1.
Racine, Wisconsin
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Racine or is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River, Racine is located 22 miles south of Milwaukee. As of the 2013 U. S. census, the city had a population of 78,199 and its median home price of $103,625 makes it one of the most affordable cities in Wisconsin to buy a home. In January of 2017, it was rated the most affordable place to live in the world by the Demographia International Housing Affordability survey, Racine is the headquarters of a number of industries, including J. I. Case, S. C. Johnson & Son, Dremel Corporation, Reliance Controls Corporation, Twin Disc, the Mitchell & Lewis Company, a wagonmaker in the 19th century, began making motorcycles and automobiles as Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company at the start of the 20th century. Racine was also home to InSinkErator, the first garbage disposal, malted milk balls were developed in Racine. Architects of the city included A. Arthur Guilbert and Edmund Bailey Funston, historians separate the natives living in the Root watershed at that time into Woodland people, who were more common, and Hopewell people, who were more advanced. After European contact, the Miami and later the Potawatomi expanded into the area and these were the first Europeans known to visit what is now Racine County. Further expeditions were made in the area by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1679 and by François Jolliet De Montigny and Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes in 1698. Nearly a century later, in 1791, a trading post would be established along Lake Michigan near where the Root River empties into it. Following the Blackhawk War, the area surrounding Racine, which had previously been off-limits, was settled by Yankees from upstate New York and New England. In 1834 Captain Gilbert Knapp USRM, who was from Chatham, Massachusetts, Knapp had first explored the area of the Root River valley in 1818, and returned with financial backing when the war ended. Within a year of Knapps settlement hundreds of settlers from New England and western New York had arrived. Some of the settlers were from the town of Derby, Connecticut, the area was previously called Kipi Kawi and Chippecotton by the indigenous peoples, both names for the Root River. The name Port Gilbert was never accepted, and in 1841 the community was incorporated as the village of Racine. After Wisconsin was admitted to the Union in 1848, the new legislature voted in August to incorporate Racine as a city, in 1852, Racine College, an Episcopal college, was founded, it closed in 1933. Its location and many of its buildings are preserved today by the Community of St. Mary as part of the DeKoven Center, also in 1852, Racine High School, the first public high school in Wisconsin, opened. The high school operated until 1926, when it was torn down to make way for the new Racine County Courthouse, washington Park High School was built to replace it
2.
Science fiction
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Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a literature of ideas. Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a range of subgenres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying science fiction is what we point to when we say it, a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of science fiction is like the definition of pornography, you do not know what it is, in 1970 or 1971William Atheling Jr. According to science fiction writer Robert A, rod Serlings definition is fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. Science fiction elements include, A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, a spatial setting or scenes in outer space, on other worlds, or on subterranean earth. Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots, futuristic or plausible technology such as ray guns, teleportation machines, and humanoid computers. Scientific principles that are new or that contradict accepted physical laws, for time travel, wormholes. New and different political or social systems, e. g. utopian, dystopian, post-scarcity, paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis Other universes or dimensions and travel between them. A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of science itself. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Keplers work the first science fiction story and it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earths motion is seen from there. Later, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon, more examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Wells The War of the Worlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry and it is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth. In the late 19th century, the scientific romance was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland, the term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars
3.
Fantasy
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Fantasy is a fiction genre set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Most fantasy uses magic or other elements as a main plot element, theme. Magic and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds, in popular culture, the fantasy genre is predominantly of the medievalist form. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy works by many writers, artists, filmmakers. Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other studies, cultural studies, comparative literature, history. The identifying trait of fantasy is the reliance on imagination to create narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that whereas realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, an author applies his or her imagination to come up with characters, plots, and settings that are impossible in reality. Fantasy has often compared with science fiction and horror because they are the major categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements, a science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seeming possible through logical scientific and/or technological extrapolation, whereas fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. The imagined elements of fantasy do not need an explanation to be narratively functional. Authors have to rely on the suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment. Despite both genres heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable, horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists. Beginning perhaps with the earliest written documents, mythic and other elements that would come to define fantasy. MacDonald was an influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, lord Dunsany established the genres popularity in both the novel and the short story form. Many popular mainstream authors also began to write fantasy at this time, including H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Indeed, juvenile fantasy was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, intended for children, though works for adults only verged on fantasy. Political and social trends can affect a societys reception towards fantasy, in the early 20th century, the New Culture Movements enthusiasm for Westernization and science in China compelled them to condemn the fantastical shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature
4.
Horror fiction
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Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle their readers or viewers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon has defined the horror story as a piece of fiction in prose of variable length, which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing. It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere, Horror is frequently supernatural, though it can be non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society. The genre of horror has ancient origins with roots in folklore and religious traditions, focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic and these were manifested in stories of beings such as witches, vampires, werewolves and ghosts. 18th century Gothic horror drew on these sources with the seminal and controversial The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole and this marked the first incorporated elements of the supernatural instead of pure realism. In fact, the first edition was published disguised as a medieval romance from Italy discovered and republished by a fictitious translator. Once revealed as contemporary, many found it anachronistic, reactionary, or simply in poor taste — but it proved to be immediately popular. That first novel of Gothic horror inspired such works as Vathek by William Beckford, A Sicilian Romance, The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian by Ann Radcliffe and The Monk by Matthew Lewis. A significant amount of fiction of this era was written by women and marketed at a female audience. The Gothic tradition blossomed into the modern readers call horror literature in the 19th century. Each of these novels and novellas created an icon of horror seen in modern re-imaginings on the stage. The proliferation of periodicals, as early as the turn of the century. One writer who specialized in fiction for mainstream pulps such as All-Story Magazine was Tod Robbins, whose fiction dealt with themes of madness. Later, specialist publications emerged to give horror writers an outlet, including Weird Tales, influential horror writers of the early 20th century made inroads in these mediums. Early cinema was inspired by aspects of horror literature, and early horror cinema started a strong tradition of horror films. This imagery made these comics controversial, and as a consequence they were frequently censored, many modern novels claim an early description of the living dead in a precursor to the modern zombie tale, including Dennis Wheatleys Strange Conflict, H. P. Lovecraft stories such as Cool Air, In The Vault, richard Mathesons novel I Am Legend would also influence an entire genre of apocalyptic zombie fiction emblematic of the films of George A. Romero
5.
Rebecca Moesta
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Rebecca Moesta Anderson is the author of several science fiction books. Rebecca Moesta Anderson was born in Germany, to American parents and raised in Pasadena, California, Moesta graduated with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Cal State L. A. and shortly after graduation married a former classmate from Caltech, becoming Rebecca Moesta Cowan. In 1981, the moved to New Haven, Connecticut. In Germany Moesta took graduate courses with Boston University and earned a Master of Science degree in Business Administration, during their stay in Germany she gave birth to her son, Jonathan, before moving back to the United States and settling in Livermore, California. In 1989, Moesta took a position at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a proof reader, there she formed a science fiction club in which she met her future husband Kevin J. Anderson. She divorced her first husband in 1990 and married Anderson in 1991, the couple owns and runs the publishing company WordFire Press, and Rebecca is currently working on several new projects, including copy editing her husbands works. Co-written with Kevin J. Anderson, under the pseudonym Kem Antilles, based on the Star Trek, Deep Space Nine television series, set in the year 2370. Little Things Book 1, The Island Realm Book 2, The Ocean Realm Book 3, Sky Realm Official website Rebecca Moesta at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
6.
Star Wars
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Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of characters a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars and it was followed by the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005, which received mixed-to-negative reactions, a sequel trilogy began in 2015 with the release of Star Wars, The Force Awakens. All seven films were nominated for Academy Awards and have been successes, with a combined box office revenue of over $7.5 billion. Spin-off films include Star Wars, The Clone Wars and Rogue One, Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the Most successful film merchandising franchise. In 2015, the value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $42 billion. In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and earned the rights to all subsequent Star Wars films. Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, the events depicted in the Star Wars franchise take place in an unnamed fictional galaxy at an undetermined point in the distant past. Many species of creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a single galactic government. In the prequel trilogy, this is depicted in the form of the Galactic Republic, at the end of the trilogy and throughout the original trilogy. Preceding and during the trilogy, this government is the New Republic. One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the Force and it is described in the first produced film as an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together. While the Force can be used for good, known as the side, it also has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression. The sequel trilogy introduces the Knights of Ren, an order of practitioners of the side of the Force aligned with the First Order. The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25,1977 and this was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21,1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25,1983
7.
StarCraft
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StarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series debuted with the video game StarCraft in 1998, Blizzard Entertainment began planning StarCraft in 1995, with a development team led by Metzen and Phinney. The game debuted at E31996, and used a modified Warcraft II game engine, StarCraft also marked the creation of Blizzard Entertainments film department, the game introduced high quality cinematics integral to the storyline of the series. Most of the development team for StarCraft returned to work on the games official expansion pack, Brood War. In 2001, StarCraft, Ghost began development under Nihilistic Software, unlike the previous real-time strategy games in the series, Ghost was to be a stealth-action game. After three years of development, work on the game was postponed in 2004, development of StarCraft II, Wings of Liberty began in 2003, the game was later announced in May 2007 and was released in July 2010. The StarCraft II franchise continued with the StarCraft II, Heart of the Swarm expansion, the third StarCraft II installment, StarCraft II, Legacy of the Void, released in November 2015. The original game and its expansion have been praised as one of the benchmark real-time strategy games of its time. By June 2007, StarCraft and Brood War had sold nearly 10 million copies combined, in addition, the series was awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2006, and holds four Guinness World Records in the Guinness World Records Gamers Edition of 2008. On March 27,2017, Blizzard announced StarCraft, Remastered, a version of the original StarCraft, with the core updates being up-to-date graphics. The story focuses on the activities of the three species in a part of the Milky Way known as the Koprulu Sector. Millennia before any of the events of the games, a known as the XelNaga genetically engineered the Protoss. These experiments backfire and the XelNaga are largely destroyed by the Zerg, however, the computers automating the colony ships malfunction, propelling the Terran colonists far off course to the edge of Protoss space. Out of contact with Earth, they form various factions to maintain their interests, intrigued by the behavior and mentality of the Terrans, the Protoss remain hidden to examine the humans, while protecting them from other threats without their knowledge. However, the Zerg target the Terrans for assimilation to harness their psionic potential, the Confederacy eventually succumbs to Mengsks rebels when they use Confederate technology to lure the Zerg into attacking the Confederate capital, Tarsonis. In the consequent power vacuum, Mengsk crowns himself emperor of a new Terran Dominion, however, during the assault on Tarsonis, Mengsk allows the Zerg to capture and infest his psychic second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan. This betrayal prompts Mengsks other commander, Jim Raynor, to him with a small army. Having retreated with Kerrigan to their hive clusters, the Zerg are assaulted by Protoss forces commanded by Tassadar
8.
Titan A.E.
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Titan A. E. is a 2000 American animated science fiction action-adventure film directed and produced by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The films title refers to the central to the plot. It stars the voices of Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, the films animation technique combines traditional hand-drawn animation and extensive use of computer generated imagery. Its working title was Planet Ice, the film was theatrically released on June 16,2000, by 20th Century Fox. It was the last film to be made by Fox Animation Studios before its closure, the film grossed $36.8 million on a $75–$90 million budget, making a $100-million loss for 20th Century Fox. In 3028 A. D. humanity has mastered deep space travel, a human invention called Project Titan alarms the Drej, a pure energy-based alien species. When the Drej mothership destroys Earth and the Moon with a massive directed-energy weapon, fifteen years later, Cale is working in a salvage yard in an asteroid belt called Tau 14. He is tracked down by Joseph Korso, captain of the spaceship Valkyrie, Korso reveals that Professor Tucker encoded a map to the Titan in the ring he gave Cale. Tek tells Cale that humanity depends on finding the Titan. When the Drej attack the salvage yard, Cale is forced to escape aboard the Valkyrie with Korso and his crew, Akima, a female pilot, and Preed, Gune. On the planet Sesharrim, the bat-like Gaoul interpret the map, Drej fighters arrive and capture Cale and Akima. The Drej eventually discard Akima and extract the Titans map from Cale, Korsos crew rescues Akima while Cale eventually escapes in a Drej ship and rejoins the group. Cales map has changed and now shows the Titans final location, while resupplying at a human space station called New Bangkok, Cale and Akima discover that Korso and Preed are planning to betray the Titan to the Drej. Cale and Akima manage to escape the Valkyrie but are stranded on New Bangkok when Korso. With the help of New Bangkoks colonists, Cale and Akima salvage a small spaceship named Phoenix, Cale and Akima navigate through the huge ice field in the Andali Nebula and dock with the Titan before the Valkyrie arrives. They discover DNA samples of Earth animals and a holographic message left by Cales father. The message is interrupted by the arrival of Korso and Preed, Preed attempts to kill all three of them for the Drej, but he is killed by Korso. Moments later, the Drej attack the Titan, while the remaining crew of the Valkyrie distracts them, Cale - given the fact that Drej are, essentially, beings of pure energy - modifies the Titan to absorb them, thus re-energizing the ship
9.
Brian Herbert
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Brian Patrick Herbert is an American author who lives in Washington state. He is the son of science fiction author Frank Herbert. Brian Herberts novels include Sidneys Comet, Prisoners of Arionn, Man of Two Worlds, in 2003, Herbert wrote a biography of his father, Dreamer of Dune, The Biography of Frank Herbert. The younger Herbert has edited The Songs of Muaddib and the Notebooks of Frank Herberts Dune, Brian has also created a concordance for the Dune universe based on his fathers notes, though, according to the younger Herbert, there are no immediate plans to publish it. The duo began with the trilogies Prelude to Dune and Legends of Dune, Brian and Anderson next published Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, two sequels to Frank Herberts original Dune series which was left incomplete after his 1986 death. These novels are based on an outline and notes left behind by Frank Herbert for what he referred to as Dune 7, in 2008, Brian and Anderson began publishing Heroes of Dune, a series of four novels which take place between the novels of Frank Herberts original series. Married since 1967, Herbert and his wife, Jan Herbert, have three daughters named Julie, Kim, and Margaux Beverly, Herbert also has an elder half-sister, Penny, their younger brother, LGBT rights activist and photographer Bruce Calvin Herbert, died in 1993. October 7,2008 Brian Herbert Interview with AMCtv. com Modern Signed Books BlogTalkRadio Interview with Rodger Nichols about The Little Green Book of Chairman Rahma
10.
Dune prequel series
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The Dune prequel series is a sequence of novel trilogies written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Set in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, the novels place in various time periods before. Starting with 1999s Dune, House Atreides, the duo have published ten Dune prequel novels to date, in 2011 Publishers Weekly called the series a sprawling edifice that Frank Herbert’s son and Anderson have built on the foundation of the original Dune novels. Dune itself is frequently cited as the science fiction novel in history. It won the 1966 Hugo Award and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel, Herbert wrote five sequels, and the first two were presented as a miniseries in 2003. Prelude to Dune is a trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The series takes place in the leading up to the events in the original novel Dune. In 1997, Bantam Books made a $3 million deal with the authors for three Dune prequel novels that would come to be known as the Prelude to Dune trilogy, the novels draw from notes left behind by Frank Herbert after his death in 1986. Dune, House Atreides debuted at #13 on the New York Times Best Seller list, Dune, House Harkonnen debuted at #11 on the same list, and rose to #8 its second week. The third installment, Dune, House Corrino, debuted at #8 on the New York Times list, Legends of Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herberts Dune universe. It also explores the origins of the families and organizations that populate the distinctive universe in other Dune works, the Titans soon make the transition into cyborgs called cymeks, through the use of specialized interfaces, their brains are installed inside giant, mobile, mechanized bodies. These fearsome, weaponized bodies make the Titans virtually immortal — and their rule lasts for a century. For over 900 years the Titans live in servitude to Omnius, cruelly subjugating humanity, quelling human insurrections. At the time of the Legends of Dune series, over 500 planets — called the Synchronized Worlds — are under complete machine control, their former human populations either enslaved or killed. The relatively few planets of remaining free humans are united under the League of Nobles and this crusade against the machines lasts for nearly a century, with much loss of human life but ending in human victory at the Battle of Corrin. Dune, The Butlerian Jihad rose to #7 on The New York Times Best Seller list in its week of publication. Dune, The Machine Crusade debuted at #7 on the list, the third installment, Dune, The Battle of Corrin, reached #9 on the New York Times list. Heroes of Dune is a tetralogy of novels by Brian Herbert
11.
The Saga of Seven Suns
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The Saga of Seven Suns is a series of seven space opera novels written by Kevin J. Anderson and published between 2002 and 2008. The series chronicles the war that erupts when humans inadvertently ignite the fury of a hidden empire of elemental aliens known as the hydrogues. Internal conflict is sparked within both the human and Ildiran empires as other ancient elemental races reappear to renew their own ancient war with the hydrogues. A sequel trilogy, The Saga of Shadows, so far includes the novels The Dark Between the Stars, Blood of the Cosmos and Eternitys Mind. In the future, the race has colonized multiple planets in the Spiral Arm. Though ostensibly ruled by kings, the Hansa is actually controlled by its Chairman, the Ildirans themselves, psychically linked to their leader the Mage-Imperator, have become stagnant and eschew both expansion and innovation. As the series begins, the arrogant Hansa Chairman Basil Wenceslas begins grooming a replacement for the aging King Frederick, the most prominent human world aside from Earth is Theroc, a planet covered in semi-sentient worldtrees that is quietly independent from the Hansa. Their brutal retaliation and forced cessation of ekti collection threaten to cripple both the human and Ildiran civilizations, and serve as a declaration of war. The aggression of the hydrogues reawakens the verdani, the entities who had fled to Theroc after losing an ancient war with the hydrogues. Meanwhile, the Ildiran Mage-Imperator Cyroch struggles to hide his races secrets, and the amnesiac black Klikiss robots, left behind after their parent races mysterious destruction, have secrets of their own. The war escalates simmering rivalries among the factions and ignites a schism in the Ildiran consciousness. Later, the fire-based faeros and aquatic wentals also reappear as the war with their ancient hydrogue enemies escalates. The long-held secrets of the Ildirans and the Klikiss robots are revealed amidst much destruction, Hidden Empire is the first book in The Saga of Seven Suns series by Kevin J. Anderson, published on July 24,2002. Publishers Weekly called it a launch of a new series and a fascinating future epic. Harriet Klausner of TheBestReviews. com wrote, The tale grabs the audience from the start as Kevin J. Anderson, blends the players and worlds into the thrilling plot. Thus, the audience does not receive an extended prologue as often seen in first novels, instead readers obtain a powerful futuristic epic that contains a robust stand-alone story line yet provides a puissant cliffhanger that will keep the audience wanting to continue non-stop. However SF Signal described it as A rather pedestrian space opera that nonetheless has some cool ideas. The only other intelligent species in the galaxy are the Ildirans, an ancient civilization at its peak
12.
Nebula Award
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The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and they were first given in 1966 at a ceremony created for the awards, and are given in four categories for different lengths of literary works. A fifth category for film and television episode scripts was given 1974–78, the rules governing the Nebula Awards have changed several times during the awards history, most recently in 2010. SFWA numbers the awards by the prior to the year the award is given in. For lists of winners and nominees for each Nebula category, see the list of categories below, the Nebula Awards are given annually by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for the best science fiction or fantasy fiction published during the previous year. To be eligible for consideration works must be published in English in the United States, works published in English elsewhere in the world are also eligible provided they are released on either a website or in an electronic edition. The awards are not limited to American citizens or members of SFWA, works translated into English are also eligible. There are no rules as to which works qualify as science fiction or fantasy. The winner receives a trophy but no prize, the trophy is a transparent block with an embedded glitter spiral nebula. The trophy itself was designed for the first awards by J. A. Lawrence, based on a sketch by Kate Wilhelm, Nebula Award nominees and winners are chosen by members of the SFWA. Additional nominees are possible in the case of ties, members then vote on the ballot throughout March, and the final results are presented at the Nebula Awards ceremony in May. Authors are not permitted to nominate their own works, though they can decline nominations, ties in the final vote are broken, if possible, by the number of nominations the works received. The first Nebulas were given in 1966, for works published in 1965, the idea for such an award, funded by the sales of anthologies collecting the winning works, was proposed by SFWA secretary-treasurer Lloyd Biggle, Jr. in 1965. The idea was based on the Edgar Awards, presented by the Mystery Writers of America, the initial ceremony consisted of four literary awards, for Novels, Novellas, Novelettes, and Short Stories, which have been presented every year since. Prior to 2009, the Nebula Awards employed a rolling eligibility system, each work was eligible to qualify for the ballot for one year following its date of publication. As a consequence of rolling eligibility, there was the possibility for works to be nominated in the year after their publication. Works were added to a preliminary list for the if they had ten or more nominations. Authors were also allowed to use the mass-market paperback publication of their books as the beginning of their nomination period, beginning with the 2010 awards, the rolling eligibility system and paperback publication exemption were replaced with the current rules
13.
Dark Horse Comics
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Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book and manga publisher. It was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, Richardson started out by opening his first comic book store, Pegasus Books, in Bend, Oregon, in 1980. From there he was able to use the funds from his operation to start his own publishing company. Frank Millers Sin City is one of the most famous associated with Dark Horse. Today, the arm of the company flourishes despite no longer having its own universe of superpowered characters. Dark Horse also published the English translation of The Legend of Zelda, like Dell and Gold Key, Dark Horse was one of the few major American publishers of comic books never to display the Comics Code Authority seal on its covers. From 1993 to 1996, Dark Horse published a line of comics under the Comics Greatest World imprint. Legend was a book imprint at Dark Horse Comics created in 1994 by Frank Miller. Its logo was a moai drawn by Mike Mignola, later on, other creators were asked to join them. Art Adams Frank Miller John Byrne Mike Mignola Paul Chadwick, Dave Gibbons, Mike Allred Walter Simonson Dark Horse Manga is an imprint for Japanese manga. by Kōsuke Fujishima. Dark Horse also publishes a number of CLAMP titles, including Clover, Chobits, Okimono Kimono, Cardcaptor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth, a manga magazine titled Super Manga Blast. was published by Dark Horse starting in the spring of 2000. It was discontinued in December 2005 after 59 issues, Dark Horse also publish a number of Korean manhwa titles, including Banya, The Explosive Delivery Man. Maverick was an imprint for creator owned material, the DH Press imprint publishes novelizations of Dark Horses more popular comic book titles, including Aliens and Predator. DH Press has now been absorbed by DH Books, publications ranging from novels to film books by Leonard Maltin about John Landis, to comic related material such as a biography of Will Eisner, to health books. They have also published a series reprinting Playboy interviews, the M Press imprint was created to publish a diverse list of both literary fiction and non-fiction prose for authors with a unique voice. One such series is Orchid by Tom Morello, published from 2011–2013, the newest addition to M Press is an original graphic novel The Fifth Beatle by Vivek Tiwary, Andrew Robinson, and Kyle Baker, published on November 2013. In 2011, Dark Horse launched their iOS app and online comics store. Any device with a web browser can be used to read Dark Horse comics at their web store
14.
Predator (alien)
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The Predator is a fictional extraterrestrial species featured in the Predator science-fiction franchise, characterized by its trophy hunting of other species for sport. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator, Requiem, the Predator has been the subject of numerous novels, video games, and comic books, both on their own and as part of the Alien vs. Predator crossover imprint. The Predator design is credited to special effects artist Stan Winston, while flying to Japan with Aliens director James Cameron, Winston, who had been hired to design the Predator, was doing concept art on the flight. Cameron saw what he was drawing and said, I always wanted to see something with mandibles, Winston then included them in his designs. Stan Winstons studio created all of the effects for Predator and Predator 2, creating the body suit for actor Kevin Peter Hall. The studio was hired after attempts to create a monster had failed. Arnold Schwarzenegger recommended Winston after his working on The Terminator. The Predator was originally designed with a neck, a dog-like head. This design was abandoned when it became apparent that the locations would make shooting the complex design too difficult. Originally, the studio contracted the makeup effects for the alien from Richard Edlunds Boss Film Creature Shop, however, problems filming the alien in Mexico caused the makeup effects responsibilities to be given to Stan Winston. The design did not work in the jungle locations, after six weeks of shooting in the jungles of Palenque, Mexico, the production had to shut down so that Winston could make a new Predator. This took eight months and then filming resumed for five weeks, jean-Claude Van Damme was originally cast as the Predator, the idea was that stars abilities in martial arts would make the Predator an agile, ninja-esque hunter. Eventually, Van Damme was removed from the film and replaced by actor, Hall, standing at an imposing height of 7 feet 2 inches, had just finished work as a sasquatch in Harry and the Hendersons. Hall played the Predator in the first and second movies and he was trained in the art of mime and used many tribal dance moves in his performance, such as during the fight between Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Predator at the end of the first movie. In Predator 2, according to a making of featurette, Danny Glover suggested the Los Angeles Lakers to be the other Predators because Glover himself was a big fan, Hall persuaded some of the Lakers to play background Predators because they couldnt find anyone on short notice. Hall died not long after Predator 2 was released in theaters, in Alien vs. Whyte returned to portray the Wolf Predator in Aliens vs. Predator, Requiem. In a nod to the first film, Derek Mears played the Predator as the creature appeared in the original, the Predators blood was made from a combination of the liquid from glow sticks mixed with K-Y Jelly. The mixture loses its glow quickly, so new batches had to be made between takes
15.
Topps
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The Topps Company, Inc. manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York City, Topps is best known as a producer of basketball cards, football cards, baseball cards, hockey cards. Topps itself was founded in 1938, but the company can trace its roots back to an earlier firm, founded in 1890 by Morris Shorin, the American Leaf Tobacco Co. imported tobacco to the United States and sold it to other tobacco companies. American Leaf Tobacco encountered difficulties during World War I, as it was cut off from Turkish supplies of tobacco, Shorins sons, Abram, Ira, Philip, and Joseph, decided to focus on a new product but take advantage of the companys existing distribution channels. To do this, they relaunched the company as Topps, with the name meant to indicate that it would be tops in its field, the chosen field was the manufacture of chewing gum, selected after going into the produce business was considered and rejected. At the time, chewing gum was still a relative novelty sold in individual pieces, topps’ most successful early product was Bazooka bubblegum, which was packaged with a small comic on the wrapper. When Topps next introduced baseball cards as a product, the cards immediately became its primary emphasis, the father of the modern baseball card was Sy Berger. The basic design is still in use today, the Shorins, in recognition of his negotiation abilities, sent Sy to London in 1964 to negotiate the rights for Topps to produce Beatles trading cards. Arriving without an appointment, Sy succeeded by speaking in Yiddish to Brian Epstein, Berger hired a garbage boat to remove leftover boxes of 1952 baseball cards stored in their warehouse, and rode with them as a tugboat pulled them off the New Jersey shore. The cards were then dumped into the Atlantic Ocean, the cards included Mickey Mantles first Topps card, the most valuable card of the modern era. No one at the time, of course, knew the value the cards would one day attain. Currently, a pack of 1952 Topps baseball cards is worth at least $5,000, since 2012, Topps began creating digital sports cards, starting with the Topps Bunt baseball card downloadable app. Today, they have expanded that market into other apps that include Topps Huddle football app, Topps Kick soccer app, the company began its existence as Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. a partnership between the four Shorin brothers. It later incorporated under New York law in 1947, the entire company originally operated at the Bush Terminal in Brooklyn, but production facilities were moved to a plant in Duryea, Pennsylvania, in 1965. Corporate offices remained at 254 36th Street in Brooklyn, a location in the waterfront district by the Gowanus Expressway, in 1994, the headquarters relocated to One Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan. After being privately held for decades, Topps offered stock to the public for the first time in 1972 with the assistance of investment banking firm White. The company returned to private ownership when it was acquired in a buyout led by Forstmann Little & Company in 1984. The new ownership group again made Topps into a publicly traded company in 1987, now renamed to The Topps Company, in this incarnation, the company was incorporated in Delaware for legal reasons, but company headquarters remained in New York
16.
Enemies & Allies
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Enemies & Allies is a 2009 novel by American science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson. The book is set in the 1950s, in the midst of the Cold War, though suspicious of each other, they confront Lex Luthor who stages an international nuclear conflict and spreads fear of an alien invasion so that he can sell advanced weapons to governments. Themes used in the novel, reflective of the 1950s era, include alien invasion films, nuclear threats, Anderson has written supporting novels in the past in established franchises, such as Star Wars and Dune. He had previously written about Superman in the 2007 novel The Last Days of Krypton, Enemies & Allies was published in May 2009 and met with mixed reviews which noted flat characterization but that it may be entertaining for comic book fans. The novel Enemies & Allies uses the DC Comics characters Batman and Superman and it was written by science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson who, at the time of publication, was 47 years old and living in Colorado. He had been writing novels for the past 20 years and had 15 years experience writing tie-in novels to existing franchises, such as The X-Files and he was best known for his prequel novels in the Dune franchise with co-author Brian Herbert. He gained experience writing in the book format by authoring the 2004–05 six issue miniseries, JSA. He had previously written a novel about the origins of Superman, the novel begins in Gotham City where Batman attempts to thwart a crime but he is being pursued by the police force who consider him a villain. In Metropolis Superman is seen as a hero as he rescues a passenger boat. Lex Luthor, head of LuthorCorp, is allying himself with Soviet General Anatoly Ceridov who is mining and experimenting with kryptonite in Siberia, Luthor intends to stoke fears of an alien invasion and sell anti-alien defenses to world governments. What appears to be an alien spacecraft flies over United States airspace and is confronted by the air force and Superman, as Batman, Wayne infiltrates Luthors mansion to gather evidence but also steals Luthors sample of kryptonite which sets off alarms. Superman and Batman confront each other, suspicious of the others motives, Wayne turns his board of directors into double agents, having them give faulty technology to Luthor. To demonstrate his defensive capabilities, Luthor has Ceridov launch nuclear missiles from Russia to the US but Luthors faulty systems fail, eventually, Superman discovers the Soviet kryptonite mine but is defeated by the physiological effects of the material. Batman travels to Siberia to rescue Superman, with both heroes in Siberia Lex Luthor attacks alien ships which had just attacked Metropolis, but are actually his own aircraft staging an alien invasion. Superman and Batman arrive in the middle of the fight and defeat Luthers forces and subdues Luthor who is arrested for treason, the story is set in the DC Universe but is non-canon, similar to an Elseworlds story. While the novel is based on comic book characters, it consists solely of prose and you need more parts to the story. Anderson sought to capture the feel of the 1950s. In this effort, he used several themes associated with the period, including alien invasion movies, nuclear threats, Cold War paranoia
17.
Batman
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Batman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, originally named the Bat-Man, the character is also referred to by such epithets as the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, and the Worlds Greatest Detective. Batmans secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, after witnessing the murder of his parents Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne as a child, he swore vengeance against criminals, an oath tempered by a sense of justice. Wayne trains himself physically and intellectually and crafts a bat-inspired persona to fight crime, Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City, with assistance from various supporting characters, including his butler Alfred, police commissioner Gordon, and vigilante allies such as Robin. A large assortment of villains make up Batmans rogues gallery, including his archenemy, Batman became popular soon after his introduction in 1939 and gained his own comic book title, Batman, the following year. As the decades went on, differing interpretations of the character emerged, the late 1960s Batman television series used a camp aesthetic, which continued to be associated with the character for years after the show ended. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, the success of Warner Bros. live-action Batman feature films have helped maintain the publics interest in the character. The character has also intrigued psychiatrists, with trying to understand the characters psyche. In 2015, FanSided ranked Batman as number one on their list of 50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History. Kevin Conroy, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Anthony Ruivivar, Jason OMara, Batman has been portrayed in both film and television by Lewis Wilson, Robert Lowery, Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck. In early 1939, the success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications to request more superheroes for its titles, in response, Bob Kane created the Bat-Man. Collaborator Bill Finger recalled that Kane had an idea for a character called Batman, I went over to Kanes, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of. Reddish tights, I believe, with boots, with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign, the bat-wing-like cape was suggested by Bob Kane, inspired by Leonardo Da Vincis sketch of an ornithopter flying device as a child. Finger suggested giving the character a cowl instead of a domino mask, a cape instead of wings. Finger said he devised the name Bruce Wayne for the secret identity, Bruce Waynes first name came from Robert Bruce. Wayne, being a playboy, was a man of gentry, I searched for a name that would suggest colonialism
18.
Superman
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Superman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, high school living in Cleveland, Ohio. They sold Superman to Detective Comics, the future DC Comics, Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, newspaper strips, television programs, films, and video games. With this success, Superman helped to create the superhero archetype, the character is also referred to by such epithets as the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow, and The Last Son of Krypton. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas farm couple, the child is raised as Clark Kent, very early on he started to display various superhuman abilities, which, upon reaching maturity, he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity through a secret Superman identity. Superman resides and operates in the fictional American city of Metropolis, as Clark Kent, he is a journalist for the Daily Planet, a Metropolis newspaper. Supermans love interest is generally Lois Lane, and his archenemy is supervillain Lex Luthor and he is typically a member of the Justice League and close ally of Batman and Wonder Woman. Like other characters in the DC Universe, several versions of Superman have been depicted over the years. Supermans appearance is distinctive and iconic, he wears a blue costume with a red-and-yellow emblem on the chest, consisting of the letter S in a shield shape. This shield is used in media to symbolize the character. Superman is widely considered an American cultural icon and he has fascinated scholars, with cultural theorists, commentators, and critics alike exploring the characters impact and role in the United States and worldwide. The characters ownership has often been the subject of dispute, with Siegel, the character has been adapted extensively and portrayed in other forms of media as well, including films, television series, and video games. Several actors have portrayed Superman in motion pictures and TV series including Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, Siegels fanzine did not sell well. Siegel and Shuster shifted to making comic strips, which they self-published in a book they called Popular Comics, the pair dreamed of becoming professional authors and believed that syndicated newspaper strips offered more lucrative and stable work than pulp magazines. The art quality standards were lower, making them more accessible to the inexperienced Shuster. In early 1933 or in 1934, Siegel developed a new character, also named Superman, but now a heroic character and this first prototype of Superman had no fantastic abilities and wore casual clothing. Siegel and Shuster often compared this version to Slam Bradley, a character they created in 1936. Siegel shared his idea with Shuster and they decided to turn it into a comic strip, the first publisher they solicited was Humor Publishing in Chicago, after having read one of their comic books, Detective Dan
19.
Krypton (comics)
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Krypton, a planet in the DC Universe and the native world of Superman, is named after the element krypton, which is abundant in its atmosphere. Krypton is also the world of Supergirl, Krypto the Superdog. It has been described as having been destroyed just after Supermans flight from the planet, although the exact details of its destruction vary by time period, writers. Kryptonians were the dominant species on Krypton, the planet was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and was first referred to in Action Comics #1. The planet made its first full appearance in Superman #1, Krypton is usually portrayed in comics as having exploded as a result of a nuclear chain reaction caused by the planets unstable radioactive core. Kryptonian civilizations reported level of advancement has also varied. Some works, such as Kevin J, in its first appearance, Krypton was only depicted at the moment of its destruction. Soon, beginning in the Superman comic strip, Krypton was shown to have been a similar to Earth, only older by eons. In the early version of Krypton, Supermans parents were named Jor-L. The Golden Age Krypton would be revised into another form almost as soon as it was defined, however, after the introduction of DCs multiverse in the 1960s, this version of Krypton was declared to be the Krypton of the Earth-Two universe and its Superman. After the emergence of Earth-Two as an alternate universe within the DC Multiverse. It was later established that she was brought up by Earth Twos Superman and Lois Lane, kal-L and Kara Zor-L were the only known survivors of Krypton-Two, unlike the Silver Age analogue. Presumably, Jor-L never discovered the Phantom Zone on Krypton-Two, nor was it used to imprison Kryptonian criminals by exiling them to that extra-dimensional prison. In the Golden Age, Superman was unaware initially of his origins, in Superman #61, Superman discovered the existence of Krypton for the first time. He later encountered other survivors prior to Karas arrival in the form of three criminals, U-Ban, Kizo, and Mala, who were exiled by Supermans father before Kryptons destruction. Over the course of the 1940s and 1950s, various alterations and additions to the makeup of Krypton were made in the comics, among them was an explanation of why the natives of Krypton perished if they had possessed superpowers on their native world. Thus, it was explained by the early 1950s that Kryptonians were powerless on their own planet and this matched the correct theories being published that when man reaches the Moon he will be able to lift great masses and leap great distances. In the early 1960s, added to this was the need to be exposed to the rays of a sun to gain super powers
20.
Monument, Colorado
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The Town of Monument is a statutory town situated at the base of the Rampart Range in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Monument was first settled as a stop along the Rio Grande Railroad in 1872, and the area was incorporated as a town called Henrys Station in 1879, but the name was later changed to Monument. The town population was 5,530 at the 2010 United States Census, monuments first homesteaders arrived in 1865 to mark out the towns preliminary shape, but settlement increased when Monument became a stop along the Rio Grande Railroad in 1872. The area was incorporated as a town called Henrys Station, after prominent settler Henry Limbach, on June 2,1879, however, three years later the name was changed to Monument after Monument Creek and Monument Rock in the west. The first records of the town can be found in volumes in the El Paso County Courthouse dating back to 1872. With the help of the railroad, which brought in necessities, people started small businesses, Monument is located at 39°04′52″N 104°51′45″W. It is north of Colorado Springs and the United States Air Force Academy, and east of the Rampart Range, according to the United States Census Bureau, Monument has a total area of 4.6 square miles, all of it land. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,971 people,725 households, the population density was 426.1 people per square mile. There were 770 housing units at a density of 166.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 91. 98% White,0. 91% African American,1. 42% Native American,0. 96% Asian,2. 03% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 7. 71% of the population. 19. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 3. 6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.12. In the town, the population was out with 32. 9% under the age of 18,6. 8% from 18 to 24,38. 3% from 25 to 44,17. 7% from 45 to 64. The median age was 31 years, for every 100 females there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.0 males, the median income for a household in the town was $50,000, and the median income for a family was $54,211. Males had an income of $41,071 versus $27,583 for females. The per capita income for the town was $19,878, about 5. 4% of families and 5. 0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5. 4% of those under age 18 and 7. 4% of those age 65 or over. Monument has a home rule charter government and this means that the governmental policy is established in a commission and then voted upon by the town council and board of trustees. In this case, the Charter has provided for a form of government
21.
The War of the Worlds
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The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells first serialised in 1897 in the UK by Pearsons Magazine and in the US by Cosmopolitan magazine. The novels first appearance in hardcover was in 1898 from publisher William Heinemann of London, written between 1895 and 1897, it is one of the earliest stories that detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. The novel is the narrative of both an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and of his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martians. The novel is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon, the plot has been related to invasion literature of the time. The novel has been interpreted as a commentary on evolutionary theory, British imperialism. At the time of publication, it was classified as a scientific romance and it has even influenced the work of scientists, notably Robert Goddard, who invented both the liquid fuelled rocket and multistage rocket, which resulted in the Apollo 11 moon landing 71 years later. The narrative opens in an observatory at Ottershaw where explosions are seen on the surface of planet Mars. Later a meteor lands on Horsell Common, near the unnamed narrators home in Woking, the narrator finds them at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous. They briefly emerge, have difficulty in coping with the Earths atmosphere, a human deputation approaches the cylinder with a white flag, but the Martians incinerate them and others nearby with a heat-ray before beginning to assemble their machinery. Military forces arrive that night to surround the common, including Maxim guns, the population of Woking and the surrounding villages are reassured by the presence of the military. A tense day begins, with anticipation of military action by the narrator. On the road during the height of the storm, he has his first terrifying sight of a fast-moving Martian fighting-machine, in panic he crashes the horse cart, barely escaping detection. He discovers the Martians have assembled towering three-legged fighting-machines, each armed with a heat-ray and a chemical weapon and these tripods have wiped out the army units positioned around the cylinder and attacked and destroyed most of Woking. The two try to escape via Byfleet just after dawn, but are separated at the Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry during a Martian afternoon attack on Shepperton and this gives the authorities precious hours to form a defence-line covering London. The brother encounters Mrs. Elphinstone and her younger sister-in-law, just in time to help fend off three men who are trying to rob them. Since Mrs. Elphinstones husband is missing, the three continue on together, after a terrifying struggle to cross a streaming mass of refugees on the road at Barnet, they head eastward. Two days later, at Chelmsford, their pony is confiscated for food by the local Committee of Public Supply and they press on to Tillingham and the sea. There they manage to buy passage to the Continent on a paddle steamer
22.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is an American federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States, founded by the University of California in 1952. A Federally Funded Research and Development Center, it is funded by the U. S. In 2012, the laboratory had the synthetic chemical element livermorium named after it, LLNL is self-described as a premier research and development institution for science and technology applied to national security. Its principal responsibility is ensuring the safety, security and reliability of the nuclear weapons through the application of advanced science, engineering. The Laboratory is located on a site at the eastern edge of Livermore. It also operates a 7,000 acres remote experimental test site, called Site 300, LLNL has an annual budget of about $1.5 billion and a staff of roughly 5,800 employees. LLNL was established in 1952 as the University of California Radiation Laboratory at Livermore and it was intended to spur innovation and provide competition to the nuclear weapon design laboratory at Los Alamos in New Mexico, home of the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic weapons. Edward Teller and Ernest Lawrence, director of the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley, are regarded as the co-founders of the Livermore facility, the new laboratory was sited at a former naval air station of World War II. About half an hour southeast of Berkeley, the Livermore site provided much greater security for classified projects than a university campus. Lawrence tapped 32-year-old Herbert York, a graduate student of his. Under York, the Lab had four programs, Project Sherwood, Project Whitney, diagnostic weapon experiments. Lawrence died in August 1958 and shortly after, the board of regents named both laboratories for him, as the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. Historically, the Berkeley and Livermore laboratories have had close relationships on research projects, business operations. The Livermore Lab was established initially as a branch of the Berkeley Laboratory, the Livermore Lab was not officially severed administratively from the Berkeley Lab until 1971. The laboratory was renamed Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in 1971, on October 1,2007 LLNS assumed management of LLNL from the University of California, which had exclusively managed and operated the Laboratory since its inception 55 years before. The laboratory was honored in 2012 by having the chemical element livermorium named after it. The LLNS takeover of the Laboratory has been controversial, in May 2013, an Alameda County jury awarded over $2.7 million to five former Laboratory employees who were among 430 employees LLNS laid off during 2008. The jury found that LLNS breached an obligation to terminate the employees only for “reasonable cause. ”The five plaintiffs also have pending age discrimination claims against LLNS
23.
The X-Files
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The X-Files is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter, which originally aired from September 10,1993 to May 19,2002 on Fox. The program spanned nine seasons, included 202 episodes, and a film of the same name. Later in 2008, a film was made and preceded a tenth season revival. The series revolves around FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files, early in the series, both agents become pawns in a larger conflict and come to trust only each other and a very few select people. The agents also discover an agenda of the government to keep the existence of life a secret. They develop a relationship which begins as a platonic friendship. In addition to the story arc, Monster-of-the-Week episodes form roughly two-thirds of all episodes. When creating the characters, Carter sought to reverse gender stereotypes by making Mulder a believer. The first seven seasons featured Duchovny and Anderson equally, in the last two seasons, Anderson took precedence while Duchovny appeared intermittently. New main characters were introduced, FBI agents John Doggett and Monica Reyes, Mulder and Scullys boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner, also became a main character. The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed and produced in Vancouver, British Columbia, the series later returned to Vancouver to film The X-Files, I Want to Believe as well as the tenth season of the series. The X-Files was a hit for the Fox network and received positive reviews. Initially considered a series, it turned into a pop culture touchstone that tapped into public mistrust of governments and large institutions and embraced conspiracy theories. Both the series itself and lead actors Duchovny and Anderson received multiple awards and nominations, the series also spawned a franchise which includes The Lone Gunmen spin-off, two theatrical films and accompanying merchandise. The revival premiered on January 24,2016, the X-Files follows the careers and personal lives of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Mulder is a profiler and strong believer in the supernatural. He is also adamant about the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life and this set of beliefs earns him the nickname Spooky Mulder and an assignment to a little-known department that deals with unsolved cases, known as the X-Files. His belief in the springs from the claimed abduction of his sister Samantha Mulder by extraterrestrials when Mulder was 12
24.
The Sunday Times
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The Sunday Times is the largest-selling British national newspaper in the quality press market category. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, Times Newspapers also publishes The Times. The two papers were founded independently and have been under common ownership only since 1966 and they were bought by News International in 1981. The Sunday Times occupies a dominant position in the quality Sunday market, its circulation of just under one million equals that of its rivals, The Sunday Telegraph and The Observer. While some other national newspapers moved to a format in the early 2000s. It sells more than twice as many copies as its sister paper, The Times, the Sunday Times has acquired a reputation for the strength of its investigative reporting – much of it by its award-winning Insight team – and also for its wide-ranging foreign coverage. It has a number of writers, columnists and commentators including Jeremy Clarkson. It was Britains first multi-section newspaper and remains substantially larger than its rivals, a typical edition contains the equivalent of 450 to 500 tabloid pages. Besides the main section, it has standalone News Review, Business, Sport, Money. There are three magazines and two tabloid supplements and it publishes The Sunday Times Bestseller List of books in Britain, and a list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, focusing on UK companies. It also organises The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, held annually, and The Sunday Times Festival of Education, the paper began publication on 18 February 1821 as The New Observer, but from 21 April its title was changed to the Independent Observer. On 20 October 1822 it was reborn as The Sunday Times, in January 1823, White sold the paper to Daniel Whittle Harvey, a radical politician. The paper was bought in 1887 by Alice Cornwell, whose father George Cornwell made a fortune in mining in Australia and she then sold it in 1893 to Frederick Beer, who already owned Observer. Beer appointed his wife, Rachel Sassoon Beer, as editor and she was already editor of Observer – the first woman to run a national newspaper – and continued to edit both titles until 1901. There was a change of ownership in 1903, and then in 1915 the paper was bought by William Berry and his brother, Gomer Berry, later ennobled as Lord Camrose. In 1943, the Kemsley Newspapers Group was established, with The Sunday Times becoming its flagship paper, at this time, Kemsley was the largest newspaper group in Britain. On 12 November 1945, Ian Fleming, who later created James Bond, joined the paper as foreign manager, the following month, circulation reached 500,000. On 28 September 1958 the paper launched a separate Review section, in 1959 the Kemsley group was bought by Lord Thomson, and in October 1960 circulation reached one million for the first time
25.
Star Wars expanded universe
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The Star Wars expanded universe is a collective term for all Star Wars fictional material produced by Lucasfilm or officially licensed by it. This restructuring left the Star Wars theatrical films, the Clone Wars animated film, a number of works have subsequently been produced, including the Rebels animated TV series, the 2015 film The Force Awakens, and multiple novels and comic book series. Fosters 1978 novel Splinter of the Minds Eye was commissioned by Lucas as the basis for a potential sequel to Star Wars should the film prove unsuccessful. A Star Wars comic book series from Marvel Comics ran from April 1977 to May 1986, former Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter credited the titles strong sales for saving Marvel financially in 1977 and 1978. Marvels Star Wars series was one of the top selling titles in 1979 and 1980. The material was used as a resource by some novelists that followed, StarWars. com wrote in 2014 that the novel jumpstarted a publishing program that endures to this day and formalized the Expanded Universe. It introduced, among others, the popular characters Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade and this so-called Thrawn trilogy is widely credited with revitalizing the Star Wars franchise. In The Secret History of Star Wars, Michael Kaminski suggests that this renewed interest was a factor in Lucass decision to create the prequel trilogy. Around this same time, Dark Horse Comics acquired the Star Wars license and launched a number of series set after the film trilogy. In 1999, Star Wars book publishing moved from Bantam Spectra to Del Rey Books, New Jedi Order, set 25 to 30 years after the original films, introduced a new threat, the Yuuzhan Vong, a powerful alien race attempting to invade and conquer the entire galaxy. The bulk of Expanded Universe storytelling explores the time period after Return of the Jedi, subsequent novels and comics were set before, concurrent with, and after the events of these works. In 2004, USA Today reported that over 1,100 Star Wars titles had been published, including novels, comics, non-fiction, then-president of Lucas Licensing, Howard Roffman, estimated that there were more than 65 million Star Wars books in print. He said, The books are a way of extending the fantasy of Star Wars, the movies have had a really profound effect on a couple of generations. Star Wars has become a cultural touchpoint, and our fans are avidly interested in exploring more stories, the animated television series Star Wars, The Clone Wars ran from 2008 to 2014 and was set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Lucas discussed ideas for a sequel trilogy several times after the conclusion of the original trilogy, in October 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion. In April 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded the Expanded Universe material as Star Wars Legends, the companys focus would be shifted towards a restructured Star Wars canon based on new material. The announcement called these works the immovable objects of Star Wars history and it was also made clear that a planned Star Wars sequel trilogy, and subsequent works developed within the restructured canon, would not be based on Legends material but could possibly draw from it. Lucas had previously used the character Aayla Secura, introduced in 2000 in the Star Wars, Republic comic book series, in Attack of the Clones
26.
Darksaber
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Darksaber is a 1995 Star Wars novel by American writer Kevin J. Anderson. The novel is set immediately after Children of the Jedi and one year before Planet of Twilight in the Star Wars expanded universe timeline. In the Jedi Academy trilogy, Admiral Daala is forced to retreat to the Core Worlds, immediately thereafter, Luke Skywalker encounters Callista, a former Jedi who was trapped in the Eye of Palpatine. After being rescued, Callista is forced to take the form of one of Lukes former students, Luke and Callista immediately fall in love and work on building the Jedi Academy, though Callista still cannot use the Force. Meanwhile, Bevel Lemelisk is searching for a new assignment, which is given to him by Durga the Hutt, while searching Jabba the Hutts palace on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo learn that the Hutts are planning to build another superweapon. Skywalker and Solo reveal their discoveries, but not before Durgas subordinates steal the plans from the Imperial Palace, in order to find out the location of the superweapon, the New Republic launches a covert operation to Nal Hutta, disguised as a diplomatic summit. Back at the Hoth asteroid belt, Lemelisk starts construction on the cylindrical superlaser, Luke and Callista embark on a vacation that eventually leaves them stranded near the Hoth asteroid belt. They are rescued by Han and Leia Organa Solo, who just returned from the mission on Nal Hutta. However, Luke and Callistas rescue is mainly thanks to the Republic fleet, while Madine succeeds in relaying the location to the fleet, he is captured and killed by Durga. However, Durgas triumph is short-lived when the Republic fleet spots the Darksaber, the Darksaber attempts to fire its superlaser and make an escape, but the weapon fails and the ship is destroyed by two large asteroids. Meanwhile, Admiral Daala succeeds in uniting the remains of the Empire in the core systems, with the help of Pellaeon, she plans a strike force against a series of New Republic targets, including the Jedi academy on Yavin IV. They also attack Khomm, where Jedi trainees Kyp Durron and Dorsk 81 are visiting, furious, the pair of Jedi spy on Daalas fleet and succeed in warning the academy of the attack. Using the powers of the Force, the Jedi trainees back at Yavin IV manage to hold off Daalas forces until New Republic reinforcements arrive, Daala is forced to retreat when her Super Star Destroyer, the Knight Hammer, is destroyed. After the failed attack, Daala transfers control over the Imperial forces to Pellaeon, meanwhile, Callista decides to temporarily leave Luke and venture on a journey to regain her powers. Luke is heartbroken, but decides to move on and continue to build the Jedi academy, Darksaber was published worldwide in November 1995, a time in which Bantam Spectra was releasing several bestselling Star Wars novels a year. Although it was not as successful as the Jedi Academy trilogy, the novel that preceded it, Children of the Jedi by Barbara Hambly, was also a bestseller. Planet of Twilight Echo Base ^ Interview with Kevin J. Anderson, URL accessed on March 4,2006. URL accessed on March 4,2006, ISBN 0-553-57611-9 Barbara Hambly, Children of the Jedi
27.
Bulletin board system
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A bulletin board system, or BBS, is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Many BBSes also offer on-line games, in users can compete with each other. Bulletin board systems were in many ways a precursor to the form of the World Wide Web, social networks. Low-cost, high-performance modems drove the use of services and BBSes through the early 1990s. Infoworld estimated there were 60,000 BBSes serving 17 million users in the United States alone in 1994, over the next year, many of the leading BBS software providers went bankrupt and tens of thousands of BBSes disappeared. Today, BBSing survives largely as a hobby in most parts of the world. Most BBSes are now accessible over Telnet and typically offer free email accounts, FTP services, IRC, some offer access through packet switched networks, or packet radio connections. A precursor to the bulletin board system was Community Memory, started in August 1973 in Berkeley. Useful microcomputers did not exist at that time, and modems were both expensive and slow, Community Memory therefore ran on a mainframe computer and was accessed through terminals located in several San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods. The poor quality of the original modem connecting the terminals to the mainframe prompted a user to invent the Pennywhistle modem, Community Memory allowed the user to type messages into a computer terminal after inserting a coin, and offered a pure bulletin board experience with public messages only. It did offer the ability to tag messages with keywords, which the user could use in searches, the system acted primarily in the form of a buy and sell system with the tags taking the place of the more traditional classifications. But users found ways to express themselves outside these bounds, unfortunately, the system was expensive to operate, and when their host machine became unavailable and a new one could not be found, the system closed in January 1975. Similar functionality was available to most mainframe users, which might be considered a sort of ultra-local BBS when used in this fashion. Commercial systems, expressly intended to offer features to the public, became available in the late 1970s. Early modems were very simple devices using acoustic couplers to handle telephone operation. The user would first pick up the phone, dial a number, disconnecting at the end of a call required the user to pick up the handset and return it to the phone. With the introduction of microcomputers with expansion slots, like the S-100 bus machines and Apple II, it possible for the modem to communicate instructions. A number of modems of this sort were available by the late 1970s
28.
Fandom
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Fandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. A fandom can grow around any area of human interest or activity, the subject of fan interest can be narrowly defined, focused on something like an individual celebrity, or more widely defined, encompassing entire hobbies, genres or fashions. While it is now used to apply to groups of people fascinated with any subject, merriam-Websters dictionary traces the usage of the term back as far as 1903. It is formed of the word fan plus the suffix -dom, Fandom as a term can also be used in a broad sense to refer to the interconnected social networks of individual fandoms, many of which overlap. A wide variety of Western modern organized fannish subcultures originated with science fiction fandom, Science fiction fandom dates back to the 1930s and maintains organized clubs and associations in many cities around the world. Fans have held the annual World Science Fiction Convention since 1939, along many other events each year. In addition, the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medievalist re-creation group, has its roots in science fiction fandom. Media fandom split from science fiction fandom in the early 1970s with a focus on relationships between characters within TV and movie media franchises, such as Star Trek and The Man from U. N. C. L. E. Fans of these franchises generated creative products like fan art and fan fiction at a time when science fiction fandom was focused on critical discussions. The MediaWest convention provided a room and was instrumental in the emergence of fan vids, or analytic music videos based on a source. By the mid-1970s, it was possible to meet fans at science fiction conventions who did not read science fiction, anime and manga fandom began in the 1970s in Japan. In America, the fandom also began as an offshoot of science fiction fandom, furry fandom refers to the fandom for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Additional subjects with significant fandoms include comics, sports, music, pulp magazines, soap operas, members of a fandom associate with one another, often attending fan conventions and publishing and exchanging fanzines and newsletters. Amateur press associations are another form of fan publication and networking, often, fans congregate on forums and discussion boards to share their love for and criticism of a specific work. This congregation can lead to a level of organization and community within the fandom. Although there is level of hierarchy among most of the discussion boards in which certain contributors are valued more highly than others, newcomers are most often welcomed into the fold. Most importantly, these sorts of discussion boards can have an effect on the media itself as was the case in the television show Glee, trends on the discussion boards have been known to influence the writers and producers of the show. The media fandom for the TV series Firefly was able to generate enough corporate interest to create a movie after the series was canceled, some fans write fan fiction, stories based on the universe and characters of their chosen fandom
29.
Bantam Books
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Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B, kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine. It began as a mass market publisher, mostly of reprints of hardcover books and it expanded into both trade paperback and hardcover books, including original works, often reprinted in house as mass-market editions. The company was failing when Oscar Dystel, who had worked at Esquire. By the end of the year the company was profitable. Dystel retired as chairman in 1980, by that time Bantam was the largest publisher of paperbacks, had over 15% of the market, and exceeded US$100 million in sales. Bantam also published a volumes of short story adaptations of scripts from Star Trek. Bantam is the American paperback publisher of The Guinness Book of Records, another series was Bantam War Book from the 1970s to the 90s, with the majority of books from World War II, but also from Vietnam, Korea and other conflicts. Other series include Bantam Classics Series, the Bantam Spectra science fiction imprint, the juvenile Skylark imprint, authors originally published exclusively or significantly by Bantam include, Spock Must Die
30.
Dune (novel)
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Dune is a 1965 epic science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelaznys This Immortal for the Hugo Award in 1966 and it is the first installment of the Dune saga, and in 2003 was cited as the worlds best-selling science fiction novel. As this planet is the source of the spice melange. Herbert wrote five sequels, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, anderson and the authors son, Brian Herbert, starting in 1999. Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the nomenclature of plains. After his novel The Dragon in the Sea was published in 1957, Herbert traveled to Florence, Oregon, here, the United States Department of Agriculture was attempting to use poverty grasses to stabilize the sand dunes. Herbert claimed in a letter to his agent, Lurton Blassingame. Herberts article on the dunes, They Stopped the Moving Sands, was never completed – and only published later in The Road to Dune –. Herbert spent the five years researching, writing, and revising. He published a three-part serial Dune World in the monthly Analog, the serial was accompanied by several illustrations that were not published again. After an interval of a year, he published the much slower-paced five-part The Prophet of Dune in the January – May 1965 issues, the serialized version was expanded, reworked, and submitted to more than twenty publishers, each of whom rejected it. The novel, Dune, was accepted and published in August 1965 by Chilton Books. In the far future, humanity has eschewed advanced computers in favor of adapting their minds to be capable of complex tasks. Much of this is enabled by the spice melange, which is found on the planet Arrakis. Melange improves general health, extends life and can bestow limited prescience, as the novel opens, each planet is ruled by a Great House that owes allegiance to the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. The Emperor is aware that Duke Leto Atreides of House Atreides has become a challenger to his throne as he gains favor with other Great Houses in the Landsraad. The Emperor seeks to have House Atreides destroyed by assigning control of Arrakis. The Atreides and Harkonnen houses have had a feud
31.
Dune (franchise)
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Dune is a science fiction media franchise that originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert. Dune is frequently cited as the science fiction novel in history. It won the 1966 Hugo Award and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel, and was adapted into a 1984 film. Herbert wrote five sequels, and the first two were presented as a miniseries in 2003, the Dune universe has also inspired some traditional games and a series of video games. Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the nomenclature of plains. Beginning in 1999, his son Brian Herbert and science fiction author Kevin J, the political, scientific, and social fictional setting of Herberts novels and derivative works is known as the Dune universe, or Duniverse. Set tens of thousands of years in the future, the saga chronicles a civilization which has banned artificial intelligence but has developed advanced technology. Vital to this empire is the desert planet Arrakis, only known source of the spice melange. Dune won the 1966 Hugo Award and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel, a sequel, Dune Messiah, followed in 1969. A third novel called Children of Dune was published in 1976, Children of Dune became the first hardcover best-seller ever in the science fiction field. In 1981 Herbert released God Emperor of Dune, which was ranked as the #11 hardcover fiction best seller of 1981 by Publishers Weekly. 1984s Heretics of Dune, The New York Times #13 hardcover fiction best seller of that year, was followed in succession by Chapterhouse. Herbert died on February 11,1986, using some of Frank Herberts own notes, the duo wrote Dune, House Atreides, Dune, House Harkonnen, and Dune, House Corrino. The series is set in the immediately prior to the events of Dune. This was followed with a prequel trilogy called the Legends of Dune, consisting of Dune, The Butlerian Jihad, Dune, The Machine Crusade. These were set during the Butlerian Jihad, an element of back-story which Frank Herbert had previously established as occurring 10,000 years before the events chronicled in Dune. Herberts brief description of humanitys crusade against computers, thinking machines, the Heroes of Dune series followed, focusing on the time periods between Frank Herberts original novels. The first book, Paul of Dune, was published in 2008, sisterhood of Dune was released in 2012, followed by Mentats of Dune in 2014
32.
Frank Herbert
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Frank Patrick Herbert, Jr. was an American science fiction writer best known for the novel Dune and its five sequels. Though he became famous for science fiction, he was also a newspaper journalist, photographer, short story writer, book reviewer, ecological consultant and lecturer. Dune itself is the science fiction novel of all time. Frank Herbert was born on October 8,1920, in Tacoma, Washington, to Frank Patrick Herbert, Sr. because of a poor home environment, he ran away from home in 1938 to live with an aunt and uncle in Salem, Oregon. He enrolled in school at Salem High School, where he graduated the next year. In 1939 he lied about his age to get his first newspaper job at the Glendale Star, Herbert then returned to Salem in 1940 where he worked for the Oregon Statesman newspaper in a variety of positions, including photographer. He served in the U. S. Navys Seabees for six months as a photographer during World War II and he married Flora Parkinson in San Pedro, California in 1940. They had a daughter, Penny, but divorced in 1945, after the war Herbert attended the University of Washington, where he met Beverly Ann Stuart at a creative writing class in 1946. They married in Seattle, Washington on June 20,1946 and had two sons, Brian Patrick Herbert and Bruce Calvin Herbert, in 1949 Herbert and his wife moved to California to work on the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. Here they befriended the psychologists Ralph and Irene Slattery, the Slatterys introduced Herbert to the work of several thinkers who would influence his writing, including Freud, Jung, Jaspers and Heidegger, they also familiarized Herbert with Zen Buddhism. Herbert did not graduate from the university, according to his son Brian, he wanted to only what interested him. He returned to journalism and worked at the Seattle Star and the Oregon Statesman and he was a writer and editor for the San Francisco Examiners California Living magazine for a decade. Herberts first science fiction story, Looking for Something, was published in the April 1952 issue of Startling Stories, three more of his stories appeared in 1954 issues of Astounding Science Fiction and Amazing Stories. His career as a novelist began in 1955 with the publication of Under Pressure in Astounding from November 1955, afterward it was issued as a book by Doubleday. The story explored sanity and madness in the environment of a 21st-century submarine and it was a critical success but not a major commercial one. During this time Herbert also worked as a speechwriter for Republican senator Guy Cordon, Herbert began researching Dune in 1959. He later told Willis E. McNelly that the novel originated when he was supposed to do an article on sand dunes in the Oregon Dunes near Florence. He became too involved and ended up far more raw material than needed for an article
33.
Dune: House Atreides
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Dune, House Atreides is a 1999 science fiction novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. It is the first book in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy, bantam Books made a $3 million deal for the novels in 1997. The Prelude to Dune novels draw from notes left behind by Frank Herbert after his death, Dune, House Atreides debuted at #13 on The New York Times Best Seller list, and rose to #12 in its second week of publication. The novel begins on the planet of Arrakis,35 years before the events of the original novel Dune, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen has just taken over the governorship of Arrakis from his younger brother Abulurd, who has allowed spice production to decrease heavily. The Baron sees an opportunity for large profits and begins to store up illegal spice hoards, on the Imperial Capital planet Kaitain, the young planetologist Pardot Kynes has just arrived from his homeworld of Salusa Secundus for an audience with the Padishah Emperor Elrood Corrino IX. The old Emperor is giving Kynes the mission of going to the only source of melange, Arrakis. Meanwhile, the Crown Prince Shaddam and his minion Hasimir Fenring are plotting against Elrood, Shaddam is not getting any younger, and it seems that the already 157-year-old Emperor could rule for another 50 years. Shaddam decides to poison his father in order to speed up his succession to the throne. Duke Paulus Atreides of the planet Caladan is planning on sending his young son, Letos mother, the Lady Helena, does not like the idea. Not only is she a very religious woman, but her father is also the Count Richese, the Bene Gesserit are getting closer to their quest to breed the Kwisatz Haderach, only three generations remain. The next step is to send the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam to Giedi Prime and this child would in turn be married to Leto Atreides to produce the eventual mother of the Kwisatz Haderach. The Baron is initially not interested, but after being blackmailed with the secret of his spice hoards, he has sex with Mohiam, meanwhile, the young Harkonnen slave boy no. 11368, Duncan Idaho, is trying to escape the forests of Giedi Prime, Duncan finally manages to escape the planet, boarding a heighliner en route to Caladan. Pardot Kynes arrives on Arrakis and begins his duties there and he starts to dislike the Harkonnen rule there, and is getting more and more interested in the native Fremen of the desert and the possibility of terraforming the planet. Pardot is discovering more and more proof that time, long ago, Arrakis was covered with giant oceans. Leto finds himself at home at the Earls home at the Grand Palais of Ix, not only has he found an equal in Prince Rhombur, but he has also fallen in love with the Earls daughter, Kailea. But all is not perfect on the planet Ix, the suboids building the heighliners in the depths of the cave cities of Ix are becoming more unsatisfied with their living conditions and the blasphemy of their work. Emperor Elrood himself is beginning to show signs of senility from the slow-acting poison Fenring had administered, a Tleilaxu delegation arrives and they begin discussing the possibility of producing melange in laboratories, Elrood becomes very interested in this Project Amal
34.
Publishers Weekly
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Publishers Weekly is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, “The International News Magazine of Book Publishing and Bookselling, with 51 issues a year, the emphasis today is on book reviews. The magazine was founded by bibliographer Frederick Leypoldt in the late 1860s, the publication was a compilation of information about newly published books, collected from publishers and from other sources by Leypoldt, for an audience of booksellers. By 1876, Publishers Weekly was being read by nine tenths of the booksellers in the country, in 1878, Leypoldt sold The Publishers Weekly to his friend Richard Rogers Bowker, in order to free up time for his other bibliographic endeavors. Eventually the publication expanded to include features and articles, harry Thurston Peck was the first editor-in-chief of The Bookman, which began in 1895. Peck worked on its staff from 1895 to 1906, and in 1895, in 1912, Publishers Weekly began to publish its own bestseller lists, patterned after the lists in The Bookman. These were not separated into fiction and non-fiction until 1917, when World War I brought an increased interest in non-fiction by the reading public. Born April 12,1879, in Malden, Massachusetts, Melcher began at age 16 in Bostons Estes & Lauriat Bookstore and he moved to Indianapolis in 1913 for another bookstore job. In 1918, he read in Publishers Weekly that the editorship was vacant. He applied to Richard Rogers Bowker for the job, was hired and he remained with R. R. Bowker for 45 years. While at Publishers Weekly, Melcher began creating space in the publication, in 1919, he teamed with Franklin K. Mathiews, librarian for the Boy Scouts of America, and Anne Carroll Moore, a librarian at the New York Public Library, to create Children’s Book Week. When Bowker died in 1933, Melcher succeeded him as president of the company, in 1943, Publishers Weekly created the Carey–Thomas Award for creative publishing, naming it in honor of Mathew Carey and Isaiah Thomas. In 2008, the circulation was 25,000. It attempts to serve all involved in the creation, production, marketing and sale of the word in book, audio, video. The book review section of Publishers Weekly was added in the early 1940s and grew in importance during the 20th century and through the present time. It currently offers prepublication reviews of 9,000 new trade books each year, in a range of genres and including audiobooks and e-books. These anonymous reviews are short, averaging 200–250 words, and it is not unusual for the section to run as long as 40 pages. In the past, a book review editorial staff of eight editors assigned books to more than 100 freelance reviewers, some are published authors, and others are experts in specific genres or subjects
35.
Hunters of Dune
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Hunters of Dune is the first of two books written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson to conclude Frank Herberts original Dune series of science fiction novels. The cliffhanger ending of Frank Herberts Chapterhouse, Dune and his subsequent death in 1986 left some overarching plotlines unresolved, released on August 22,2006, Hunters continues the story of the danger posed to humanity by a remote, unnamed, but ever-present great enemy. The first five chapters of the novel were available prior to the publication via free download from the official Dune website. The mysterious Oracle of Time speaks to Duncan and brings the no-ship back into the regular universe. However, it is discovered by the mysterious old man and old woman, Daniel and Marty, first mentioned at the end of Chapterhouse Dune. The no-ship is nearly caught in their net, but escapes using the space-folding Holtzman engines. Meanwhile, Murbella is trying to prevent civil war on Chapterhouse and she meets an emissary sent by the Spacing Guild, which is desperate for spice. Murbella refuses their requests due to the help the Guild gave to the Honored Matres, later, Murbella stops a brutal fight between some polarized Bene Gesserits and Honored Matres. Though the Honored Matres had destroyed all Bene Tleilax worlds, their descendants have returned from The Scattering, supposedly under their complete control are their improved Face Dancers, creatures who can mimic other humans exactly and go undetected by all known means. It is soon revealed that the Face Dancers have their own will and motives, as they kill the Tleilaxu Elder Burah and they have now replaced all the Lost Tleilaxu Elders, as well as countless humans on various planets in the Old Empire. Their leader Khrone sends the scribe Uxtal to serve the renegade Honored Matre leader Hellica, the desperate Spacing Guild Administrators go to Ix to find an alternative to the use of their own Navigators for space travel. Unbeknownst to the Ixians or the Guild, Khrone and his Face Dancers have infiltrated Ix, the Guild agrees to the development of this technology if they have a monopoly on it. Uxtal has been forced to use Tleilaxu axlotl tank technology to produce the drug used by Honored Matres. Khrone also tasks Uxtal to make a ghola from recently found cell samples, from the start, the young Baron is as sociopathic as the original. Later, Khrone obtains the blood of Paul Atreides from a religious relic on the Atreides homeworld once known as Caladan and he plans to twist this Kwisatz Haderach ghola into a weapon for Daniel and Martys conquest of the universe. Later, the Guild Navigator Edrik comes to Tleilax seeking Uxtals knowledge of axlotl tanks and he seeks an alternate source of spice to break the Bene Gesserit monopoly, but even Uxtal believes that secret has died with the Tleilaxu Masters murdered by the Honored Matres. The Tleilaxu had always sustained their lives indefinitely through the use of gholas, now Scytales current body is slowly dying, the Bene Gesserit have a vicious debate over whether to create gholas of any of these historical figures. Sheeana believes they may prove useful, while others fear the return of such mistakes as Leto II, despite the controversy, gholas are created, a few at a time
36.
Sandworms of Dune
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Sandworms of Dune is the second of two novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson to conclude Frank Herberts original Dune series of science fiction novels. It is based on notes left behind by Frank Herbert for Dune 7, the novel was released on August 7,2007. Among the inhabitants of the Ithaca are young gholas of Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica, back in the Old Empire, Mother Commander Murbella of the New Sisterhood attempts to rally humankind for a last stand against the thinking machines. At the prompting of Face Dancer infiltrators, the Spacing Guild has begun replacing its Navigators with Ixian navigation devices and he accomplishes this by altering the DNA of the sandtrout stage and creating an aquatic form of the worms, which are then released into the oceans of Buzzell. Adapting to their new environment, these seaworms quickly flourish, eventually producing a concentrated form of spice. Meanwhile, Murbella commissions Ix to copy the destructive Honored Matre Obliterators for use on the fleet of warships she has ordered from the Guild. However, Ix is now controlled by Face Dancer leader Khrone, previously acting as a minion of Omnius. Omniuss forces have begun striking world after world, releasing a deadly virus, the thinking machine plague arrives at Chapterhouse and cripples the Sisterhood, but they rally the unified humankind into one last great stand. Aboard the Ithaca, Sheeana restarts the ghola project, gholas of Serena Butler, Gurney Halleck, and Xavier Harkonnen are about to be born when the axlotl tanks are poisoned, killing all three ghola babies and the tanks. Saboteurs are suspected, as many of the systems have also been failing. Scytale, the last Tleilaxu Master, finally reawakens his own gholas past memories, the gholas of Wellington Yueh, Stilgar, and Liet-Kynes regain their memories through various traumatic experiences. Desperate to replenish their supplies, the Ithaca lands on the planet Qelso, Stilgar and Liet-Kynes decide to remain behind to help the natives slow the encroaching desert and prepare them for the inevitable. Unsuccessful, Waff resigns himself to failure and prepares to die, as the last of his sandworm specimens perishes, Waff realizes that the pearl of Leto IIs awareness that each sandworm carries had foreseen the Honored Matre attack on Rakis and buried themselves deep beneath the planets surface. Knowing the planet has begun healing itself, Waff is consumed by a worm, meanwhile, Edrik and the ultraspice are intercepted by Khrone, who seizes the spice and kills the Navigator. In the ensuing chaos that follows the discovery of the Face Dancers, miles Teg sacrifices his life in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent their capture. The Ithaca is brought to Synchrony and they are met by a party led by the ghola of Vladimir Harkonnen. Seeing the young ghola of Alia when he arrives, he kills her. The Bene Gesserit gholas of Paul, Lady Jessica, Chani, Omnius explains that to complete his domination of humanity, he requires the superior Kwisatz Haderach of the two Paul gholas
37.
Chapterhouse: Dune
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Chapterhouse, Dune is a 1985 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, the last in his Dune series of six novels. It rose to #2 on The New York Times Best Seller list, Chapterhouse, Dune ends with a cliffhanger, and Herberts subsequent death in 1986 left some overarching plotlines of the series unresolved. Two decades later, Herberts son Brian Herbert, along with Kevin J, the Bene Gesserit still find themselves questioning the Golden Path of humanity set by the God Emperor Leto II. Now they must survive the Honored Matres, whose reckless conquest of the Old Empire threatens Bene Gesserit survival, the Sisters must reassess their timeless methods, does ultimate survival go beyond calculated manipulation. Is there greater purpose to life than consolidating power, the situation is desperate for the Bene Gesserit as they find themselves the targets of the Honored Matres, whose conquest of the Old Empire is almost complete. The Matres are seeking to assimilate the technology and developed methods of the Bene Gesserit, now in command of the Bene Gesserit, Mother Superior Darwi Odrade continues to develop her drastic, secret plan to overcome the Honored Matres. The Bene Gesserit are also terraforming the planet Chapterhouse to accommodate the all-important sandworms, Sheeana, in charge of the project, expects sandworms to appear soon. The Honored Matres have also destroyed the entire Bene Tleilax civilization, in Bene Gesserit captivity, Scytale possesses the Tleilaxu secret of ghola production, which he has reluctantly traded for the Sisterhoods protection. The first ghola produced is that of their recently deceased military genius, Lampadas, a center for Bene Gesserit education, has been destroyed by the Honored Matres. The planets Chancellor, Reverend Mother Lucilla, manages to carrying the shared-minds of millions of Reverend Mothers. Lucilla is forced to land on Gammu where she seeks refuge with an group of Jews. The Rabbi gives Lucilla sanctuary, but to save his organization he must deliver her to the Matres, before doing so, he reveals Rebecca, a wild Reverend Mother who has gained her Other Memory without Bene Gesserit training. Lucilla shares minds with Rebecca, who promises to take the memories of Lampadas safely back to the Sisterhood. Lucilla is then betrayed, and taken before the Great Honored Matre Dama, Lucilla refuses, and Dama ultimately kills her. Back on Chapterhouse, Odrade confronts Duncan and forces him to admit that he is a Mentat and he does not reveal his mysterious visions of two people. Meanwhile, Murbella collapses under the pressure of Bene Gesserit training, giving in to word weapons that the Bene Gesserit had planted to undermine her earlier Honored Matre identity, Murbella realizes that she wants to be Bene Gesserit. Odrade believes that the Bene Gesserit made a mistake in fearing emotion, and that in order to evolve, Odrade permits Duncan to watch Murbella undergo the spice agony, making him the first man ever to do so. Murbella survives the ordeal and becomes a Reverend Mother, Odrade then confronts Sheeana, discovering that Duncan and Sheeana have been allied together for some time
