Well-known critic Brian Stableford, a former professor at the University of Reading, contributes "a fascinating and valuable attempt to grapple with the questions of why SF authors write what they write, and why SF readers like what they like"-Interzone. Contents: Introduction; Approaches to the Sociology of Literature; The Analysis of Communicative Functions; The Evolution of Science Fiction as a Publishing Category; The Expectations of the Science Fiction Reader; Themes and Trends in Science Fiction; and Conclusion: The Communicative Functions of Science Fiction. Complete with Notes and...

This collection of critical essays explores the philosophy, theory, and history of science fiction and fantasy, from its earliest beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century through more recent times.

Long after he was dead, French poet Charles Baudelaire inspired a Decadent Movement in France, which became definitive of fin de siecle sensibility. One of the historical and influential links between Baudelaire and the new Decadents was the Comte de Villiers de l'Isle Adam, who called the first of his own collections of Decadent prose Contes cruels, because they spurned conventional means of attaining literary closure by celebrating 'the irony of fate' -- the capacity that the course of events has for thwarting human ambition in a frankly mocking fashion.

"Because it became so firmly...

Le Rouge's masterpiece, "Le Prisonnier de la Plante Mars" (1908) and its sequel, "La Guerre des Vampires" (1909), are Martian odysseys in which young engineer Robert Darvel, dispatched to Mars, runs afoul of hostile, bat-winged, blood-sucking natives, who unfortunately return to Earth with him.

Feval, the father of the modern detective novel, reveals the origins of the Black Coats and of their mysterious, seemingly eternal master, Colonel Bozzo. Long before the Corleones, Blofeld, Fu-Manchu, and Moriarty, the historical saga of the Black Coats, spanning seven volumes, gave its "lettres de noblesse" to criminal literature.

During an expedition to the North Pole, French aeronauts Jean-Louis de Venasque and Jacques Ceintras stumble upon an alien society of technologically advanced reptilian humanoids living in a secret enclave that has been isolated from the world for millions of years.

The stories contained herein deal, directly or indirectly, with manifest delusions. By representing the delusions they feature as delusions, they promote the delusion that delusion can eventually be undermined by the strong-minded, who will thus be enabled to avoid the "bad faith" of which some existentialist philosophers seem to have lived in mortal terror. Included are historical mysteries, fantasies, and science fiction.

The tales in this collection include: "The Gardens of Tantalus," "The Lost Romance," "Lucifer's Comet," "The Miracle of Zunderburg," "The Cult of Selene," "Ice and...

Leo Saint-Clair, alias the Nyctalope, was created in 1911 by Jean de La Hire, one of France's most prolific serial writers. Gifted with night vision, hypnotic powers, and an artificial heart, Saint-Clair is a fearless hero who battles colorful super-villains.

Initially written in 1864 as a hoax by the science correspondent of a French newspaper, this tale broke new ground regarding the possibilities of extraterrestrial life.

"The Clock of the Centuries," originally published in 1902, is notable as the first full-length literary account of time in reverse. In it, time starts running backwards, the dead come back to life, and society is thrown into chaos.