This companion to Frank Herbert's six original Dune novels--Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune--provides an encyclopedia of characters, locations, terms and other elements, and highlights the series' underrated aesthetic integrity. An extensive introduction discusses the theme of ecology, chaos theory concepts and structures, and Joseph Campbell's monomyth in Herbert's narr...

A prolific author, Isaac Asimov is most admired for his science fiction, including his collection of short stories I, Robot and his Robot, Empire and Foundation series novels. While each of these narratives takes place in a different fictional universe, Asimov asserted at the end of his career that he had, with his last Robot and Foundation novels, unified them into one coherent metaseries.This reference work identifies and describes all of the characters, locales, artifac...

Frank Herbert's Dune is one of the most well-known science fiction novels of all time, and it is often revered alongside time-honored classics like The Lord of the Rings. Unlike Tolkien's work, the Dune series has received remarkably little academic attention. This collection includes fourteen new essays from various academic disciplines--including philosophy, political science, disability studies, Islamic theology, environmental studies, and Byzantine history--t...

One of the great intellectual achievements of the 20th century, Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces is an elaborate articulation of the monomyth: the narrative pattern underlying countless stories from the most ancient myths and legends to the films and television series of today. The monomyth's fundamental storyline, in Campbell's words, sees "the hero venture forth from the world of the common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encou...

Released in May 1977, the original Star Wars movie inaugurated the age of the movie blockbuster. It also redefined the use of cinematic special effects, creating a new textual universe that now stretches through three decades, two trilogies and generations of fascinated viewers. The body of critical analysis that has developed from this epic focuses primarily on the Star Wars universe as a contemporary myth. However, like any fiction, it must also be viewed--and consequen...

This collection of fresh essays on Suzanne Collins's epic trilogy spans multiple disciplines. The contributors probe the trilogy's meaning using theories grounded in historicism, feminism, humanism, queer theory, as well as cultural, political, and media studies. The essayists demonstrate diverse perspectives regarding Collins's novels but their works have three elements in common: an appreciation of the trilogy as literature, a belief in its permanent value, and a need to share both appre...

When the first season of Star Trek opened to American television viewers in 1966, the thematically insightful sci-fi story line presented audiences with the exciting vision of a bold voyage into the final frontiers of space and strange, new galactic worlds. Perpetuating this enchanting vision, the story has become one of the longest running and most multifaceted franchises in television history. Moreover, it has presented an inspiring message for the future, addressing everything ...

Regency England was a pivotal time of political uncertainty, with a changing monarchy, the Napoleonic Wars, and a population explosion in London. In Susanna Clarke's fantasy novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, the era is also witness to the unexpected return of magic. Locating the consequences of this eruption of magical unreason within the context of England's imperial history, this study examines Merlin and his legacy, the roles of magicians throughout history, the mythology...

While all fiction uses words to construct models of the world for readers, nowhere is this more obvious than in fantasy fiction. Epic fantasy novels create elaborate secondary worlds entirely out of language, yet the writing style used to construct those worlds has rarely been studied in depth. This book builds the foundations for a study of style in epic fantasy. Close readings of selected novels by such writers as Steven Erikson, Ursula Le Guin, N. K. Jemisin and Brandon Sanderson offer ...

Mentre i leader di altri paesi cercavano soluzioni per combattere la più grande pandemia della storia moderna, il presidente americano Donald Trump era davanti alla TV. Ogni giorno Trump guarda più di sei ore di Fox News, un’abitudine che il suo staff fa ricadere nella categoria “executive time”, tempo dedicato a governare. Nel gennaio 2020, quando Fox ha iniziato a minimizzare la COVID-19, il presidente ha immediatamente condiviso questo approccio. A marzo, quando il virus si è diffuso in...

Everyone has an opinion about whether or not Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. The number of actors involved is staggering, the events are complicated, and it’s hard to know who or what to believe. Spygate bypasses opinion and brings facts together to expose the greatest political scandal in American history.Former Secret Service agent and NYPD police officer Dan Bongino joins forces with journalist D.C. McAllister to clear away fak...

La scienza è sempre più necessaria per capire il mondo complesso nel quale viviamo, e mai come ora conoscerla è indispensabile per prendere decisioni fondamentali nelle nostre vite. Il progetto Comics&Science nasce da questa consapevolezza: che la sintesi del fumetto è un potente strumento per comunicare in modo chiaro e divertente nozioni sofisticate, senza rinunciare all’accuratezza. Garantita dal Cnr, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, il più importante ente italiano dedicato alla rice...