fb2In the Hollywood of the future there’s no need for actors since any star can be digitally recreated and inserted into any movie. Yet young Alis wants to dance on the silver screen. Tom tries to dissuade her, but he fears she will pursue her dream — and likely fall victim to Hollywood’s seamy underside, which is all to eager to swallow up naive actresses. Then Tom begins to find Alis in the old musicals he remakes, and he has to ask himself just where the line stands between reality and the movies.
Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1996.
In the Hollywood of the future there’s no need for actors since any star can be digitally recreated and inserted into any movie. Yet young Alis wants to dance on the silver screen. Tom tries to dissuade her, but he fears she will pursue her dream — and likely fall victim to Hollywood’s seamy underside, which is all to eager to swallow up naive actresses. Then Tom begins to find Alis in the old musicals he remakes, and he has to ask himself just where the line stands between reality and the movies.
Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1996.
If you’re a fan of fiction that is more than just black and white, this latest story collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author George R.R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. Twenty-one all-original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R.R. Martin himself offers a brand-new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire history of Ice and Fire.
Follow along with the likes of Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Cherie Priest, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis, as well as other masters of literary sleight-of-hand, in this rogues gallery of stories that will plunder your heart—and yet leave you all the richer for it.
Au XXIe siècle, le professeur Dunworthy dmge une équipe d'historiens qui utilisent des transmetteurs temporels pour aller assister aux événements qui ont modifié l'avenir de l'humanité. Ned Henry est l'un d'eux. Dans le cadre d'un projet de reconstruction de la cathédrale de Coventry, il doit effectuer d'incessantes navettes vers le passé pour récolter un maximum d'informations sur cet édifice détruit par un raid aérien nazi en 1940. Toutefois, quand Dunworthy lui propose d'aller se reposer dans l'Angleterre de la fin du XIXe siècle, ce havre de tranquillité où rien n'est plus épuisant que de canoter sur la Tamise et de jouer au croquet, c'est avec empressement qu'il accepte. Mais Henry n'a pas entendu le professeur préciser qu'il devra en profiter pour corriger un paradoxe temporel provoqué par une de ses collègues qui a sauvé un chat de la noyade en 1988... et l'a ramené par inadvertance avec elle dans le futur. Et quand ce matou voyageur rencontre un chien victorien, cette incongruité spatio-temporelle pourrait bien remettre en cause... la survie de l'humanité !
Un pur régal d'humour typically british par la plus récompensée et la plus brillante des écrivains américains de science-fiction (prix Locus et Hugo 1999 pour cet ouvrage). Plus de 6 500 ventes en grand format.
Per uno storico del tornare nel passato per vedere come sono andate veramente le cose è un sogno, ed ora è possibile, ma la cattedrale di San Paolo durante i bombardamenti nazisti è considerata un livello dieci di pericolosità.
Vincitore dei premi Hugo e Nebula per il miglior racconto (Novelette) in 1983.
Anche pubblicato come “Squadra antincendio” e “Guardia antincendi”.
Se avete una bella faccia, o un bel paio di gambe, o un seno rifatto, potete entrare nel grande show del 2000. Se avete umiltà e pazienza potete prestare la vostra bocca — o qualunque altra parte del corpo — agli attori famosi del passato, e partecipare al remke elettronico di un capolavoro del cinema. Ma attenti! A Hollywood non interessano gli attori vivi. La loro specialità sono i fantasmi elettronici e i corpi caldi sono in pericolo…
Nominato per il premio Hugo per il miglior romanzo in 1996.
Tornata sul suo pianeta natale per vendere, nel più breve tempo possibile una tenuta ereditata dalla madre, appena sconparsa, Delanna si trova di fronte a un ostacolo imprevisto: prima di poter cedere le proprie terre, dovrà trascorrere un intero anno su Keramos. E come se non bastasse, scopre anche di essere la moglie del figlio dei vicini. Sonny Tanner, un giovanotto non troppo sveglio e decisamente zotico. Il matrimonio era stato combinato dalle famiglie prima che Delanna lasciasse il pianeta, per evitare che la tenuta finisse nelle mani di speculatori intergalattici. La vita di Delanna è a un bivio: si rassegnerà a perdere la proprietà della splendida tenuta di Milleflores Lanzye oppure seguirà Sonny in un lungo viaggio, effettuato a bordo di veicoli a energia solare, lungo le sterminate e fertili pianure di Keramos per raggiungere le sue terre, conservarne la proprietà e, una volta scaduto l’anno sbarazzarsene? È ovvio che voi abbiate già immaginato la risposta, ma è ancora più ovvio che apprezzerete l’atmosfera spumeggiante e scanzonata di questo romanzo.
indriddy y Carson son dos exploradores en un planeta reseco. Su mayor preocupación no son los peligros que puedan acechar en su superficie, sino en evitar que su guía les multe por perturbar el modo de vida local. Evelyn Parker, un socioexozoólogo se une a ellos desde una rendida admiración.
En el Hollywood del futuro, con el cine computerizado, las películas de acción real son cosa del pasado. Los actores han sido sustituidos por simulacros generados por ordenador. La manipulación informática permite, por ejemplo, que Humphrey Bogart y Marilyn Monroe protagonicen juntos el enésimo remake de Ha nacido una estrella. Pero, además, si al espectador no le gusta el final, puede alterarlo con sólo pulsar una tecla.
Un Hollywood futuro gobernado como hoy por el sexo (pero ahora simulado informáticamente…), las drogas y los efectos especiales. Un mundo donde todo es posible. Todo, excepto lo que Alis más desea: bailar realmente en las películas. Un sueño imposible incluso con la ayuda de Tom, un cínico experto de ese nuevo Hollywood del futuro, quien aprenderá que incluso en un mundo de milagros tecnológicos siguen existiendo algunas cosas que no pueden ser falsificadas ¿O sí…?
Few authors have had careers as successful as that of Connie Willis. Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and recently awarded the title of Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Willis is still going strong. Her smart, heartfelt fiction runs the gamut from screwball comedy to profound tragedy, combining dazzling plot twists, cutting-edge science, and unforgettable characters.
From a near future mourning the extinction of dogs to an alternate history in which invading aliens were defeated by none other than Emily Dickinson; from a madcap convention of bumbling quantum physicists in Hollywood to a London whose Underground has become a storehouse of intangible memories both foul and fair—here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today.
All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners—some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story—plus a special look at three of Willis’s unique public speeches—this is unquestionably the collection of the season, a book that every Connie Willis fan will treasure, and, to those unfamiliar with her work, the perfect introduction to one of the most accomplished and best-loved writers of our time.
The very best short SF fiction of any given year as recommended and nominated by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: the best novella, novelette and short story. Here you will find the cream of the crop of science fiction and fantasy - startling ideas, the intricate construction of new worlds and mind-bending experimental writing. This anthology includes not only the Nebula Award-winning works in each short-form category, but also all the nominees in the novelette and short story categories. Here you will find colourful fantasy, outstanding speculative fiction, steampunk, edgy writing on the fringes of the mainstream and uncompromisingly hard SF in stories set in the distant past, an off-kilter present day, the far future or some times in between.
What a stitch! Willis’ delectable romp through time from 2057 back to Victorian England, with a few side excursions into World War II and medieval Britain, will have readers happily glued to the pages. Rich dowager Lady Schrapnell has invaded Oxford University’s time travel research project in 2057, promising to endow it if they help her rebuild Coventry Cathedral, destroyed by a Nazi air raid in 1940. In effect, she dragoons almost everyone in the program to make trips back in time to locate items — in particular, the bishop’s bird stump, an especially ghastly example of Victorian decorative excess. Time traveler Ned Henry is suffering from advanced time lag and has been sent, he thinks, for rest and relaxation to 1888, where he connects with fellow time traveler Verity Kindle and discovers that he is actually there to correct an incongruity created when Verity inadvertently brought something forward from the past. Take an excursion through time, add chaos theory, romance, plenty of humor, a dollop of mystery, and a spoof of the Victorian novel, and you end up with what seems like a comedy of errors but is actually a grand scheme "involving the entire course of history and all of time and space that, for some unfathomable reason, chose to work out its designs with cats and croquet mallets and penwipers, to say nothing of the dog. And a hideous piece of Victorian artwork.
Nominated for Nebula Award in 1998.
Won Hugo and Locus Awards in 1999.
Ocho premios Hugo, seis premios Nebula, y el John W. Campbell Memorial en unos diez años avalan la excepcional habilidad narrativa de la autora de El libro del día del juicio final, Oveja mansa y Por no mencionar al perro. Se trata de una de las mejores y más inteligentes voces de la narrativa modena, que esta vez nos sorprende e intriga con una emotiva y racional exploración del mundo de las ECM (Experiencias Cercanas a la Muerte) en una novela de implacable suspense.
Según diversos testigos, en una ECM parece haber varios elementos nucleares: experiencia extracorporal, sonido, un túnel de altas paredes, una luz al final del túnel, parientes fallecidos y un ángel de luz con resplandecientes túnicas blancas, una sensación de paz y amor, una revisión de la vida, una revelación del conocimiento universal y la orden de regreso final. ¿Es todo esto algo real, o se trata tan sólo de manifestaciones surgidas de la bioquímica de un cerebro moribundo?
En Tránsito, Joanna Lander es un psicóloga que investiga las ECM. Su encuentro con el neurólogo Richard Wright ha de permitirle simular clínicamente ese tipo de experiencias con el uso de drogas psicoactivas. Pero los sujetos del experimento del doctor Wright ven cosas completamente distintas de lo esperado, y Joanna decide someterse al experimento para conocer directamente una ECM. Y las sorpresas empiezan…
Novela finalista del premio Hugo 2002
Novela finalista del premio Nebula 2001
Novela finalista del John W. Campbell Memorial Award 2002
Ecco un altro premio Nebula, stavolta di Connie Willis, una delle scrittrici più dotate e apprezzate dell’ultima generazione. Con la sua consueta grazia e dolcezza, la Willis tocca qui un tema tra i più abusati come quello del dopobomba per darcene una vista nuova e originale da un’angolazione mai considerata finora.