Gregory Benford – författare

The J. Lloyd Eaton Conferences on Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature--long held at the University of California, Riverside--have been a major influence in the study of science fiction and fantasy for thirty years. The conferences have attracted leading scholars whose papers are published in Eaton volumes found in university libraries throughout the world.This collection brings together 22 of the best papers--most with new afterwords by the authors--presented in chronological order to show how science fiction and fantasy criticism has evolved since 1979.

Despite the growing importance of economics in our lives, literary scholars have long been reluctant to consider economic issues as they examine key texts. This volume seeks to fill one of these conspicuous gaps in the critical literature by focusing on various connections between science fiction and economics, with some attention to related fields such as politics and government. Its seventeen contributors include five award-winning scholars, five science fiction writers, and a widely published economist.Three topics are covered: what noted science fiction writers like Robert A. Heinlein, Frank Herbert, and Kim Stanley Robinson have had to say about our economic and political future; how the competitive and ever-changing publishing marketplace has affected the growth and development of science fiction from the nineteenth century to today; and how the scholars who examine science fiction have themselves been influenced by the economics of academia. Although the essays focus primarily on American science fiction, the traditions of Russian and Chinese science fiction are also examined. A comprehensive bibliography of works related to science fiction and economics will assist other readers and critics who are interested in this subject.

When the Sunseeker laves Earth, bound for the planet called "Glory", its crew knows they will never see home again. None of them can ever have imagined, however, what they will find along the way. A gargantuan object, with its own star nettled inside. The bowl shaped structure is following the same path as the Sunseeker and it has a habitable are the size of millions of Earths, A landing party is sent to the surface, where they encounter some of the structures inhabitants - wildly differing species, and not all of them friendly.

The first manned mission to Mars has been a resounding success, and excitement grows as more new discoveries are made. However, one discovery continues to defy rational explanation - the 'marsmat' - a complex anaerobic life-form found in the planet's honeycomb of tunnels.This raises questions about the nature and meaning of life itself which will lead the curious and the driven to Pluto and beyond, to the cold void at the fringes of the solar system.

A billion years into the future, a human female is recreated from data held within the vast archives of the Library of Life. But the Earth to which she is born is far different to that of her long-extinct race. Finding it impossible to adapt to this timeless and rigid society she flees her creators and her home world.A rogue element in an increasingly unstable universe, she draws the attention of a mysterious alien breed. Already masters of travel between parallel universes they believe this girl is the key to changing all reality. And if they track her down, the effects on the galaxy will be cataclysmic.

The year is 1998, the world is a growing nightmare of desperation, of uncontrollable pollution and increasing social unrest. In Cambridge, two scientists experiment with tachyons - subatomic particles that travel faster than the speed of light and, therefore, according to the Theory of Relativity, may move backwards in time. Their plan is to signal a warning to the previous generation.In 1962, a young Californian scientist, Gordon Bernstein, finds his experiments are being spoiled by unknown interference. As he begins to suspect something near the truth it becomes a race against time - the world is collapsing and will only be saved if Gordon can decipher the message in time.Winner of the Nebula Award for best novel, 1980Winner of the John W. Campbell Award for best novel, 1981Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 1980