his boyhood in forced labour and persecution. Rebelling, he is sent as a convicted murderer to the newly colonised penal world of Stellar. He survives to win promotion in the Stellar Legion, the most brutal military system ever founded.Laurance, Director of the Federation of Man, is afraid of the thing he has helped create, and tries to dissolve the Stellar Legion. He pits his wits against its commander, Hogarth, terrified lest the human wolves trained and hardened in blood and terror should range the defenceless galaxy . . .
The Stellar Legion
by Leigh BrackettNo one had ever escaped from Venus&’ dread Stellar Legion. And, as Thekla the low-Martian learned, no one had ever betrayed it and—lived. Leigh Brackett was the undisputed Queen of Space Opera and the first women to be nominated for the coveted Hugo Award. She wrote short stories, novels, and scripts for Hollywood. She wrote the first draft of the Empire Strikes Back shortly before her death in 1978.
The Stellow Project
by Shari BeckerWhen a killer storm unexpectedly hits Manhattan, seventeen-year-old Lilah Stellow's dad insists that she and her younger sister, Flori, take refuge at their cabin in the mountains. But instead of joining them with the experimental drug that keeps Lilah alive, he disappears just as news reports name him as a prime suspect in an act of ecoterrorism. As days pass without her medicine, Lilah finds herself teetering on the edge, caring for her sister, and growing increasingly certain they re being watched. In her search for answers, Lilah is thrown into the center of a mystery involving an off-the-grid research facility and finds herself drawn in by Daniel, an intriguing boy who is the son of the lead scientist. As she dares to seek answers, Lilah slowly realizes that even the best intentions can go horribly wrong.
The Steppenwolf
by Hermann Hesse”Kurt Beals makes this 1927 classic of psychedelic dreams sparkle in new technicolor splendor. Talk to your doctor about possible side effects.” —Martin Puchner, author of The Language of Thieves: My Family’s Obsession with a Secret Code the Nazis Tried to Eliminate This revolutionary translation is the only way to experience the novel as Hesse envisioned it nearly one hundred years ago.The quest for self-discovery never ends, especially for Harry Haller—better known as the Steppenwolf. After a life spent in self-imposed isolation, Harry meets the mysterious Hermine and becomes captivated by her intoxicating power. Through their nighttime adventures, the Steppenwolf experiences the decadent underbelly of the bourgeois society he always despised. Harry becomes a man divided—lost in a surreal underground world of pleasure and set on a collision course with his innermost desires.There has never been a translation that fully captures the essence of Hermann Hesse’s own spiritual questioning until now. Kurt Beals restores the original meaning of this hallucinatory German tale in a recognizably modern voice. Beals’s expert introduction traces the impact of The Steppenwolf for readers seeking meaning during the upheaval of world conflicts, the onslaught of new technologies, and life’s uncertainties.
The Steps of the Sun: From the author of The Queen's Gambit – now a major Netflix drama (Gateway Essentials #510)
by Walter TevisA science fiction thriller from the author of THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH.'A fine engrossing novel by a master!' Philadelphia EnquirerIn a time when America's power has been eroded by energy depletion, and world control has been virtually given over to the Chinese, only one man has the courage to seek new mineral resources among the stars. He is Ben Belson, one of the richest men in the world, a man haunted by the memory of a loveless childhood and driven by needs and desires he can barely understand or control. His dream is to find the means to help America break the stranglehold of the corrupt interests who are keeping it a second class power.
The Steps of the Sun: From the author of The Queen's Gambit – now a major Netflix drama (Gateway Essentials #510)
by Walter TevisA science fiction thriller from the author of THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH.'A fine engrossing novel by a master!' Philadelphia EnquirerIn a time when America's power has been eroded by energy depletion, and world control has been virtually given over to the Chinese, only one man has the courage to seek new mineral resources among the stars. He is Ben Belson, one of the richest men in the world, a man haunted by the memory of a loveless childhood and driven by needs and desires he can barely understand or control. His dream is to find the means to help America break the stranglehold of the corrupt interests who are keeping it a second class power.
The Steps of the Sun: The Man Who Fell To Earth, Mockingbird, The Steps Of The Sun
by Walter TevisA billionaire heads to the stars in this &“delightful&” sci-fi novel from the author of The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Hustler (Newsweek). In a world where America&’s power is rapidly being overshadowed by China&’s, only one man has the wealth, resources, and courage to seek the mineral resources his country needs to reclaim its greatness. Ben Belson, the richest man in the world, lacks for nothing his wealth can buy—but he is haunted by the memory of a barren and loveless childhood. When he travels to the stars in search of the mineral wealth America needs, he finds more than he bargains for—and gets more than he ever believed was possible. A classic science fiction novel by the author of The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Hustler, The Steps of the Sun is deftly written, richly characterized, and full of surprises. &“Engaging and effortlessly readable.&” —Publishers Weekly &“Warmly involving &‘soft&’ sf.&” —Kirkus Reviews
The Stepsister Scheme
by Jim C. HinesWhat would happen if an author went back to the darker themes of the original fairy tales for his plots, and then crossed the Disney princesses with Charlie's Angels? What's delivered is The Stepsister Scheme--a whole new take on what happened to Cinderella and her prince after the wedding. And with Jim C. Hines penning the tale readers can bet it won't be "and they lived happily ever after."
The Stepsister Scheme (Princess Novels #1)
by Jim C. HinesWhat would happen if an author went back to the darker themes of the original fairy tales for his plots, and then crossed the Disney princesses with Charlie's Angels? What's delivered is The Stepsister Scheme?a whole new take on what happened to Cinderella and her prince after the wedding. And with Jim C. Hines penning the tale readers can bet it won't be "and they lived happily ever after. "
The Sterile Cuckoo: A Novel
by John Nichols“A hilarious, sad . . . all too true novel about the rough underside of a college love affair.”—John Knowles, author of A Separate Peace When eighteen-year-old Jerry Payne first meets Pookie Adams at the Friarsburg, Oklahoma, bus depot, he is hardly aware that this moment marks the beginning of the most memorable love affair of his life. Overwhelmed (and yet secretly enchanted) by her zany, rambling monologue, Jerry is relieved to leave her in St. Louis as he continues to New York. Thinking he’s seen the last of her, he heads off to college, only to be pursued by seventeen lengthy letters, and before he knows it he’s involved with a seemingly crazy, startlingly honest girl who adores him. During the next two years, Pookie helps Jerry leave behind the fun-seeking, beer-blasted fraternity man he has become, as she teaches him to open his heart to her. Then, almost as suddenly as she appeared in his life, she disappears from it, leaving in her wake an eternal trail of love and wonder.