Paratexts: Introductions to Science Fiction and Fantasy

· Scarecrow Press
Ebook
242
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About this ebook

In the mid-1980s, Easton Press began publishing a series of leather-bound collector editions called “Masterpieces of Science Fiction” and “Masterpieces of Fantasy,” which featured some of the most important works in these genres. James Gunn was commissioned to write introductions to these works, which allowed him to pay tribute to many authors who inspired and influenced his own work.

In Paratexts: Introductions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, Gunn has collected the most significant essays produced for the Easton series, along with prefaces he wrote for reprints of his own novels. Cited here are some of the most significant works of 19th and 20th century science fiction and fantasy, such as The Island of Dr. Moreau, 1984, Stranger in a Strange Land, A Clockwork Orange, Speaker for the Dead, The Postman, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe, The Dead Zone, The Mists of Avalon, Dragon’s Eye, Nine Princes in Amber, Blue Mars, The Last Unicorn, and The Lord of the Rings.

Drawing upon Gunn’s lifetime of work in the field, these introductions include analyses of the individual works and the fields in which they were written. Gunn also briefly discusses each novel’s significance in the science fiction canon. Collected here for the first time, these prefaces and introductions provide readers with insight into more than seventy novels, making Paratexts a must-read for science fiction and fantasy aficionados.

About the author

James Gunn, emeritus professor of English and director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas, has published nearly one hundred short stories and more than forty books, including the novels The Immortals and The Joy Makers. His books about science fiction include Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction, The Science of Science Fiction Writing, and the six-volume The Road to Science Fiction. Gunn is the twenty-fourth writer recognized by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America as a grand master.

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