David Ketterer – författare

The 19th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts was focused on the centennial of the initial publication of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. Wells's first and fourth novels, The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, have together largely created the science fiction genre and are arguably the two most influential works of science fiction. But through his works Wells has had an even broader influence on the fantastic, and numerous writers, artists, and musicians are indebted to him. This volume includes selected essays from the 19th annual ICFA and gives special attention to Wells and his legacy.The first section of the book offers fresh interpretations of The War of the Worlds, particularly as a commentary on colonialism. The second provides broader coverage of Wells and his works, with essays examining his A Modern Utopia and looking at texts which his writings inspired in major or minor ways. The third includes essays on noted fantasy writer Peter Straub, the guest of honor at the conference; while the fourth presents discussions of a variety of topics related to the fantastic, including fantastic neomedievalism, Dracula, and dragons.

Mark Twain's unsettling imagination and passionate curiosity roamed far and wide—racing across microscopic worlds and interstellar voids, leaping ahead to fearful futures, and speculating on dazzling inventions to come. Tales of Wonder features some of the most notable but little-known science fiction available, penned by the famed American humorist and writer. With characteristic wit and acuity, Twain embarks on an epic journey into a drop of water, catches a glimpse of an invisible man, reveals a generation-starship-type world in the heart of a drifting iceberg, and imagines futuristic devices of instantaneous communication such as the "phrenophone" and "telelectroscope." Twain pioneered the use of time travel to the past in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. As for the future, he envisioned a radical utopia of absolute suffrage and future histories in which a global theocracy holds sway or a monarchy rules America. This entertaining and absorbing collection of tales reminds us that the former steamboat pilot dreamed about the stars, anticipated and dreaded the future, and above all was continually surprised and enchanted by the world around him.