Red Planets: Marxism and Science Fiction

Authors: Mark Bould and China MiƩville

Publication Info: Wesleyan University Press distributed by University Press of New England, 2009.

“A critical exploration of the connections between science fiction and Marxism

Science fiction and socialism have always had a close relationship. Many science fiction novelists and filmmakers have used the genre to examine explicit or implicit Marxist concerns. Red Planets is an accessible and lively account, which makes an ideal introduction to anyone interested in the politics of science fiction. The volume covers a rich variety of examples from Weimar cinema to mainstream Hollywood films, and novelists from Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Philip K. Dick, and Thomas Disch to Ursula K. Le Guin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ken MacLeod, and Charles Stross. Contributors include Matthew Beaumont, William J. Burling, Carl Freedman, Darren Jorgensen, Rob Latham, Iris Luppa, Andrew Milner, John Rieder, Steven Shaviro, Sherryl Vint, and Phillip Wegner.”

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The Science Fiction Handbook

Authors: M. Booker and Anne-Marie Thomas

Publication Info: West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2009.

“The Science Fiction Handbook offers a comprehensive and accessible survey of one of the literary world’s most fascinating genres.

Includes separate historical surveys of key subgenres including time-travel narratives, post-apocalyptic and post-disaster narratives and works of utopian and dystopian science fiction

Each subgenre survey includes an extensive list of relevant critical readings, recommended novels in the subgenre, and recommended films relevant to the subgenre

Features entries on a number of key science fiction authors and extensive discussion of major science fiction novels or sequences

Writers and works include Isaac Asimov; Margaret Atwood; George Orwell; Ursula K. Le Guin; The War of the Worlds (1898); Starship Troopers (1959); Mars Trilogy (1993-6); and many more

A ‘Science Fiction Glossary’ completes this indispensable Handbook”

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Fifty Key Figures in Science Fiction

Authors: Mark Bould, Andrew M. Butler, Adam Roberts and Sherryl Vint.

Publication Info: New York: Routledge, 2009.

“Fifty Key Figures in Science Fiction is a collection of engaging essays on some of the most significant figures who have shaped and defined the genre. Diverse groups within the science fiction community are represented, from novelists and film makers to comic book and television writers. Important and influential names discussed include:

Octavia Butler

George Lucas

Robert Heinlein

Gene Roddenberry

Stan Lee

Ursula K. Le Guin

H.G. Wells

This outstanding reference guide charts the rich and varied landscape of science fiction and includes helpful and up-to-date lists of further reading at the end of each entry. Available in an easy to use A-Z format, Fifty Key Figures in Science Fiction will be of interest to students of Literature, Film Studies, and Cultural Studies.”

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