Adam Roberts

Science Fiction is a fascinating and comprehensive introduction to one of the most popular areas of modern culture. This second edition reflects how the field is rapidly changing in both its practice and its critical reception. With an entirely new conclusion and all other chapters fully reworked and updated, this volume includes:a concise history of science fiction and the ways in which the genre has been used and definedexplanations of key concepts in Science Fiction criticism and theory through chapters such as Gender, Race, Technology and Metaphorexamines the interactions between Science Fiction and Science Factanchors each chapter with a case study drawn from short story, book or film, from Frank Herbert’s Dune to Star Wars, from The Left Hand of Darkness to Neuromancer. Introducing the reader to nineteenth-century, Pulp, Golden Age, New Wave, Feminist and Cyberpunk science fictions, this is the essential contemporary guide to a major cultural movement.

Science Fiction is a fascinating and comprehensive introduction to one of the most popular areas of modern culture. This second edition reflects how the field is rapidly changing in both its practice and its critical reception. With an entirely new conclusion and all other chapters fully reworked and updated, this volume includes:a concise history of science fiction and the ways in which the genre has been used and definedexplanations of key concepts in Science Fiction criticism and theory through chapters such as Gender, Race, Technology and Metaphorexamines the interactions between Science Fiction and Science Factanchors each chapter with a case study drawn from short story, book or film, from Frank Herbert’s Dune to Star Wars, from The Left Hand of Darkness to Neuromancer. Introducing the reader to nineteenth-century, Pulp, Golden Age, New Wave, Feminist and Cyberpunk science fictions, this is the essential contemporary guide to a major cultural movement.

The best novel yet from 'the king of high concept SF' (GUARDIAN)

This glossary offers an introduction to Victorian Studies and a route-map to further study. Designed specifically with undergraduates in mind, it contains around 400 short and accessible explanations of the key words, events, figures and concepts in the study of the Victorian period.

This glossary offers an introduction to Victorian Studies and a route-map to further study. Designed specifically with undergraduates in mind, it contains around 400 short and accessible explanations of the key words, events, figures and concepts in the study of the Victorian period.

An invaluable introduction to the life and work of one of today's most important cultural critics. Studied on most undergraduate literary and cultural studies courses, Fredric Jameson's writing targets subjects from architecture to science fiction, cinema to global capitalism. Of his works, The Political Unconscious remains one of the most widely cited Marxist literary-theoretical texts, and 'Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism', is amongst the most influential statements on the nature of post-modernity ever published. Adam Roberts offers an `ngaging introduction to this crucial figure, which will convince any student of contemporary theory that Jameson must be read.

An invaluable introduction to the life and work of one of today's most important cultural critics. Studied on most undergraduate literary and cultural studies courses, Fredric Jameson's writing targets subjects from architecture to science fiction, cinema to global capitalism. Of his works, The Political Unconscious remains one of the most widely cited Marxist literary-theoretical texts, and 'Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism', is amongst the most influential statements on the nature of post-modernity ever published. Adam Roberts offers an `ngaging introduction to this crucial figure, which will convince any student of contemporary theory that Jameson must be read.

Frankenstein is the name of the maker, but we always think of the monster... And what a monster he is. Frankenstein is a splendid creature, in almost every respect superior to humanity: smarter, stronger, and able to endure extremes of heat and cold that would kill a normal person. He is also effectively immortal. Such a being, released into our world, would sooner or later come to rule it. Welcome to FRANKENSTEIN REX. The monster's ugliness is a positive advantage: his towering height and ghastly face scream power; and people, who understand that power is never pretty, that it is brute and unpleasant and that our best chance is to have it on our side rather than set against us, flock to follow him. In a few years the monster conquers Europe, and in a matter of decades he rules the whole world. But although generations come and go believing their world-dictator to be immortal, the creature himself now understands that he is dying. The creature re-opens Frankenstein's original research, to re-discover those lost skills and techniques and so to create for himself an heir. Frankenstein Rex is a meditation on the nature of power. It is a conventional position to consider the tyrant as a monster - to think of Hitler, or Mao, or Stalin as monstrous aberrations from the human norm. By making the monster the tyrant, Roberts invites us to think about how ordinary and how conventional such figures actually are.

'Think Bridget Jones if she were in The Bear' SUNDAY TIMES STYLE 'The Devil Wears Prada for devoted foodies' PLUM SYKES 'Slyly satirical and richly comedic' EVENING STANDARD 'Sharp, witty and funny' INDEPENDENT 'A delicious debut' PEOPLE When twenty-something Isabella Pasternack is fired from a digital food magazine, she accepts a thankless job ghostwriting a cookbook for now-infamous actress, Molly Babcock. Molly, on a reputation mission now going south, meets Isabella's earnestness with indifference and downright cruelty. But, for the first time, Isabella is determined to dig in her heels. Filled with a colourful cast of characters - including Isabella's acerbic roommate, her chaotic mother, and a burgeoning chef love interest - Food Person's slice of contemporary New York life is hilarious and hopeful, charting how the course of unapologetically forging your own future can lead to everyone getting their just deserts. 'A debut that's about as perfect as they come' GRANT GINDER 'Hilarious, harrowing, and heartwarming' J. RYAN STRADAL 'Utterly delicious and satisfying to the end' MARY ROACH

'Think Bridget Jones if she were in The Bear' SUNDAY TIMES STYLE'Slyly satirical and richly comedic' EVENING STANDARD'Literally the most delicious beach read ... The Devil Wears Prada for devoted foodies' PLUM SYKES'Utterly delicious and satisfying to the end' MARY ROACH'A savoury meal of a debut. Charming, witty ... You'll want seconds!' STEVEN ROWLEYWhat if Andy Sachs found a job in a test kitchen ... When twenty-something Isabella Pasternack is fired from her job at a digital food magazine, she accepts a thankless job for the paycheck: ghostwrite the very past-due cookbook for a once-beloved thirty-something actress, Molly Babcock. Molly, trying to repair her reputation after a serious downward spiral, meets Isabella’s earnest attempts to connect with inconsistency, indifference, and cruelty. But, for the first time in her life, Isabella is determined to dig in her heels, and figure out if there’s anything Molly actually knows how to cook (or even likes to eat). Isabella’s slice of contemporary New York is filled out by a cast including: Isabella’s acerbic roommate and best friend Owen, her widowed mother whose cooking isn’t only bad, it’s dangerous, and of course a handsome chef love interest. Hilarious and hopeful, at its core, Food Person is about commitment to self-discovery, the beauty of community, and how unapologetically forging your own future can lead to everyone getting the ending they deserve. And of course, very delicious food.'Hilarious, harrowing, and heartwarming ... if you are not a food person already, it may make one out of you' J. RYAN STRADAL'A debut that's about as perfect as they come ... Get ready for a riotous romp' GRANT GINDER

One of the most popular genres of modern times, fantasy literature has as rich a cultural and literary heritage as the magical worlds that so enrapture its readers. In this book, a concise history of the genre, Adam Roberts traces the central forms and influences on fantasy through the centuries to arrive at our understanding of the fantastic today. Pinning the evolution of fantasy on three key moments - the 19th-century resurgence of interest in Arthurian legend, the rise of Christian allegory, and a post-Ossian, post-Grimm emergence of a Norse, Germanic and Old English mythic identity – Roberts explores how the logic of ‘the fantastical’ feeds through into the sets and trappings of modern fantasy. Tracking the creation of heroic and high fantasy subgenres through antiquarian tradition, through C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien and into the post-Tolkien boom in genre fantasy writing, the book brings the manifestation of the fantastic beyond literature into art, music, film and TV, video games and other cultural productions such as fandoms. From Tennyson and Wagner, through Robert Graves, David Jones, Samuel Delany, Dungeons and Dragons, Terry Pratchett and Robin Hobb, to the Game of Thrones, Skyrim, The Witcher and The Lord of the Rings media franchises, the book digs into the global dissemination and diversity of 21st-century fantasy. Accessible and dynamic, wide-ranging but comprehensive, this is a crash-course in context for the most imaginative form of storytelling.

One of the most popular genres of modern times, fantasy literature has as rich a cultural and literary heritage as the magical worlds that so enrapture its readers. In this book, a concise history of the genre, Adam Roberts traces the central forms and influences on fantasy through the centuries to arrive at our understanding of the fantastic today. Pinning the evolution of fantasy on three key moments - the 19th-century resurgence of interest in Arthurian legend, the rise of Christian allegory, and a post-Ossian, post-Grimm emergence of a Norse, Germanic and Old English mythic identity – Roberts explores how the logic of ‘the fantastical’ feeds through into the sets and trappings of modern fantasy. Tracking the creation of heroic and high fantasy subgenres through antiquarian tradition, through C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien and into the post-Tolkien boom in genre fantasy writing, the book brings the manifestation of the fantastic beyond literature into art, music, film and TV, video games and other cultural productions such as fandoms. From Tennyson and Wagner, through Robert Graves, David Jones, Samuel Delany, Dungeons and Dragons, Terry Pratchett and Robin Hobb, to the Game of Thrones, Skyrim, The Witcher and The Lord of the Rings media franchises, the book digs into the global dissemination and diversity of 21st-century fantasy. Accessible and dynamic, wide-ranging but comprehensive, this is a crash-course in context for the most imaginative form of storytelling.

Good is a construct. Evil is a virus. The Starship Sa Niro and the Starship Sß Oubliette were in orbit around a black hole, one afternoon... by the end of the day, the crews of both starships were dead, victims of a single killer: Captain Alpha Raine. Raine claims he's acting under the command of a voice emanating from the black hole: Mr Modo. No one believes him. Everyone knows that things go into black holes; nothing comes out. But something inexplicable has been happening to Raine, and whatever it is seems to be spreading. An historian studying serial killers from the 21st century interviews him... and then nearly kills someone herself. It becomes increasingly undeniable that there's something inside that black hole... and it's found a way out...

Long before humans ventured into outer space, writers spun stories of what might lie in the unknown worlds beyond our planet and speculated about the future.

Good is a construct. Evil is a virus. The Starship Sa Niro and the Starship Sß Oubliette were in orbit around a black hole, one afternoon... by the end of the day, the crews of both starships were dead, victims of a single killer: Captain Alpha Raine. Raine claims he's acting under the command of a voice emanating from the black hole: Mr Modo. No one believes him. Everyone knows that things go into black holes; nothing comes out. But something inexplicable has been happening to Raine, and whatever it is seems to be spreading. An historian studying serial killers from the 21st century interviews him... and then nearly kills someone herself. It becomes increasingly undeniable that there's something inside that black hole... and it's found a way out...

1848, the spectre of revolution stalks London… “The story of the death of Sir Martin Malprelate acquired, from its earliest telling, a phantasmagorical quality, shrouding the violence of the assault in an embellishment of diabolic spectres and uncanny mystery.” Struck down in a Camden street, the railway magnate never lived to see his dream of a line from London to Middlemarch. But who was to blame? An angry mob? Or were the witnesses who swore he was struck by a demonic train, wheels ringing on rails where no rails lay, to be believed? A hated man who many wished dead? An impossible death? Truly a case for the father of all detectives. From award-winning author Adam Roberts comes a gothic murder mystery like no other; a gripping novel set in the tangled realms of 19th century fiction. In a world woven from the imaginations of Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Arthur Conan Doyle the inexplicable death of a railway magnate opens endless possibilities.

The This is the new social media platform everyone is talking about. Allow it to be injected into the roof of your mouth and it will grow into your brain, allow you to connect with others without even picking up your phone. Its followers are growing. Its detractors say it is a cult. But for one journalist, hired to do a puff-piece interview with their CEO, it will change the world forever. Adan just wants to stay at home with his smart-companion Elegy - phone, friend, confidante, sex toy. But when his mother flees to Europe and joins a cult, leaving him penniless, he has to enlist in the army. Sentient robots are invading America, but it seems Adan has a surprising ability to survive their attacks. He has a purpose, even if he doesn't know what it is. And in the far future, war between a hivemind of Ais and the remnants of humanity is coming to its inevitable end. But one woman has developed a weapon which might change the course of the war. It's just a pity she's trapped in an inescapable prison on a hivemind ship.