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Dystopian States of America: Apocalyptic Visions and Warnings in Literature and Film
by Matthew B. HillDystopian States of America is a crucial resource that studies the impact of dystopian works on American society-including ways in which they reflect our deep and persistent fears about environmental calamities, authoritarian governments, invasive technologies, and human weakness.Dystopian States of America provides students and researchers with an illuminating resource for understanding the impact and relevance of dystopian and apocalyptic works in contemporary American culture. Through its wide survey of dystopian works in numerous forms and genres, the book encourages readers to connect with these works of fiction and understand how the catastrophically grim or disquieting worlds they portray offer insights into our own current situation.In addition to providing more than 150 encyclopedia articles on a large and representative sample of dystopian/apocalyptic narratives in fiction, film, television, and video games (including popular works that often escape critical inquiry), Dystopian States of America features a suite of critical essays on five themes-war, pandemics, totalitarianism, environmental calamity, and technological overreach-that serve as the foundation for most dystopian worlds of the imagination. These offerings complement one another, enabling readers to explore dystopian conceptions of America and the world from multiple perspectives and vantage points.
Science Fiction Literature through History [2 volumes]: An Encyclopedia [2 volumes]
by Gary WestfahlThis book provides students and other interested readers with a comprehensive survey of science fiction history and numerous essays addressing major science fiction topics, authors, works, and subgenres written by a distinguished scholar.This encyclopedia deals with written science fiction in all of its forms, not only novels and short stories but also mediums often ignored in other reference books, such as plays, poems, comic books, and graphic novels. Some science fiction films, television programs, and video games are also mentioned, particularly when they are relevant to written texts. Its focus is on science fiction in the English language, though due attention is given to international authors whose works have been frequently translated into English.Since science fiction became a recognized genre and greatly expanded in the 20th century, works published in the 20th and 21st centuries are most frequently discussed, though important earlier works are not neglected. The texts are designed to be helpful to numerous readers, ranging from students first encountering science fiction to experienced scholars in the field.
The American Villain: Encyclopedia of Bad Guys in Comics, Film, and Television
by Richard A. HallThe American Villain: Encyclopedia of Bad Guys in Comics, Film, and Television seeks to provide one go-to reference for the study of the most popular and iconic villains in American popular culture.Since the 1980s, pop culture has focused on what makes a villain a villain. The Joker, Darth Vader, and Hannibal Lecter have all been placed under the microscope to get to the origins of their villainy. Additionally, such bad guys as Angelus from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows have emphasized the desire for redemption—in even the darkest of villains. Various incarnations of Lucifer/Satan have even gone so far as to explore the very foundations of what we consider "evil." The American Villain: Encyclopedia of Bad Guys in Comics, Film, and Television seeks to collect all of those stories into one comprehensive volume. The volume opens with essays about villains in popular culture, followed by 100 A–Z entries on the most notorious bad guys in film, comics, and more. Sidebars highlight ancillary points of interest, such as authors, creators, and tropes that illuminate the motives of various villains. A glossary of key terms and a bibliography provide students with resources to continue their study of what makes the "baddest" among us so bad.
The American Superhero: Encyclopedia of Caped Crusaders in History
by Richard A. HallThis compilation of essential information on 100 superheroes from comic book issues, various print and online references, and scholarly analyses provides readers all of the relevant material on superheroes in one place.The American Superhero: Encyclopedia of Caped Crusaders in History covers the history of superheroes and superheroines in America from approximately 1938–2010 in an intentionally inclusive manner. The book features a chronology of important dates in superhero history, five thematic essays covering the overall history of superheroes, and 100 A–Z entries on various superheroes. Complementing the entries are sidebars of important figures or events and a glossary of terms in superhero research. Designed for anyone beginning to research superheroes and superheroines, The American Superhero contains a wide variety of facts, figures, and features about caped crusaders and shows their importance in American history. Further, it collects and verifies information that otherwise would require hours of looking through multiple books and websites to find.
The Chariot of Wisdom
by Subramania BharatiBreaking the constraints of style and imagery central to classical Tamil literature, Mahakavi C. Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) heralded a new era for the language by making it simpler, thereby encouraging a wider readership. His prodigious contribution to the writings of his homeland - done while in exile during a tumultuous time in the nation's freedom movement - has since propelled his stature to that of a revered literary figure in the subcontinent.In The Chariot of Wisdom, his only novella, a vexed journalist, plagued by material worries and the daily attrition of twentieth-century, British-occupied India, escapes into a daydream to realms mystical and unexplored. He navigates an imaginary chariot through The World of Tranquillity, The World of Pleasure, The World of Truth and The World of Dharma, and finds his values and ideals informing, competing and often contradicting one another. As his self-doubts deepen, he battles the notion that peace and happiness come at a price.A critical examination of a colonized, afflicted civilization marred by corruption and greed, Bharati's pioneering work speaks to a morally wounded country through astute observations and lively humour. Translated with refined intellectual acuity by Gregory James, this modern classic - as timely today as it was a century ago - is a cleverly masked plea to the people of a distracted nation to rally together in pursuit of a just society.
The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction Volume 2
byFrom sinister plans of xenocide to speciesists who have taken it upon themselves to Off-World those unlike them; from simulations that memorialize stories obliterated by a book-burning world to the Master Pain Merchant who is always at hand to administer a dose of long-forgotten sensations; from genetically modified Glow Girls who can kill with a touch to a droid detective actively seeking out justice - this stellar volume of cutting-edge science fiction showcases, in prose and verse, 32 of the most powerful voices in the genre from the Indian Subcontinent.Taking forward the formidable task achieved to critical acclaim by the first volume of The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction, the present collection masterfully transports readers to worlds strangely familiar, raises crucial questions about the place of humans in the universe, and testifies to the astonishing range and power of the imaginative mind.
The Inconceivable Idea of the Sun
by Anil Menon'It was customary, it seems, for an author to begin with excuses, explanations and snivels about their work. Which is quite peculiar since the author is usually the last person to know what their book is about...'Right from the wickedly funny table of contents, which belongs not to this collection but an imagined one, this remarkable genre-defying volume is guaranteed to delight the reader in the mood for something original and different. In the title story, 'The Inconceivable Idea of the Sun', a couple finds that reorganizing their home library has an unexpected consequence on their shared reality; 'The Robots of Eden' is set in a world where stories are no longer essential to be human, because civilized people have developed better technology to mediate their emotions; in 'Into the Night', an old Brahmin leans into the comforts of an ancient language when the future renders him obsolete; and 'How Not to Tell The Ramayana' is a Borgesian journey into a Ramayana retelling unlike any other.This stellar collection of short fiction, as poignant as it is playful, blurs the distinction between what lies inside a story and what lies outside it. It demonstrates yet again why Anil Menon is one of the most formidable names in contemporary Indian writing.
Horror Fiction in the Global South: Cultures, Narratives and Representations
by NoneHorror Fiction in the Global South: Cultures, Narratives, and Representations believes that the experiences of horror are not just individual but also/simultaneously cultural. Within this understanding, literary productions become rather potent sites for the relation of such experiences both on the individual and the cultural front. It's not coincidental, then, that either William Blatty's The Exorcist or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude become archetypes of the re-presentations of the way horror affects individuals placed inside different cultures. Such an affectation, though, is but a beginning of the ways in which the supernatural interacts with the human and gives rise to horror. Considering that almost all aspects of what we now designate as the Global North, and its concomitant, the Global South – political, historical, social, economic, cultural, and so on – function as different paradigms, the experiences of horror and their telling in stories become functionally different as well. Added to this are the variations that one nation or culture of the east has from another. The present anthology of essays, in such a scheme of things, seeks to examine and demonstrate these cultural differences embedded in the impact that figures of horror and specters of the night have on the narrative imagination of storytellers from the Global South. If horror has an everyday presence in the phenomenal reality that Southern cultures subscribe to, it demands alternative phenomenology. The anthology allows scholars and connoisseurs of Horror to explore theoretical possibilities that may help address precisely such a need.
Asariri: A Life Full of Life
by Rajni Sekhri SibalA few days after Nisha loses her best friend, her father, she meets Asariri on a hilltop covered in daisies and irises in the Himalayas. Asariri befriends Nisha, a young single mother, who has lost her husband and father within a span of two years.Asariri is a bit of a poet and provides meaning to Nisha's life. Drawing upon all that is rational and profound, Asariri helps Nisha reconcile with death and accompanies her in her quest to understand all that matters to a rational person in a global world – happiness, life choices, dreams and success, balance in life and nature and peace and serenity – and all that needs to be comprehended to live a 'life full of life'.Asariri is a disembodied voice with access to a mystic ancient pool of infinite wisdom. A poignantly written story-moving, rich in character and deeply emotional.
The Eye of the Archer (Book of Guardians #3)
by Giti Chandra‘The worse it gets, the harder we’ll fight – it’s what we do’ Deep in the cosmic centre, Yggdrasil, the battle between Edasich the Hyena, and Elrai the Good Shepherd, is not going well. The signs that warn of unmitigated destruction are everywhere, and Harish Chandra’s Clan must fight for its very life and the future of the world. Lives will be given and lives will be taken when the gods themselves join forces with the Coven, Hsimah the Fang Collector and Álfhildur, Queen of Elves, to fight the final war against the evil Edasich. Once more into the breach, the twins lead the charge – while Adit has to journey to the centre of the Earth with Vera, a powerful witch gone rogue, Akshat must bring the Book of Guardians alive. Amar and Ananya, Tarini and Noor take their powerful gifts and indomitable hearts to war, risking everything in this last stand. Meanwhile, urgent questions loom: Who will hold the centre steady when Ragnarök, the Churning of the Ocean, begins? Can their uncle H’s new avatar, the centaur, foresee the future in the stars? Does someone hold another Starstone, the repository of supreme powers? And the most terrible knowledge of all: Who is the most formidable foe on the battlefield? Spellbinding and intense, The Eye of the Archer concludes the tenacious campaign of six extraordinary young people against a fearsome force that threatens to destroy everything good, everything worth saving, everything alive.
Analog/Virtual: And Other Simulations of Your Future
by Lavanya LakshminarayanWe are a Meritocratic Technarchy. We are the future of the human race.’ The world’s nations have collapsed, and a handful of city states form the remains of civilization. Erstwhile Bangalore is now rebranded, ruled by the insidious Bell Corporation. Welcome to Apex City. Here, technology is the key to survival, productivity is power, and the self must be engineered for the only noble goal in life: success. With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the ranks of the Virtual elite and have the new world at your feet. The price of failure is deportation: you are marked an Analog, with no access to electricity, running water or your humanity. Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s extraordinary debut sinks its teeth into this dystopian future, offering a glimpse into a world we may be dangerously close to inheriting. Brilliant, searing and imaginative, the stories in Analog/Virtual will make us question our choices and rethink who we want to be.
Alpha
by T. D. Ramakrishnan‘Takes the Malayalam novel to new heights and fresh possibilities’ HINDUWhat makes us human?Twelve people accompany an anthropologist to a deserted island, cutting off all relations with the outside world. There, an experiment begins. They are not to use any known languages and must begin anew – to explore and find out if they can achieve in twenty-five years what humanity has achieved over generations. Twenty-five years later, only three of the thirteen have survived. As these three survivors recount their tale, what emerges is a story of humanity returned to its primitive roots, bereft of attachment, and not nearly as utopian as was expected.Award-winning writer T. D. Ramakrishnan’s debut novel, translated for the first time to English, explores through a powerfully imaginative conceit the meaning of relationships, attachments, love, hate and anger. Above all, it seeks to answer the question: what does it mean to be human?
Second World War Sandwich
by Digonta BordoloiApril 1944: The Imperial Japanese Army lays siege to a tiny British garrison in the remote town of Kohima, Nagaland, to march further into India, which results in one of the turning points of the Second World War.Among the small group of British troops defending the garrison are four unlikely soldiers: Captain Timothy Hastings, who, before joining the army, was a tea-estate manager; Raan, a cook turned soldier; Chetri, a courageous Nepalese Gorkha; and Mongseng, a native headhunting warrior, who unwittingly becomes a part of the British imperial forces. Fighting for their lives amidst the battle, the four of them are left questioning the human cost of war.In Second World War Sandwich, Digonta Bordoloi crafts a thrilling novel that burns with intensity and unpacks the lesser-known Naga story of one of the most brutal wars in modern history.
Contingency Plans for the Apocalypse and Other Possible Situations
by S.B. DivyaA sickly biologist shuts herself off from the world and its deadly pollutants to research her beloved microbiota in peace – until a chance encounter drives her to venture out into an unliveable Bangalore. In a dystopian Arizona, a couple performs forbidden life-saving abortions amid the threat of tanks and drones, the strict report of automatic weapons and the spying eyes of neighbours. A young woman competes in a gruelling challenge, determined to win a place in a world where body modifications equal class and grant people the privilege of transcending gender. In this collection of 14 layered stories featuring dying cities, undying humans, amorphous bodies, cyborg racers and magic beetles, internationally acclaimed writer and data scientist S.B. Divya treads the line between the present and the future, while exploring the eternal conundrums of identity and love in speculative worlds.
Nasteya: The Aryan Saga
by Kirandeep Singh Nirvan SinghEverything he had, everyone he loved is taken away from him. His enemy is mysterious with a hidden, ominous identity. His origin is a puzzle. His purpose is gigantic. The only thing keeping him alive is vengeance.A journey awaits Nasteya, and it's the one that will change everything for him - his identity, his motive. There are many unprecedented horrors at every step - troubles bigger than his own. Power shall either corrupt him or redeem him. What will he choose? Will he hold on to his heroic image? Will he be able to unearth the mystery of his origin and that of his enemy?As time goes by, at each step he discovers what fate has planned for him at every step and that he is just a part of a grand plan, a plan that will ensure he finds all the answers he is looking for.
Faraway Music
by Sreemoyee Piu KunduA liberated, dynamic and successfully writer, Piya has everything she has ever wanted, until she's revisited by her past… Faraway Music is the story of a young Bengali girl, and her stumbles through the world of love. First as an adolescent in Calcutta, where she grows up in a loving home with her mother and grandparents, then as a gutsy journalist in love with her married boss, who finds herself caught in the nexus between politicians and the media, and finally as the reclusive writer married to an artist in the United States. Sensuous, profound, lyrical and moving, Faraway Music is the story of family, friendship, fame, love, loss…and all that lies in between.
Vigyan Evam Praudyogiki class 7 - S.C.E.R.T. Raipur - Chhattisgarh Board: विज्ञान एवं प्रोद्योगिकी कक्षा 7 - एस.सी.ई.आर.टी. रायपुर - छत्तीसगढ़ बोर्ड
by Rajya Shaikshik Anusandhan Aur Prashikshan Parishad Raipur C. G.विज्ञान एवं प्रोद्योगिकी पाठ्यपुस्तक कक्षा 7 वीं का राज्य शैक्षिक अनुसंधान और प्रशिक्षण परिषद् छत्तीसगढ़ रायपुर ने हिंदी भाषा में प्रकाशित किया गया है, इस पाठ्यपुस्तक में इक्कीस अध्याय दिये गए है। पाठ्यपुस्तक में हमारी पृथ्वी और पृथ्वी पर जीवन, जल, पदार्थ की संरचना और अम्ल क्षारक एवं लवण, मापन, सजीव जगत में संगठन, ऊष्मा तथा ताप और ऊष्मा का संचरण आदि के बारे में समजाया गया है। सजीवों में पोषण, सजीवों में श्वसन, रेशों से वस्त्र, प्रकाश का परावर्तन, सजीवों में परिवहन, उत्सर्जन, सजीवों में नियंत्रण एव समन्वय के बारे में पाठ्यपुस्तक में जानकारी दि है। स्थिर विद्युत, कंकाल जोड़ एवं पेशियाँ, मिट्टी, सजीवों में प्रजनन और विद्युत धारा ओर इसके प्रभाव आदि पुस्तक में स्पष्टीकरण दिया गया है। इस पाठ्यपुस्तक में वैज्ञानिकों के चिंतन तथा वैज्ञानिक पद्धति से मानव जीवन में आए क्रांतीकारी परिवर्तनों का अध्ययन करेंगे।
Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities
by Manjula PadmanabhanRebellious cellphones. Lustful holograms. A tourist vampire with a taste for spicy Indian blood. A conference of galactic gods.In twenty-five exhilarating stories, Manjula Padmanabhan brings her trademark twist to familiar reality, dreaming up inventive futures and capturing today's world with equal flair. From bejewelled party guests suddenly stripped naked to a teenager who steals time, from mosquitoes that infect people with Gandhian pacifism to a dystopia where everyone breathes canned air, this remarkable collection poses urgent questions: what does it mean to live in a society, and this one in particular? Where are we headed, and do we even want to get there? At once funny, provocative and profound, Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities is science fiction served up with a dab of ghee and a sprinkling of dark matter that will hold you captive till the very last page.
Science Fiction in India: Parallel Worlds and Postcolonial Paradigms
by Shweta Khilnani Ritwick BhattacharjeeIndian Science Fiction has evolved over the years and can be seen making a mark for itself on the global scene. Dalit speculative fiction writer and editor Mimi Mondal is the first SF writer from India to have been nominated for the prestigious Hugo award. In fact, Indian SF addresses themes such as global climate change. Debates around G.C.C are not just limited to science fiction but also permeate in critical discussions on SF. This volume seeks to examine the different ways by which Indian SF narratives construct possible national futures. For this looking forward necessarily germinates from the current positional concerns of the nation. While some work has been done on Indian SF, there is still a perceptible lack of an academic rigor invested into the genre; primarily, perhaps, because of not only its relative unpopularity in India, but also its employment of futuristic sights. Towards the same, among other things, it proposes to study the growth and evolution of science fiction in India as a literary genre which accommodates the duality of the national consciousness as it simultaneously gazes ahead towards the future and glances back at the past. In other words, the book will explore how the tensions generated by the seemingly conflicting forces of tradition and modernity within the Indian historical landscape are realized through characteristic tropes of SF storytelling. It also intends to look at the interplay between the spatio-temporal coordinates of the nation and the SF narratives produced within to see, firstly, how one bears upon the other and, secondly, how processes of governance find relational structures with such narratives. Through these, the volume wishes to interrogate how postcolonial futures promise to articulate a more representative and nuanced picture of a contemporary reality that is rooted in a distinct cultural and colonial past.
Science Fiction in India: Parallel Worlds and Postcolonial Paradigms
by Shweta Khilnani Ritwick BhattacharjeeNominated, 2023 Teaching Literature Book AwardIndian Science Fiction has evolved over the years and can be seen making a mark for itself on the global scene. Dalit speculative fiction writer and editor Mimi Mondal is the first SF writer from India to have been nominated for the prestigious Hugo award. In fact, Indian SF addresses themes such as global climate change. Debates around G.C.C are not just limited to science fiction but also permeate in critical discussions on SF. This volume seeks to examine the different ways by which Indian SF narratives construct possible national futures. For this looking forward necessarily germinates from the current positional concerns of the nation. While some work has been done on Indian SF, there is still a perceptible lack of an academic rigor invested into the genre; primarily, perhaps, because of not only its relative unpopularity in India, but also its employment of futuristic sights. Towards the same, among other things, it proposes to study the growth and evolution of science fiction in India as a literary genre which accommodates the duality of the national consciousness as it simultaneously gazes ahead towards the future and glances back at the past. In other words, the book will explore how the tensions generated by the seemingly conflicting forces of tradition and modernity within the Indian historical landscape are realized through characteristic tropes of SF storytelling. It also intends to look at the interplay between the spatio-temporal coordinates of the nation and the SF narratives produced within to see, firstly, how one bears upon the other and, secondly, how processes of governance find relational structures with such narratives. Through these, the volume wishes to interrogate how postcolonial futures promise to articulate a more representative and nuanced picture of a contemporary reality that is rooted in a distinct cultural and colonial past.
Fashionably Yours
by Swati Sharma“Maya Kapoor swaps the snowy mountains for the glittering ocean.” Maya Kapoor arrived in Mumbai with a glamorous dream, quite literally. Maya wants to be a serious fashion writer for the high-end fashion magazine, Glamorous, but luck is not in her favor.
Your Tarot Predictions for 2015
by Karmel NairTarot Predictions for 2015: this book is your access to the future! Know about yourself and your future! Use Tarot Cards to get month-by-month predictions for every Zodiac sign.
Dark Things
by Sukanya VenkatraghavanSomewhere on Prithvi, a mortal survives a supernatural attack. In the dark realm of Atala, an evil goddess prepares to do the unspeakable. And a Yakshi finds herself at the heart of an other-worldly storm. Ardra has only known life as a Yakshi, designed to seduce and kill men after drawing out their deepest, darkest secrets for her evil mistress Hera, queen of the forsaken realm of Atala. Then, on one strange blood moon night, her chosen victim, Dwai, survives, and her world spins out of control. Now Ardra must escape the wrath of Hera, who is plotting to throw the universe into chaos. To stop her, Ardra needs to find answers to questions she hasn’t dared to ask before. What power does the blood moon hold? Is the sky city of Aakasha as much a myth as its inhabitants – the ethereal and seductive Gandharvas and Apsaras? Who is Dara, the mysterious monster-slayer, and what makes Dwai impervious to her powers? A heady concoction of fantasy and romance, Dark Things conjures up a unique world wrought of love and sacrifice, of shadows and secrets, of evil and those who battle it.
Infinitude
by Ruchi BanerjeeThe year is 2173. Humans are a near-extinct group herded together in protected sectors. Mira, a regular, self-absorbed, 16-year-old pimple buster, resident of Sector 51, has no clue how drastically her life is about to change when she accompanies her mother on a research project to a distant tropical jungle. There, Mira discovers a tall, super-intelligent and rather good-looking boy called Neel, who introduces her to a whole new world of mysterious possibilities. But before she can even begin to understand her feelings for him, things take a nightmarish turn . . . Carnivorous mutants are on the prowl. A deadly new breed of the forest, they have Mira trapped. Rescued by unlikely saviours, she finally learns the ugly truth of her world. Now, Mira must fight not only for her own life but also for humanity itself as she is pitted against a far stronger, smarter and more evolved enemy. Her only hope lies in Neel. But will he be able to overcome the overwhelming odds against them? Will this be the end of the human race? With electrifying action and forbidden love, Infinitude is the riveting story of two young lives caught in a deadly clash of civilizations.
The Bones of Stars
by Giti Chandra‘I am the blood that flows under all, I am the fire and bones of stars. . .’ In the colossal caldera of Yellowstone National Park, a geyser blows in a startling eruption of red, and young Akshat disappears. This is only the tiny, terrifying start to the primal battle, now resurrected in full fury, between the two ancient foes, Elrai and Edasich. As the frantic search for Akshat ensues, his cousins, the child-guardians entrusted with olden secrets, come together with a coven of witches to rescue their beloved Akshat – and indeed the world – from certain peril. But will their growing powers be enough against the merciless evil loosed by the desperate and vicious Hyena-faced One? Will they be able to save Earth from a cataclysm of scorching lava and pulverized rock? Who will finally don the good Elrai’s baldric and leash the trail of death and destruction? Gripping and heart-stopping, The Bones of Stars tracks the defiant crusade of six extraordinary young people against a formidable, brutal force that threatens to obliterate the whole world as you know it. And end it forever.