1.
Columbus, Ohio
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Columbus is the capital and largest city of the U. S. state of Ohio. It is the 15th-largest city in the United States, with a population of 850,106 as of 2015 estimates and this makes Columbus the fourth-most populous state capital in the United States, and the third-largest city in the Midwestern United States. It is the city of the Columbus, Ohio, Metropolitan Statistical Area. With a population of 2,021,632, it is Ohios third-largest metropolitan area, Columbus is the county seat of Franklin County. The city proper has also expanded and annexed portions of adjoining Delaware County, named for explorer Christopher Columbus, the city was founded in 1812 at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, and assumed the functions of state capital in 1816. As of 2013, the city has the headquarters of five corporations in the U. S, fortune 500, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, American Electric Power, L Brands, Big Lots, and Cardinal Health. In 2012, Columbus was ranked in BusinessWeeks 50 best cities in America. In 2013, Forbes gave Columbus an A rating as one of the top cities for business in the U. S. and later that included the city on its list of Best Places for Business. Columbus was also ranked as the No.1 up-and-coming tech city in the nation by Forbes in 2008, and the city was ranked a top-ten city by Relocate America in 2010. In 2007, fDi Magazine ranked the city no.3 in the U. S. for cities of the future, and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium was rated no.1 in 2009 by USA Travel Guide. The area including modern-day Columbus once comprised the Ohio Country, under the control of the French colonial empire through the Viceroyalty of New France from 1663 until 1763. In the 18th century, European traders flocked to the area, the area found itself frequently caught between warring factions, including American Indian and European interests. In the 1740s, Pennsylvania traders overran the territory until the French forcibly evicted them, in the early 1750s, the Ohio Company sent George Washington to the Ohio Country to survey. Fighting for control of the territory in the French and Indian War became part of the international Seven Years War, during this period, the region routinely suffered turmoil, massacres, and battles. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ceded the Ohio Country to the British Empire, after the American Revolution, the Ohio Country became part of the Virginia Military District, under the control of the United States. Colonists from the East Coast moved in, but rather finding a empty frontier, they encountered people of the Miami, Delaware, Wyandot, Shawnee. The tribes resisted expansion by the fledgling United States, leading to years of bitter conflict, the decisive Battle of Fallen Timbers resulted in the Treaty of Greenville, which finally opened the way for new settlements. By 1797, a surveyor from Virginia named Lucas Sullivant had founded a permanent settlement on the west bank of the forks of the Scioto River
Columbus, Ohio
–
Images, from top left to right:
Downtown Columbus, Ohio Statehouse Capitol Square, University Hall (Ohio State University),
Short North,
Nationwide Arena, Santa Maria replica
Columbus, Ohio
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Old City Hall, completed in 1872 and burned in 1921
Columbus, Ohio
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The Great Southern Hotel, located in downtown Columbus was completed in 1897
Columbus, Ohio
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Legendary Columbus native
James Thurber, subject of
TIME Magazine's July 9, 1951, cover
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
Science fiction
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A futuristic setting is a common but not a necessary hallmark of science fiction. A common thread in science fiction is exploring the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations on people's lives.
Science fiction
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H. G. Wells
Science fiction
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Jules Verne
Science fiction
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Arthur C. Clarke
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
Fantasy
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Fairy tales and legends, such as
Dobrynya Nikitich 's rescue of Zabava Putyatichna from the dragon
Gorynych, have been an important source for fantasy.
Fantasy
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Many works are unclear as to the belief of the authors in the marvels they contain, as in the enchanted garden from the
Decameron.
4.
Speculative fiction
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Speculative fiction as a category ranges from ancient works to both cutting edge, paradigm-changing and neotraditional works of the 21st century. In historiography, what is now called speculative fiction has previously been termed historical invention, historical fiction, such supernatural, alternate history and sexuality themes continue in works produced within the modern speculative fiction genre. In its English language usage in arts and literature since 20th century, a variation on this term is speculative literature. It fell into disuse around the mid-1970s, the Internet Speculative Fiction Database contains a broad list of different subtypes. In the 2000s, the term came into use as a convenient collective term for a set of genres. However, some writers, such as Margaret Atwood, continue to maintain a distinction between speculative fiction as a no Martians type of fiction, about things that really could happen. Academic journals which publish essays on speculative fiction include Extrapolation, according to publisher statistics, men outnumber women about two to one among English-language speculative fiction writers aiming for professional publication. However, the percentages vary considerably by genre, with women outnumbering men in the fields of urban fantasy, paranormal romance and young adult fiction
Speculative fiction
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Speculative fiction
5.
Hugo Award
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The Hugo Awards are a set of awards given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The awards are named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. Organized and overseen by the World Science Fiction Society, the awards are given each year at the annual World Science Fiction Convention as the focus of the event. They were first given in 1953, at the 11th World Science Fiction Convention, the Hugo Awards have been termed as among the highest honors bestowed in science fiction and fantasy writing. Works that have won have been published in collections. The 2016 awards were presented at the 74th Worldcon, MidAmeriCon II, in Kansas City, United States, the 2017 Hugos will be presented at the 75th Worldcon, Worldcon 75, in Helsinki, Finland, on August 12,2017. For lists of winners and nominees for each category, see the list of categories below. The World Science Fiction Society gives out the Hugo Awards each year for the best science fiction or fantasy works, the award is named after Hugo Gernsback, who founded the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories and who is considered one of the fathers of the science fiction genre. Works are eligible for an award if they were published in English in the calendar year. There are no rules as to which works qualify as science fiction or fantasy. Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, the selection process is defined in the WSFS constitution as instant-runoff voting with five nominees per category, except in the case of a tie. The awards are split over more than a dozen categories, for each category of Hugo, the voter may rank No Award as one of their choices. Voters are instructed that they should do so if they feel that none of the nominees are worthy of the award, or if they feel the category should be abolished entirely. A vote for No Award other than as ones first choice signifies that the voter believes the nominee ranked higher than No Award are worthy of a Hugo in that category, while those ranked lower are not. The five works on the ballot for each category are the most-nominated by members that year, from 1953 to 1958 the awards did not include any recognition of runner-up novels, but since 1959 all of the candidates have been recorded. Worldcons are generally held near the start of September, and take place in a different city around the world each year, the idea of giving out awards at Worldcons was proposed by Harold Lynch for the 1953 convention. The idea was based on the Academy Awards, with the name Hugo being given by Robert A. Madle, the award trophy was created by Jack McKnight and Ben Jason in 1953, based on the design of hood ornaments of 1950s cars. It consisted of a rocket ship on a wooden base
Hugo Award
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1991 Hugo Award rocket trophy
Hugo Award
–
David Hartwell,
Charles N. Brown, and
Connie Willis pose with the 2008 Hugo Awards
6.
Robert A. Heinlein
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Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science-fiction writer. Often called the dean of science writers, his controversial works continue to have an influential effect on the genre. Heinlein became one of the first science-fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. He was one of the best-selling science-fiction novelists for many decades, and he, Isaac Asimov and he also speculated on the influence of space travel on human cultural practices. Heinlein was named the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master in 1974 and he also anticipated mechanical Computer Aided Design with Drafting Dan and described a modern version of a waterbed in his novel The Door into Summer, though he never patented or built one. In the first chapter of the novel Space Cadet he anticipated the cell-phone,35 years before Motorola invented the technology, several of Heinleins works have been adapted for film and television. Heinlein was born on July 7,1907 to Rex Ivar Heinlein and Bam Lyle Heinlein, in Butler and he was a 6th-generation German-American, a family tradition had it that Heinleins fought in every American war starting with the War of Independence. His childhood was spent in Kansas City, Missouri, Heinleins experience in the U. S. Navy exerted a strong influence on his character and writing. He graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland with the class of 1929 and he was assigned to the new aircraft carrier USS Lexington in 1931, where he worked in radio communications, then in its earlier phases, with the carriers aircraft. The captain of this carrier was Ernest J. King, who served as the Chief of Naval Operations and Commander-in-Chief. Heinlein was frequently interviewed during his later years by historians who asked him about Captain King. Heinlein also served aboard the destroyer USS Roper in 1933 and 1934, reaching the rank of lieutenant. His brother, Lawrence Heinlein, served in the U. S. Army, the U. S. Air Force, and the Missouri National Guard, in 1929, Heinlein married Elinor Curry of Kansas City in Los Angeles, and their marriage lasted about a year. His second marriage in 1932 to Leslyn MacDonald lasted for 15 years, in 1934, Heinlein was discharged from the Navy due to pulmonary tuberculosis. During a lengthy hospitalization, he developed a design for a waterbed, Heinlein supported himself at several occupations, including real estate sales and silver mining, but for some years found money in short supply. Heinlein was active in Upton Sinclairs socialist End Poverty in California movement in the early 1930s, when Sinclair gained the Democratic nomination for Governor of California in 1934, Heinlein worked actively in the campaign. Heinlein himself ran for the California State Assembly in 1938, but was unsuccessful, while not destitute after the campaign—he had a small disability pension from the Navy—Heinlein turned to writing in order to pay off his mortgage. His first published story, Life-Line, was printed in the August 1939 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction, originally written for a contest, it was instead sold to Astounding for significantly more than the contests first-prize payoff
Robert A. Heinlein
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Heinlein signing autographs at
Worldcon 1976
Robert A. Heinlein
–
Robert A. Heinlein,
L. Sprague de Camp, and
Isaac Asimov,
Philadelphia Navy Yard, 1944.
Robert A. Heinlein
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Robert and Virginia Heinlein in a 1952 Popular Mechanics article, titled "A House to Make Life Easy". The Heinleins, both engineers, designed the house for themselves with many innovative features.
Robert A. Heinlein
–
Robert and Virginia Heinlein in
Tahiti, 1980.
7.
The Mountains of Mourning
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The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. The first of these was published in 1986 and the most recent in 2016, works in the series have received numerous awards and nominations, including three Hugo award wins. Bujold’s approach varies, sometimes crossing genres, all the novels include humor and comedy, sometimes very black and juxtaposed with tragic deaths or losses. She mixes military adventure, political thriller, romance, and the whodunit in various proportions. The point of view characters include women, a gay man, and a pair of brothers, one of whom is disabled, an important concern of the series is medical ethics. The author focuses on problems of identity, particularly the role of the physical in determining personhood. Some stories explore the relationships among child-rearing, pair-bonding, and sexual activity, the various forms of society and government Bujold presents often reflect contemporary politics. Miles Vorkosigan, the protagonist of most of the series, is the son of a Betan mother, as in Isaac Asimovs earlier Foundation series, humanity has colonized a galaxy in which there are no competing intelligent species. The first successful colony was Beta, since that time, dozens of planets now host divergent, evolving cultures. Travel between star systems is possible by wormholes, spatial anomalies which allow instantaneous “jumps” between widely separated locations. The systems are known collectively as the Wormhole Nexus, typically wormholes are bracketed by space stations, military or commercial, which provide ports for jump travel. Stations may be owned by governments, or by specific commercial organizations. Most star systems have at most one planet which has been made habitable for humans, in most cases, there is a single government which dominates the entire planet. Both Cetaganda and Barrayar have empires, acquired by conquering other planets via neighboring wormholes, the Betan Survey Service, in which Cordelia Naismith is a captain at the beginning of Shards of Honor, maps unexplored sectors of the Nexus and explores new systems for habitable planets. Bujold pays token attention to the variations in time units from planet to planet. Moreover, days are calculated in terms of a “standard hour” no matter how long they are, Bujold herself has commented that her posited system is neither technologically nor economically feasible, but is rather a convenience for storytelling. Some inventions, such as the replicator, have an important thematic role. Many of her devices, however, simply give a futuristic gloss to the life of the distant future
The Mountains of Mourning
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Cover of Shards of Honor, the first book in the series.
The Mountains of Mourning
–
Wormhole travel as envisioned by Les Bossinas for NASA
8.
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
Nebula Award
–
Nebula Award for Best Novella for "
The Green Leopard Plague," by
Walter Jon Williams
Nebula Award
–
Nebula Award logo
9.
The Curse of Chalion
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The Curse of Chalion is a 2001 fantasy novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. In 2002 it won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, both The Curse of Chalion and its sequel Paladin of Souls are set in the landlocked medieval kingdom of Chalion. The Hallowed Hunt is a novel that takes place in the Weald to the south of Chalion, lupe dy Cazaril, a castillar, returns home to the Royacy of Chalion a broken man, though he is only 35 years old. Caz, as he is known to his friends, had defended a castle during a long siege, afterward, a jealous enemy had seen to it that he was not ransomed, but sold into slavery, spending 19 months as a galley slave before finally being rescued. Caz finds himself attracted to Betriz, there, Caz encounters his betrayer, Dondo dy Jironel, the debauched younger brother of the Chancellor, the latter the power behind the throne of the ineffectual Orico. Deaths, betrayal and scheming bring Chalion to the brink of civil war, through all this, Caz comes to realize that the five gods have chosen him to act for them, though his mission is not made clear. With the second sight he is given, he discovers that a black curse hangs over the family of Chalion. A possible prophecy states that a man must be willing to die, not once, but three times in order to lift the curse, but how is that possible. Chalion is a version of the kingdom of Castile and León, and the novel is loosely based on the lives of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. However, the story of The Curse of Chalion is not simply a retelling of the lives of Isabella and Ferdinand, the story takes quite a different path from the historical one, and the major characters are distinct personalities, not simply versions of historical people. Iselles mother Ista, heroine of the sequel Paladin of Souls, is based on Isabella of Portugal, Iselles father Roya Ias is based on John II of Castile, whose favorite Alvaro de Luna inspired Bujolds Arvol dy Lutez. Iselles half-brother Orico represents Henry IV of Castile, who was called the Impotent, the geography is likewise based on that of the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century—but mirrored, north for south. Chalion is Castile, Ibra is Aragon and Valencia, South Ibra is Catalonia, Brajar is Portugal, the Roknari princedoms are Al-Andalus, the description of the Chalionese royal castle called the Zangre exactly matches the Alcázar of Segovia. Publishers page for The Curse of Chalion Bujold Nexuss Chalion index, includes link to map of Ibran Peninsula The Curse of Chalion at Worlds Without End
The Curse of Chalion
–
Cover of first edition (hardcover)
10.
Paladin of Souls
–
Paladin of Souls is a 2003 fantasy novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. Paladin of Souls is a sequel to The Curse of Chalion and is set three years after the events of the novel. It follows Ista, mother of Iselle and Teidez Dy Chalion, recovering from the extreme guilt and grief that had marked her as mad while the Golden Generals curse on her family persisted, she finds herself bored to distraction and restless. The pilgrimage party is overrun and captured by a troop of Roknari raiders from the adjacent principality of Jokona, leading the rescuers is Arhys, lord of the castle and a very effective warrior indeed—considering that he scarcely eats or drinks, or sleeps except for brief afternoon naps. Though she comes to be attracted to him, she realizes in horror that he is the son of a man she had helped murder. Another obstacle is Arhyss very young and very beautiful wife, Cattilara, once in the castle Ista discovers another odd man, Lord Illvin, Arhyss half-brother. He is unconscious except for afternoon wakings that match Arhys naps and she has seen him before, though, in a baffling dream that at last makes some sense. As this mystery begins to clear, Castle Porifors is besieged by a new force of Roknari from Jokona that includes its Prince, Sordso. The latter is an elderly, minor daughter of the Golden General and has accumulated a whole troop of demon-ridden magicians, including her son, all of them controlled by one major magician, herself. As Castle Porifors and its defenders crumble under magical siege, Lord Arhys, only when Ista allows herself to walk as a hostage into the Princess lair is the siege ended. Lord Illvin comes with the job as a bonus
Paladin of Souls
–
Cover of first edition (hardcover)
11.
Vorkosigan Saga
–
The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. The first of these was published in 1986 and the most recent in 2016, works in the series have received numerous awards and nominations, including three Hugo award wins. Bujold’s approach varies, sometimes crossing genres, all the novels include humor and comedy, sometimes very black and juxtaposed with tragic deaths or losses. She mixes military adventure, political thriller, romance, and the whodunit in various proportions. The point of view characters include women, a gay man, and a pair of brothers, one of whom is disabled, an important concern of the series is medical ethics. The author focuses on problems of identity, particularly the role of the physical in determining personhood. Some stories explore the relationships among child-rearing, pair-bonding, and sexual activity, the various forms of society and government Bujold presents often reflect contemporary politics. Miles Vorkosigan, the protagonist of most of the series, is the son of a Betan mother, as in Isaac Asimovs earlier Foundation series, humanity has colonized a galaxy in which there are no competing intelligent species. The first successful colony was Beta, since that time, dozens of planets now host divergent, evolving cultures. Travel between star systems is possible by wormholes, spatial anomalies which allow instantaneous “jumps” between widely separated locations. The systems are known collectively as the Wormhole Nexus, typically wormholes are bracketed by space stations, military or commercial, which provide ports for jump travel. Stations may be owned by governments, or by specific commercial organizations. Most star systems have at most one planet which has been made habitable for humans, in most cases, there is a single government which dominates the entire planet. Both Cetaganda and Barrayar have empires, acquired by conquering other planets via neighboring wormholes, the Betan Survey Service, in which Cordelia Naismith is a captain at the beginning of Shards of Honor, maps unexplored sectors of the Nexus and explores new systems for habitable planets. Bujold pays token attention to the variations in time units from planet to planet. Moreover, days are calculated in terms of a “standard hour” no matter how long they are, Bujold herself has commented that her posited system is neither technologically nor economically feasible, but is rather a convenience for storytelling. Some inventions, such as the replicator, have an important thematic role. Many of her devices, however, simply give a futuristic gloss to the life of the distant future
Vorkosigan Saga
–
Cover of Shards of Honor, the first book in the series.
Vorkosigan Saga
–
Wormhole travel as envisioned by Les Bossinas for NASA
12.
Finncon
–
Finncon is the largest science fiction convention in Finland and, with up to 15,000 participants, one of the largest SF conventions in Europe. Finncon is unique among SF conventions because it has no participation/membership fee, the event is organised annually in different cities in Finland. From 2003 to 2009 and in 2011 the convention included the anime convention Animecon, since then the conventions have separated, and the future of the Finnish Animecon is currently uncertain beyond the 2011 combined Finncon-Animecon. Finncon alternates between different cities in Finland without a formal rota, recently the event has been held almost every year, but occasionally a year is skipped if no city is found to host the event that year. GoH is an abbreviation of Guest of Honour 1986 in Helsinki, GoH, Brian Aldiss 1989 in Helsinki. GoH, John Brunner, Tom Ölander 1991 in Helsinki, GoH, Iain Banks 1993 in Helsinki. GoH, Terry Pratchett and Bryan Talbot 1995 in Jyväskylä, GoH, Bruce Sterling, Vonda McIntyre, Storm Constantine 1997 in Helsinki. GoH, Norman Spinrad and Ian McDonald 1999 in Turku, GoH, Connie Willis and Philip Pullman 2000 in Helsinki. GoH, Neil Gaiman, Stephen Baxter, Ken MacLeod 2001 in Jyväskylä, GoH, Jonathan Carroll, David Langford, Stelarc, Richard Stallman and Johanna Sinisalo 2003 in Turku, the event was also Eurocon and Baltcon. GoH, Michael Swanwick, Jonathan Clements, Steve Sansweet, Karolina Bjällerstedt Mickos, Bjørn Tore Sund, Boris Hurtta 2004 in Jyväskylä. John Harrison 2009 in Helsinki GoH, George R. R. Martin, Alastair Reynolds, Adam Roberts, Jari Lehtinen 2010 in Jyväskylä GoH, Ellen Kushner, Pat Cadigan, Sari Peltoniemi and Liisa Rantalaiho
Finncon
–
The Guests of Honour of Finncon 2007.
13.
Tampere
–
Tampere is a city in Pirkanmaa, southern Finland. It is the most populous city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of 223,292 growing to 313,058 people in the urban area, Tampere is the second-largest urban area and third most-populous individual municipality in the country, after Helsinki and Espoo municipalities. Its also the most populous Finnish city outside the Greater Helsinki area and inner Finlands major urban, economic, Tampere is between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Since the two differ in level by 18 metres, the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history. Tampere is dubbed the Manchester of Finland for its industrial past as the center of Finnish industry. Helsinki is approximately 160 kilometres south of Tampere, and can be reached in 1.5 hours by train and 2 hours by car, the distance to Turku is roughly the same. Tampere–Pirkkala Airport is Finlands third-busiest airport, with over 400,000 passengers annually, there have been many debates on the origin of the name Tampere. One theory is that it comes from the Swedish word damber, other suggestions have been the Swedish tamper-dagar, fasting days, and also the Finnish word tammi. Although the name Tampere or its Swedish counterparts Tammer- part cannot be completely confirmed, Tampere was founded as a market place on the banks of the Tammerkoski channel in 1775 by Gustav III of Sweden and four years later,1 October 1779, Tampere was granted full city rights. At this time, it was a small town, consisting of only a few square kilometres of land around the Tammerkoski. Tampere grew as a market town and industrial centre in the 19th century. The towns industrial nature in the 19th and 20th centuries gave it the nickname Manchester of the North, Tampere was the centre of many important political events of Finland in the early 20th century. On 1 November 1905, during the strike, the famous Red Declaration was proclaimed on the Keskustori. In 1918, when Finland had recently gained independence, Tampere also played a major role, Tampere was a red stronghold during the war, with Hugo Salmela in command. White forces captured the town after the Battle of Tampere, seizing about 10,000 Red prisoners on 6 April 1918, prevalent in Tamperes post-World War II municipal politics was the Brothers-in-Arms Axis. From 2007 on, Tampere switched to a new model of having a mayor and four deputy mayors, timo P. Nieminen was elected by the city council as the first mayor of Tampere for the years 2007–09. He was re-elected in 2009 and was succeeded by Anna-Kaisa Ikonen in 2013, after World War II, Tampere was enlarged by joining some neighbouring areas
Tampere
–
Clockwise from top-left: the cityscape (viewed from
Näsinneula), the
Tampere City Hall,
Särkänniemi (from Näsinneula), the
Tampere Hall, the skyline with Näsinneula,
Tammerkoski from the bridge Hämeensilta, and the
Tampere Cathedral.
Tampere
–
Location of Tampere in the
Pirkanmaa region and the
Tampere sub-region
Tampere
–
The old
Finlayson works.
Tampere
–
The
Renaissance Revival Raatihuone (
City Hall), 1890; the "red manifesto" was read from its balcony in 1905.
14.
Great Man theory
–
The theory was popularized in the 1840s by Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle. Thus subsequent social history, economic history, and political history have de-emphasized the primacy of great men, Carlyle stated that The history of the world is but the biography of great men, reflecting his belief that heroes shape history through both their personal attributes and divine inspiration. Carlyle also felt that the study of men was profitable to ones own heroic side. Along with Carlyle the Great Man theory was supported by American scholar Frederick Adams Woods, for example, all information on the post-Roman Migrations Period of European History is compiled under the biography of Attila the Hun. This heroic view of history was strongly endorsed by some philosophical figures such as Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Spengler. In Untimely Meditations, Nietzsche writes that. the goal of humanity lies in its highest specimens, in Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard writes that. Hegel, proceeding from providentialist theory, argued that what is real is reasonable, Hegel opined, Such are great historical men—whose own particular aims involve those large issues which are the will of the World-Spirit. Thus, according to Hegel, a man does not create historical reality himself. He believed that the men Carlyle called great men were merely products of their social environment, before he can remake his society, his society must make him. Tolstoys War and Peace features criticism of Great Man Theories as a theme in the philosophical digressions. According to Tolstoy, the significance of great individuals is imaginary, so, he concludes that the role of Great Man depends on a number of factors, not none at all. Twilight of the Idols, by Peter Dizikes, from The New York Times, do changes in science mean the traditional great-man science biography is going the way of the dodo
Great Man theory
–
Napoleon, a typical "great man" said to have determined an era
Great Man theory
–
Herbert Spencer was a contemporary critic of Carlyle's Great Man theory
15.
Falling Free
–
Falling Free is a novel from the Vorkosigan Saga, written by Lois McMaster Bujold. It was first published as four installments in Analog from December 1987 to February 1988 and it is included in the 2007 omnibus Miles, Mutants and Microbes. The novel is set about 200 years before the birth of Miles Vorkosigan and it deals with the creation of the Quaddies, genetically modified people who have four arms, the second pair appearing where unmodified humans would have legs. They were intended to be used as a labor force, superbly adapted to zero-gravity but more or less helpless downside in any. They would also be completely beholden to the company for life support, legally, the Quaddies are not classed as human but as post-fetal experimental tissue cultures. The company treats them as chattel slaves and their access to information is tightly controlled, even their childrens stories are about working in space. They can be ordered to reproduce or to have a pregnancy terminated and they are the subject of breeding programs, the company compelling them to mate only with one of the companys choosing, regardless of existing partners. When a new artificial gravity technology renders them obsolete and a potential political embarrassment to the executives, there are discussions about killing or sterilizing them. Bipedal engineer Leo Graf, who had assigned to help train them. They eventually settle in a remote system that gradually becomes a major part of the Nexus. Bujold has stated in the notes of her reprints that Falling Free was the first half of the intended story, the unwritten, second story was to tell how the Quaddies settled into what would be known as Quaddiespace. Diplomatic Immunity, published in 2002, revisits the subject of the Quaddies and it takes place on Graf Station, named for Leo Graf, who is hero and patriarch to the Quaddies. Leo Graf – a genetically unmodified human engineer, he is based on the authors father and he is hired to help train the Quaddies in reliable space-engineering practices. Graf is unaware of the nature of the Quaddies until he arrives at the station and he becomes sympathetic to their plight, and when he learns of the companys plans for them in the wake of the new artificial gravity technologies, he works out plans for their escape. Silver – a young female Quaddie who is instrumental in assisting Leo Graf in the escape of the Quaddies and she later becomes his romantic partner
Falling Free
–
Cover art of 2004
NESFA Press reprint.
16.
Science fiction fandom
–
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people actively interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization, Science fiction fandom started through the letter column of Hugo Gernsbacks fiction magazines. Not only did fans write comments about the stories—they sent their addresses, soon, fans were writing letters directly to each other, and meeting in person when they lived close together, or when one of them could manage a trip. In New York City, David Lasser, Gernsbacks managing editor, nurtured the birth of a local club called the Scienceers. Almost all the members were adolescent boys, around this time a few other small local groups began to spring up in metropolitan areas around the United States, many of them connecting with fellow enthusiasts via the Science Correspondence Club. In May 1930 the first science fiction fan magazine, The Comet, was produced by the Chicago branch of the Science Correspondence Club under the editorship of Raymond A. Palmer and Walter Dennis. In 1934, Gernsback established a club for fans called the Science Fiction League. Local groups across the nation could join by filling out an application, a number of clubs came into being around this time. LASFS was founded at this time as a branch of the SFL, while several competing local branches sprang up in New York City. Soon after the fans started to communicate directly with each other came the creation of science fiction fanzines and these amateur publications might or might not discuss science fiction and were generally traded rather than sold. They ranged from the utilitarian or inept to professional-quality printing and editing, science-fiction fans have been among the first users of computers, email, personal computers and the Internet. Many professional science fiction authors started their interest in fiction as fans. A widely regarded history of fandom in the 1930s can be found in Sam Moskowitzs The Immortal Storm, Moskowitz was himself involved in some of the incidents chronicled and has his own point of view, which has often been criticized. Organized fandom in Sweden emerged during the early-1950s, the first Swedish science fiction fanzine was started in the early 1950s. The oldest still existing club, Club Cosmos in Gothenburg, was formed in 1954, today, there are a number of science fiction clubs in the country, including Skandinavisk Förening för Science Fiction, Linköpings Science Fiction-Förening and Sigma Terra Corps. Between one and four science fiction conventions are held each year in Sweden, among them Swecon, an annual prize is awarded to someone that has contributed to the national fandom by the Alvar Appeltofft Memorial Fund. Since the late 1930s, SF fans have organized conventions, non-profit gatherings where the meet to discuss SF. The 1st World Science Fiction Convention or Worldcon was held in conjunction with the 1939 New York Worlds Fair, and has been held annually since the end of World War II
Science fiction fandom
–
Star Wars Celebration IV - The 501st legion guards the Obi-Wan bust I won as sculptor Lawrence Noble returns it to the booth.
Science fiction fandom
–
Star Wars Celebration 2015 - Jawas & Droids
17.
Medicine Lake, Minnesota
–
Medicine Lake is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 371 at the 2010 census, the city is located on a peninsula that juts into a lake of the same name. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 0.33 square miles. The city is surrounded by the city of Plymouth. Minnesota State Highway 55 is 0.5 mile from the community, as of the census of 2010, there were 371 people,160 households, and 104 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,061.1 inhabitants per square mile, there were 174 housing units at an average density of 966.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 89. 8% White,4. 3% African American,1. 3% Native American,2. 2% Asian, hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 3% of the population. 28. 1% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.88. The median age in the city was 47.7 years. 21. 6% of residents were under the age of 18,4. 3% were between the ages of 18 and 24,19. 4% were from 25 to 44,39. 4% were from 45 to 64, and 15. 4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 52. 3% male and 47. 7% female, as of the census of 2000, there were 368 people,159 households, and 94 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,133.1 persons per square mile, there were 170 housing units at an average density of 985.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 95. 38% White,0. 54% African American,2. 45% Asian, hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 36% of the population. 23. 9% were of German,14. 0% Norwegian,13. 7% Swedish,6. 4% Dutch,6. 1% English and 5. 1% Polish ancestry. 32. 7% of all households were made up of individuals and 6. 3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 3.02. In the city, the population was out with 20. 9% under the age of 18,6. 3% from 18 to 24,29. 9% from 25 to 44,32. 3% from 45 to 64. The median age was 41 years, for every 100 females there were 103.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.9 males, the median income for a household in the city was $70,750, and the median income for a family was $100,382
Medicine Lake, Minnesota
–
Medicine Lake juts into the eponymous body of water; it consists of the large, curving peninsula.
Medicine Lake, Minnesota
–
Location of Medicine Lake within
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Medicine Lake, Minnesota
–
Seal
18.
Shards of Honor
–
Shards of Honor is an English language science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in June 1986. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the first full-length novel in publication order, Shards of Honor is paired with Bujolds 1991 Barrayar in the omnibus Cordelias Honor. Bujold had written Shards of Honor, its sequel The Warriors Apprentice, Cordelia Naismith, the captain of a Betan Astronomical Survey ship, is exploring a newly discovered planet when her base camp is attacked. During their five-day hike to a secret Barrayaran cache, she finds Vorkosigan not at all the monster his reputation suggests, when the trio reaches the base camp, Vorkosigan regains command of his crew. He returns to his ship with Cordelia and her crewman as his nominal prisoners, Vorkosigan informs Cordelia that upon their arrival on Barrayar, she will be free to return to Beta Colony, however, he asks her to marry him and remain on Barrayar as Lady Vorkosigan. Before she can consider his request, the crew of her ship, Cordelia helps defeat the resulting mutiny before returning with her crew to Beta Colony. It turns out that Barrayar is planning an invasion of the planet Escobar, to be led by Crown Prince Serg Vorbarra and she is captured by the sadistic Admiral Vorrutyer, who orders the mentally unstable Sergeant Bothari to rape her, then decides to do the job himself. He is unaware that Bothari has met Cordelia before, as she fills a profound psychological need of his, Bothari kills Vorrutyer before he can do anything. Vorkosigan hides the pair in his cabin, in disgrace, he has been assigned a minor role in the invasion under the watchful eye of Imperial Security Lieutenant Simon Illyan. The new weapons enable the Escobarans to drive the Barrayarans back with heavy losses, Crown Prince Serg and his flagship are lost, as are all officers senior to Vorkosigan, leaving him in charge. When Vorkosigan no longer needs to hide her in his cabin, the ship is attacked and Cordelia is injured. Cordelia recovers in a camp on the same planet where she first met Vorkosigan. The camp inmates, mostly women, have been mistreated and in some cases raped by their captors, when Vorkosigan finds out, he summarily executes the commanding officer. Cordelia assumes command of the POWs by virtue of her rank and she again rejects his marriage proposal because she sees what Barrayaran society does to people. When the war ends, prisoners are to be exchanged, Vorkosigan has to deal with a delivery of uterine replicators - artificial wombs, each containing a fetus from a woman raped by a Barrayaran soldier, one of which is Botharis. She is assumed to be an unwitting Barrayaran mole, faced with an attempt to have her committed to an institution to cure her, she escapes to Barrayar, where she marries Vorkosigan. She also encounters Bothari, now in Vorkosigans fathers personal guard and somewhat saner and he has arranged for his daughter Elena to be cared for by a local woman. The dying Emperor Ezar Vorbarra insists Aral become the regent to his grandson and heir, Aral at first refuses, but Cordelia convinces him to take the job
Shards of Honor
–
US first edition
19.
Ethan of Athos
–
Ethan of Athos is a 1986 science fiction novel by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. Set in the universe of Bujolds Vorkosigan Saga, the novel mentions. All three novels were sold, and published in 1986. Ethan of Athos has been reprinted several times, and appeared in the 2001 Bujold omnibus Miles, Mystery and Mayhem alongside Cetaganda and the novella Labyrinth. The novel was released on cassette in September 1999 narrated by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan. This is a very daring assignment as it contact with women. Though she is pleasant and even helpful, Ethan is instinctively wary of her and what potential danger to himself, Elli appears and rescues Ethan from certain execution. Terrence approaches Ethan with a request for asylum, revealing himself to be the last surviving creation of a Cetagandan genetic project to create telepaths. Although his telepathy is reliable, it has a small range, the Cetagandans had trailed a fleeing Terrence to Jacksons Whole, arriving after his departure, they had killed the Bharaputra researchers who had worked with him and destroyed their records. Elli attempts to recruit Terrence to the Dendarii, he refuses, meanwhile, Ethan has asked Elli for one of her ovaries to create a new tissue culture. After her departure, the original Bharaputran shipment unexpectedly turns up intact and usable, Ethan buys a new set of ovarian cultures from Beta Colony anyway as a cover, uses their packaging to relabel the cultures with Janines genes, and returns with them and Terrence to Athos. Ellis donated ovary culture is an additional, 451st culture, in the novel, the planet Athos is an all-male colony with a self-sustaining economy that is virtually independent of interstellar trade. Called a monastery planet by Bujold, it had settled some 200 years earlier as a sanctuary away from women. With the planetary religion and ideology supporting this single-sex structure, all incoming information is screened so that all references to — and images of — women are removed. Athos is remote, and physical contact with the rest of civilization is limited to an annual interstellar census courier that brings information, supplies. The population of Athos is sustained using uterine replicator technology, nine reproduction centers across the planet possess an assortment of ovarian tissue cultures, and by design only male children are conceived. Through military and community service, Athosians earn Social Duty Credits towards reproduction, regulations also allow for a Designated Alternate Parent who can earn Social Duty Credits by coparenting a partners sons. Homosexuality is generally the norm on Athos, and while partnerships are typically romantic and sexual, some are mutually beneficial arrangements based on finances
Ethan of Athos
–
First edition cover
20.
Baen Books
–
Baen Books is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, the company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. After his death in 2006, he was succeeded as publisher by long-time executive editor Toni Weisskopf, Baen Books was founded in 1983 out of a negotiated agreement between Jim Baen and Simon & Schuster. Simon & Schuster was undergoing massive reorganization and wanted to hire Baen to head, in 2005, Baen moved up to the eighth position in the total books published with 72 books published. Initially, the company invested resources in Baens Bar, its community service that provides a forum for customers, authors and editors to interact. In the early 2000s, a blogger wrote, Like every other publisher, but several of his authors and fan friends convinced him to put a chat client on his site. Since he was interested, and since several of those authors were very Internet savvy, the chat client grew into an incredibly vibrant community called Baens Bar. Beginning in mid-1999, Baen emphasized electronic publishing and Internet-focused promotions for its publications, the discussions on Baens bar convinced him to do so. Baen and his successors believe that DRM does more harm than good to a publisher, in addition to selling individual titles in electronic format, Baen has distributed serialized e-book versions of new books at reduced prices in monthly bundles. Originally called Webscriptions, these Monthly Baen Bundles are scheduled three months in advance of print publication, Webscription. net was implemented by Baens preferred website expert, Arnold Bailey, who also sold e-books for other publishers. At the start of 2012, the Webscription. net website was redesigned, renamed to Baen Ebooks, despite the new name, Baen Ebooks continues to sell e-books for other publishers, notably science fiction genre rival Night Shade Books. Baens standard setup is based on monthly bundles, each month, whichever books Baen has coming out in paper are bundled put together in a fixed price bundle regardless of a number of books. The Monthly Baen Bundles are released in installments beginning three months prior to physical publication, the first installment, released three months prior to paper publication includes roughly a half of every book in the bundle, with some books usually included in their entirety. The first two installments are available only as HTML, while the last includes all formats supported. Each bundle can only be bought until the 15th of the prior to official print publication. Another avenue for distribution that Baen uses for some of its new titles is the offering of electronic advance reader copies, or eARCs 3–5 months prior to actual publication. Marketed as a product for the fans who absolutely positively have to read it now, they are priced at $15 per single title. What it means is that some authors can get paid as many as three times for the book, the eARC, part of the monthly bundle
Baen Books
–
Baen Books
21.
Spy
–
Espionage is the obtaining of information considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage can be committed by an individual or a spy ring, in the service of a government or a company, the practice is inherently clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome and in many cases illegal and punishable by law. Espionage is a subset of intelligence gathering, which includes espionage as well as information gathering from public sources, Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial concern. However, the term is associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies primarily for military purposes. Spying involving corporations is known as industrial espionage, one of the most effective ways to gather data and information about the enemy is by infiltrating the enemys ranks. This is the job of the spy, Spies can bring back all sorts of information concerning the size and strength of enemy forces. They can also find dissidents within the forces and influence them to defect. In times of crisis, spies can also be used to steal technology, counterintelligence operatives can feed false information to enemy spies, protecting important domestic secrets, and preventing attempts at subversion. Nearly every country has strict laws concerning espionage, and the penalty for being caught is often severe. However, the benefits that can be gained through espionage are generally great enough that most governments, events involving espionage are well documented throughout history. The Old Testament of the Christian Bible, which is based primarily on the Hebrew Bible, speaks about Joshua and Caleb, the ancient writings of Chinese and Indian military strategists such as Sun-Tzu and Chanakya contain information on deception and subversion. Chanakyas student Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire in India, made use of assassinations, spies and secret agents, the ancient Egyptians had a thoroughly developed system for the acquisition of intelligence, and the Hebrews used spies as well, as in the story of Rahab. Spies were also prevalent in the Greek and Roman empires, during the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongols relied heavily on espionage in their conquests in Asia and Europe. Feudal Japan often used ninjas to gather intelligence, aztecs used Pochtecas, people in charge of commerce, as spies and diplomats, and had diplomatic immunity. Many modern espionage methods were established by Francis Walsingham in Elizabethan England, in 1585, Mary, Queen of Scots was placed in the custody of Sir Amias Paulet, who was instructed to open and read all of Marys clandestine correspondence. In a successful attempt to expose her, Walsingham arranged a single exception, Mary was misled into thinking these secret letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered and read by Walsinghams agents. He succeeded in intercepting letters that indicated a conspiracy to displace Elizabeth I with Mary, in foreign intelligence, Walsinghams extensive network of intelligencers, who passed on general news as well as secrets, spanned Europe and the Mediterranean. While foreign intelligence was a part of the principal secretarys activities, Walsingham brought to it flair and ambition
Spy
–
A bamboo version of
The Art of War, written by
Sun-Tzu and containing advice on espionage tactics.
Spy
–
Political cartoon depicting the Afghan
Emir Sher Ali with his "friends" the
Russian Bear and
British Lion (1878). The
Great Game saw the rise of systematic espionage and surveillance throughout the region by both powers.
Spy
–
Seal of the
Evidenzbureau, military intelligence service of the
Austrian Empire.
Spy
–
William Melville helped establish the first independent intelligence agency, the
British Secret Service, and was appointed as its first chief.
22.
Mercenary
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A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict who is not a national or party to the conflict and is motivated to take part in the hostilities by desire for private gain. Mercenaries fight for money or other recompense instead of fighting for ideological interests, in the last century, and as reflected in the Geneva Convention, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protections by rules of war than non-mercenaries. However, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, Protocol Additional GC1977 is a 1977 amendment protocol to the Geneva Conventions. Article 47 of the protocol provides the most widely accepted definition of a mercenary, though not endorsed by some countries. The Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, a mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war. All the criteria must be met, according to the Geneva Convention, according to the GC III, a captured soldier must be treated as a lawful combatant and, therefore, as a protected person with prisoner-of-war status until facing a competent tribunal. That tribunal, using criteria in APGC77 or some equivalent domestic law, may decide that the soldier is a mercenary. The only possible exception to GC IV Art 5 is when he is a national of the authority imprisoning him, if, after a regular trial, a captured soldier is found to be a mercenary, then he can expect treatment as a common criminal and may face execution. As mercenary soldiers may not qualify as PoWs, they cannot expect repatriation at wars end, the four mercenaries sentenced to death were shot by a firing squad on 10 July 1976. The legal status of civilian contractors depends upon the nature of their work, on 4 December 1989, the United Nations passed resolution 44/34, the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. It entered into force on 20 October 2001 and is known as the UN Mercenary Convention. Article 1 contains the definition of a mercenary, Article 1.1 is similar to Article 47 of Protocol I, however Article 1. – under Article 1.2 a person does not have to take a part in the hostilities in a planned coup détat to be a mercenary. Critics have argued that the convention and APGC77 Art,47 are designed to cover the activities of mercenaries in post-colonial Africa and do not address adequately the use of private military companies by sovereign states. While the United States governed Iraq, no U. S. citizen working as a guard could be classified as a mercenary because he was a national of a Party to the conflict. S. However, those who acknowledge the United States and other forces as continuing parties to the conflict might insist that U. S. armed guards cannot be called mercenaries. The laws of countries forbid their citizens to fight in foreign wars unless they are under the control of their own national armed forces. If a person is proven to have worked as a mercenary for any other country while retaining Austrian citizenship, in 2003, France criminalized mercenary activities, as defined by the protocol to the Geneva convention for French citizens, permanent residents and legal entities
Mercenary
–
Leonardo da Vinci 's Profilo di capitano antico, also known as il
Condottiero, 1480. Condottiero meant "leader of mercenaries" in Italy during the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Mercenary
–
Frederick Russell Burnham in Africa
Mercenary
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European mercenaries in the Katanga, 1960s
Mercenary
–
Turkish mercenary in Byzantine service c. 1436
23.
Space opera
–
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, melodramatic adventure, interplanetary battles, as well as chivalric romance, and often risk-taking. Set mainly or entirely in space, it usually involves conflict between opponents possessing advanced abilities, futuristic weapons, and other sophisticated technology. The term has no relation to music, but is instead a play on the soap opera and horse opera. Space operas emerged in the 1930s and they continue to be produced in literature, film, comics, notable space opera novels include the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, the Lensman series by E. E. Smith and the Enders Game series by Orson Scott Card. An early notable space opera film was Flash Gordon created by Alex Raymond, in the late 1970s, the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas brought a great deal of attention to the subgenre. Space opera is defined as an adventure science-fiction story, the term space opera was coined in 1941 by fan writer and author Wilson Tucker as a pejorative term in an article in issue 36 of science fiction fanzine Le Zombie. At the time, serial dramas in the United States had become popularly known as soap operas because many were sponsored by soap manufacturers. Tucker defined space opera as the science fiction equivalent, a hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, even earlier, the term horse opera had come into use as a term for Western films. Still, during the late 1920s and early 1930s, when the stories were printed in science-fiction magazines, beginning in the 1960s, and widely accepted by the 1970s, the space opera was redefined, following Brian Aldiss definition in Space Opera as the good old stuff. Yet soon after his redefinition, it began to be challenged, for example, by the practice and marketing of Judy-Lynn del Rey and in the reviews of her husband. In particular, they disputed the claims that space operas were obsolete, by the early 1980s, space operas were again redefined, and the label was attached to major popular culture works such as Star Wars. The term space opera began to be recognized only in the early 1990s as a genre of science fiction. It often deals with war, piracy, military virtues, and very large-scale action, early works related to but preceding the subgenre contained many elements of what would become space opera. They are today referred to as proto-space opera, defontenay and Lumen by Camille Flammarion. Not widely popular, proto-space operas were nevertheless occasionally written during the late Victorian and Edwardian science fiction era, examples may be found in the works of Percy Greg, Garrett P. Serviss, George Griffith and Robert Cromie. One critic cites Robert William Coles The Struggle for Empire, A Story of the Year 2236 as the first space opera, the novel does depict an interstellar conflict between solar men of Earth and a fierce humanoid race headquartered on Sirius. Despite this seemingly early beginning, it was not until the late 1920s that the opera proper began to appear regularly in pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories. In film, the genre began with the 1918 Danish film
Space opera
–
Classic pulp space opera cover.
Planet Stories, Jan.1954
Space opera
–
Back cover of
Galaxy #1, October 1950
24.
Detective fiction
–
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—either professional or amateur—investigates a crime, often murder. Some scholars have suggested that ancient and religious texts bear similarities to what would later be called detective fiction. In the Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders, the account told by two breaks down when Daniel cross-examines them. In the play Oedipus Rex by Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, the character discovers the truth about his origins after questioning various witnesses. The earliest known example of a story was The Three Apples, one of the tales narrated by Scheherazade in the One Thousand. In this story, a fisherman discovers a heavy, locked chest along the Tigris river and he sells it to the Abbasid Caliph, when Harun breaks open the chest, he finds inside it, the dead body of a young woman who has been cut into pieces. Harun then orders his vizier, Jafar ibn Yahya, to solve the crime, suspense is generated through multiple plot twists that occur as the story progresses. This may thus be considered an archetype for detective fiction, the main difference between Jafar and later fictional detectives, such as Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, is that Jafar has no actual desire to solve the case. The whodunit mystery is solved when the murderer himself confesses his crime and this in turn leads to another assignment in which Jafar has to find the culprit who instigated the murder within three days or else be executed. Gongan fiction （公案小说, literally：case records of a public law court）is the earliest known genre of Chinese detective fiction, some well known stories include the Yuan Dynasty story Circle of Chalk, the Ming Dynasty story collection Bao Gong An and the 18th century Di Gong An story collection. The latter was translated into English as Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee by Dutch sinologist Robert Van Gulik, the hero/detective of these novels is typically a traditional judge or similar official based on historical personages such as Judge Bao or Judge Dee. Although the historical characters may have lived in an earlier period most stories are written in the latter Ming or Qing period, Van Gulik chose Di Gong An to translate because it was in his view closer to the Western tradition and more likely to appeal to non-Chinese readers. One notable fact is that a number of Gong An works may have been lost or destroyed during the Literary Inquisitions and the wars in ancient China. Only little or incomplete case volumes can be found, for example, One of the earliest examples of detective fiction is Voltaires Zadig, which features a main character who performs feats of analysis. Things as They Are, or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams by William Godwin shows the law as protecting the murderer, das Fräulein von Scuderi, an 1819 short story by E. T. A. Auguste Dupin. Poe devised a plot formula thats been successful ever since, give or take a few shifting variables, Poe followed with further Auguste Dupin tales, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt in 1843 and The Purloined Letter in 1845. Poe referred to his stories as tales of ratiocination, early detective stories tended to follow an investigating protagonist from the first scene to the last, making the unraveling a practical rather than emotional matter. The Mystery of Marie Rogêt is particularly interesting because it is a fictionalized account based on Poes theory of what happened to the real-life Mary Cecilia Rogers
Detective fiction
–
Edgar Allan Poe
Detective fiction
–
Wilkie Collins
Detective fiction
–
Arthur Conan Doyle
25.
A Civil Campaign
–
A Civil Campaign, A Comedy of Biology and Manners is a science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in September 1999. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the thirteenth novel in publication order. It is included in the 2008 omnibus Miles in Love, the title is an homage to the Georgette Heyer novel A Civil Contract and, like Heyers historical romances, the novel focuses on romance, comedy, and courtship. It is dedicated to Jane, Charlotte, Georgette, and Dorothy, likely the novelists Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Georgette Heyer, an Imperial wedding is afoot, as Gregor Vorbarra, Emperor of Barrayar, has finally found love in the form of Komarran heiress Laisa. To get to see her frequently, and knowing of her ambition to become a gardener and his clone brother Mark also has romance problems, with Kareen Koudelka. While their relationship did not bother her on Beta Colony, the mores of conservative Barrayar are much stricter. A significant subplot involves Marks first entrepreneurial venture, a genetically engineered insect called the bug, capable of converting waste vegetation into nutritious. Everything goes horribly wrong when Miles hosts a dinner party, a still-recovering Simon Illyan inadvertently blurts out Miles not-so-secret courting. She leaves hastily after he panics and asks her to marry him, to further complicate matters, Kareens parents forbid her to have anything to do with Mark after they find out about their relationship. Lord Dono, who as Donna taught Ivan Vorpatril everything he knew, as his fathers proxy, Miles is courted by both sides. After Richars makes an attempt to gain his vote, Miles throws his considerable support behind Dono. He also suggests Dono and Count Vorbretten team up, for security reasons, however, Miles is unable to defend himself against the ensuing malicious rumors about his part in Ekaterins husbands death. When Ekaterin learns of the rumors, she is forced to consult Miles, Miles offers to take the blame, to spare Ekaterin and her son, but she refuses to let him. Mark and Kareens problem is solved after Miles advises Mark to utilize a most effective weapon and she soon has Kareens parents cowed and amenable. In a tumultuous Council session, Richars bungled assault on Dono is revealed and this results in his defeat, and as an unintended consequence, the very public betrothal of Miles and Ekaterin. Like its predecessor, this novel tells its story from the viewpoints of both Miles and Ekaterin, on occasion smoothly switching from one to the other during a given scene. There are also the viewpoints of Mark, Kareen Koudelka, and even Ivan Vorpatril, a Civil Campaign was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards in 2000. Sample chapters from the Baen Webscriptions site A Readers Companion to A Civil Campaign
A Civil Campaign
–
Cover of the first edition
26.
Regency romance
–
Regency romances are a subgenre of romance novels set during the period of the British Regency or early 19th century. Rather than simply being versions of contemporary romance stories transported to a setting, Regency romances are a distinct genre with their own plot. In particular, the more traditional Regencies feature a great deal of intelligent, many readers and writers of Regency romance make a distinction between Traditional Regency Romance and Regency Historical. Many authors have started by writing Traditionals and subsequently written Historicals, including Mary Balogh, Jo Beverley, Loretta Chase, and Mary Jo Putney. The distinction rests on the definition of Regency Romance, works in the tradition of Georgette Heyer. After Heyers novels became popular in the United States in the 1960s, many publishers began publishing other Regency-set books by new authors, the Regency-set books written by authors such as Christina Dodd, Eloisa James, and Amanda Quick are generally considered to be Regency Historical works. Characters may behave according to values, rather than Regency values. The sensual Regency historical romance has been popular in recent years by Mary Balogh, Jo Beverley, Loretta Chase, Lisa Kleypas, Stephanie Laurens. These novels are more explicit than the Traditional Regency works. References to, or descriptions of, athletic activities engaged in by young men of the period, including riding, driving, boxing, fencing, hunting, shooting. The readership waned during the 1990s with the rise of historical romances, in the early 2000s, both Regencies and other historical romances lost popularity in favor of contemporary settings. The market in the United States was hurt by changes in distributing and retailing romances, the last two major U. S. publishers to produce the shorter traditional Regencies regularly were Zebra and Signet. This ended in 2005, when Zebra stopped their traditional Regency line, and early 2006, there are some new traditional Regencies still published in the United States, some of the few publishers that still do so are Avalon Books, Five Star Books, and Cerridwen Press. Previously published Regencies are also available through the book market, via Belgrave House. The Regency subgenre changed somewhat during the 1990s and 2000s, when authors began incorporating more sex into their novels, while some long-time readers balked, publishers viewed the inclusion of sex scenes as a means of keeping the subgenre afloat. The goal was to appeal to a new generation of readers while still delivering the witty, Regency romance authors such as Sandra Heath, Anita Mills, and Mary Balogh were the first to write about sexual relationships between the hero and heroine. Not all Regency romance novels are frothy period pieces, such authors as Balogh, Carla Kelly, Sheila Bishop, and Mary Jo Putney all depict the underbelly of Regency society, exploring a variety of social ills in their novels. Some authors feature seriously troubled heroes and heroines, who suffer from trauma, alcoholism, depression
Regency romance
–
On the Threshold,
Edmund Blair Leighton
27.
Georgette Heyer
–
Georgette Heyer /ˈheɪ. ər/ was an English historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer, the couple spent several years living in Tanganyika Territory and Macedonia before returning to England in 1929. After her novel These Old Shades became popular despite its release during the General Strike, for the rest of her life, she refused to grant interviews, telling a friend, My private life concerns no one but myself and my family. Heyer essentially established the historical genre and its subgenre Regency romance. To ensure accuracy, Heyer collected reference works and kept detailed notes on all aspects of Regency life, while some critics thought the novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyers greatest asset. Her meticulous nature was also evident in her novels, Heyer even recreated William the Conquerors crossing into England for her novel The Conqueror. Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one each year. Her husband often provided basic outlines for the plots of her thrillers, leaving Heyer to develop character relationships, although many critics describe Heyers detective novels as unoriginal, others such as Nancy Wingate praise them for their wit and comedy as well as for their well-woven plots. Her success was sometimes clouded by problems with tax inspectors and alleged plagiarists, Heyer chose not to file lawsuits against the suspected literary thieves, but tried multiple ways of minimizing her tax liability. Forced to put aside the works she called her magnum opus to write more successful works. She was accused several times of providing a large salary for herself, and in 1966 she sold the company. Heyer continued writing until her death in July 1974, at that time,48 of her novels were still in print, her last book, My Lord John, was published posthumously. Heyer was born in Wimbledon, London, in 1902 and she was named after her father, George Heyer. Her mother, Sylvia Watkins, studied both cello and piano and was one of the top three students in her class at the Royal College of Music, Heyers paternal grandfather had emigrated from Russia, while her maternal grandparents owned tugboats on the River Thames. Heyer was the eldest of three children, her brothers George Boris and Frank were four and nine years younger than her, for part of her childhood, the family lived in Paris, France, but they returned to England shortly after World War I broke out in 1914. Although the familys surname had been pronounced higher, the advent of war led her father to switch to the hair so they would not be mistaken for Germans. During the war, her father served as an officer for the British Army in France
Georgette Heyer
–
Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer
–
Heyer claimed that every word uttered by
The Duke of Wellington in her novel
An Infamous Army was spoken or written by him in real life.
Georgette Heyer
–
William the Conqueror, depicted in this statue on the West Front of
Lichfield Cathedral, was featured in Heyer's first novel of
historical fiction.
Georgette Heyer
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Edmund Blair Leighton painted "On the Threshold (of a Proposal)". It depicts a courtship in
Regency England, similar to those described in Heyer's
historical romances.
28.
Horatio Hornblower
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Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Napoleonic Wars era Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester. He was later the subject of films and radio and television programs, the original Hornblower tales began with the 1937 novel The Happy Return with the appearance of a junior Royal Navy captain on independent duty on a secret mission to Central America. Later stories filled out his years, starting with an unpromising beginning as a seasick midshipman. As the Napoleonic Wars progress, he gains promotion steadily as a result of his skill and daring, despite his initial poverty, ernest Hemingway is quoted as saying, I recommend Forester to everyone literate I know, and Winston Churchill stated, I find Hornblower admirable. The actions of the Royal Navy at the time, documented in official reports, the name Horatio was inspired by the character in William Shakespeares Hamlet and chosen also because of its association with contemporary figures such as Nelson. Foresters original inspiration was an old copy of the Naval Chronicle and it was possible for two countries to still be at war in one part of the world after a peace was obtained months before in another because of the time required to communicate around the world. The burdens that this placed on captains far from home led him to a character struggling with the stresses of a man alone, there is a strong resemblance between the early Hornblower and Peter Simple, the fictional naval officer created by Frederick Marryat in 1833. Stories are similarly set in the time of the French Revolutionary, both midshipmen start their career rather unpromisingly and without influential friends, but advance themselves through hard work, honesty and bravery. Both fight in duels before their careers have properly even started and it is likely that when, after the success of his first novels, Forester wrote about Hornblower’s origins, he found Marryats work most helpful. Hornblower is courageous, intelligent, and a seaman, but he is also burdened by his intense reserve, introspection, and self-doubt. Despite numerous personal feats of skill and cunning, he belittles his achievements by numerous rationalizations. He consistently ignores or is unaware of the admiration in which he is held by his fellow sailors. He regards himself as cowardly, dishonest, and, at times, disloyal—never crediting his ability to persevere, think rapidly, organise and his introverted nature continually isolates him from the people around him, including his closest friend William Bush, and his wives never fully understand him. He is guarded with nearly everyone, unless the matter is the business of discharging his duty as a Kings officer, in case he is clear. He is philosophically opposed to flogging and capital punishment, and is pained when circumstances or the Articles of War force him to impose such sentences and he suffers from seasickness at the start of his voyages. As a midshipman, he becomes seasick at the roadstead of Spithead. He is tone-deaf and finds music an incomprehensible irritant, a voracious reader, he can discourse on both contemporary and classical literature. His skill at mathematics makes him both an adept navigator and an extremely talented whist player and he uses his ability at whist to supplement his income during a poverty-stricken period of inactivity in the naval service
Horatio Hornblower
–
Gregory Peck as Captain Horatio Hornblower from the 1951 film
Captain Horatio Hornblower.
29.
Dorothy L. Sayers
–
Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator, and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages, however, Sayers herself considered her translation of Dantes Divine Comedy to be her best work. She is also known for her plays, literary criticism, Sayers was an only child, born on 13 June 1893 at the Headmasters House, Christ Church Cathedral School, Oxford. Her father, the Rev. Henry Sayers, M. A. was a chaplain of Christ Church, when she was six, he started teaching her Latin. She grew up in the village of Bluntisham-cum-Earith in Huntingdonshire after her father was given the living there as rector. From 1909 she was educated at the Godolphin School, a school in Salisbury. Her father later moved to the living of Christchurch, in Cambridgeshire. In 1912, Sayers won a scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford where she studied modern languages and she finished with first-class honours in 1915. Women could not be awarded degrees at that time, but Sayers was among the first to receive a degree when the position changed a few years later and her experience of Oxford academic life eventually inspired her penultimate Peter Wimsey novel, Gaudy Night. Her father was from Littlehampton, West Sussex, and her mother was born at The Chestnuts, Millbrook, Hampshire, to Frederick Leigh, Sayerss Aunt Amy, her mothers sister, married Henry Richard Shrimpton. Sayerss first book of poetry was published in 1916 as OP, I by Blackwell Publishing in Oxford. Her second book of poems, Catholic Tales and Christian Songs, was published in 1918, later, Sayers worked for Blackwells and then as a teacher in several locations, including Normandy, France. Sayerss longest employment was from 1922 to 1931 as a copywriter at S. H, bensons advertising agency, located at International Buildings, Kingsway, London. Sayers was quite successful as an advertiser and her collaboration with artist John Gilroy resulted in The Mustard Club for Colmans Mustard and the Guinness Zoo advertisements, variations of which still appear today. One famous example was the Toucan, his bill arching under a glass of Guinness, with Sayerss jingle and she used the advertising industry as the setting of Murder Must Advertise, where she describes the role of truth in advertising. The firm of Pyms Publicity, Ltd, now, Mr. Pym is a man of rigid morality—except, of course, as regards his profession, whose essence is to tell plausible lies for money— How about truth in advertising. Of course, there is truth in advertising. Theres yeast in bread, but you cant make bread with yeast alone, is like leaven, which a woman hid in three measures of meal
Dorothy L. Sayers
–
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy L. Sayers
–
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, where Sayers's father was headmaster of the Choir School
Dorothy L. Sayers
–
1st edition cover of the
Lord Peter Wimsey novel
Murder Must Advertise
Dorothy L. Sayers
–
Dante shown holding a copy of the
Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory, and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above
30.
Lord Peter Wimsey
–
Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers in which he solves mysteries—usually murders. A dilettante who solves mysteries for his own amusement, Wimsey is an archetype for the British gentleman detective. Born in the year 1890 and ageing in real time, Wimsey is described as being of height, with straw-coloured hair, a beaked nose. He also possessed considerable intelligence and athletic ability, evidenced by his playing cricket for Oxford University while earning a First, among Lord Peters hobbies, in addition to criminology, is collecting incunabula, books from the earliest days of printing. He is an expert on matters of food, male fashion and he excels at the piano, including Bachs works for keyboard instruments. One of Lord Peters cars is a 12-cylinder 1927 Daimler four-seater, Lord Peter Wimseys ancestry begins with the 12th-century knight Gerald de Wimsey, who went with King Richard the Lionheart on the Third Crusade and took part in the Siege of Acre. The family coat of arms is blazoned as Sable,3 mice courant, argent, crest, the family motto, displayed under its coat of arms, is As my Whimsy takes me. Lord Peter was the second of the three children of Mortimer Wimsey, 15th Duke of Denver, and Honoria Lucasta Delagardie, who lives on throughout the novels as the Dowager Duchess of Denver. The Dowager Duchess is witty and intelligent, and strongly supports her son, whom she plainly prefers over his less intelligent, more conventional older brother, Gerald. Geralds snobbish wife, Helen, who detests Wimsey, and their heir, Viscount St. George. So does Lady Mary, the sister of the Duke and Lord Peter. Lord Peter Wimsey is called Lord by courtesy as the son of a Duke and he is not a peer and has no right to sit in the House of Lords, nor does this courtesy usage pass on to any offspring he may have. As a boy, the young Peter Wimsey was, to the distress of his father, strongly attached to an old. According to the novels, Lord Peter was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford and he was also an outstanding cricketer, whose performance would still be well remembered decades later, leading to the near unmasking of his incognito in Murder Must Advertise. Though not taking up a career, he was left with an enduring. To his uncles disappointment, Peter fell deeply in love with a woman named Barbara. When the First World War broke out, he hastened to join the British Army, the girl later married another, less principled, officer. Wimsey served on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918, reaching the rank of Major in the Rifle Brigade and he was appointed an Intelligence Officer, and on one occasion he infiltrated the staff room of a German officer
Lord Peter Wimsey
–
"Mrs. Merdle"; a
Daimler double-six V12 50hp Corsica drophead coupé body designed by
Reid Railton (1931)
Lord Peter Wimsey
–
A Daimler double-six V12 50hp four-door saloon made for
Anna Neagle and given her by her husband
Lord Peter Wimsey
–
Incunabulum: Lord Peter has a noted collection of early editions of
Dante, including an
Aldine edition of
The Divine Comedy (Whose Body?)
Lord Peter Wimsey
–
The cover of Gaudy Night, from the
BBC series. Featuring
Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter Wimsey
31.
The Spirit Ring
–
The Spirit Ring is a fantasy novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, published in 1992. The Spirit Ring is loosely based on Agricolas De re metallica, as well as on a tale. To these foundations Ms. Bujold has added a heroine, hero, the tale is placed in a fictional city-state, Montefoglia, on the Piedmont of Italy. Whether it is intended to be beside Lake Como or Lake Garda is not immediately obvious, magic, as a routine technical craft, has been added to the late Medieval time setting. The heroines particular talent is pyrokinesis, her guide-word is piro, the heroine is fifteen-year-old Fiametta, daughter of a master metal-worker and magician, Prospero Beneforte. The spell in fact identifies a true heart, rather than capturing such a heart and this modest hero, Thur Ochs, has come to Montefoglia hoping his brother Uri, employed in the palace guard of Duke Sandrino, can get him a place in the castle. But Uri is killed in the fight when Duke Sandrino is usurped by a mercenary leader. Ferrantes magician, Vitelli, pickles Uris body in salt for use in making a ring of power — the spirit ring of the books title. Fiametta and her father, who were present to deliver a work when the fight began. Prospero dies of an attack while holding the attackers back to let Fiametta escape. The story then follows Fiametta, Thur, and the local Abbot as they find out Lord Ferrantes plans and this invincible soldier is able to lead a rabble of townspeople into the castle and kills Lord Ferrante just before it cools to immobility. The Abbot manages to shrive the spirits of the casualties of the concluding battle, Fiametta manages to unmake the ring. The moral of the tale is that triumph over evil was made only by the combined skills and actions of Fiametta, Thur, Uri. The happy ending is the marriage of Fiametta and Thur, as befits the setting of The Spirit Ring, there are characters that take Christianity very seriously. Both Fiametta and Monreale pray seriously that their magic, used to defeat the evil Ferrante, will work
The Spirit Ring
–
Cover, 1st paperback edition
32.
Jim Baen
–
James Patrick Jim Baen was a U. S. science fiction publisher and editor. In 1983, he founded his own publishing house, Baen Books, specializing in the adventure, fantasy, military science fiction, Baen also founded the video game publisher, Baen Software. In late 1999, he started a publishing business called Webscriptions. Jim Baen was born in Pennsylvania and he left his stepfathers home at the age of 17 and lived on the streets for several months before joining the United States Army, he served in Bavaria. After stints at City College of New York and as the manager of a folk music coffee shop in Greenwich Village in the 1960s, in 1972, he got the job of an assistant Gothics editor. Baen was Judy-Lynn del Reys replacement as managing editor at Galaxy Science Fiction in 1973 and he succeeded Ejler Jakobsson as editor of Galaxy and If in 1974. Pournelle, in 1983, described Baen as arguably one of the best science-fiction editors in the world, certainly Larry Niven and I regard him among the top two or three weve ever worked with. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Baen, in 1977, he returned to Ace to head their science fiction line, working with publisher Tom Doherty. When Doherty left to start Tor Books in 1980, Baen shortly followed and started the SF line there. People could sample the wares, decide they liked it, and pick up a book to read – which given the series orientation of the SF genre. Even more than had been the case at Ace and Tor, Baen Books gained a distinct look. Like the book contents, the covers werent to everyones taste—but they worked, Jim had the advantage over some editors in that he knew what a story is. He had the advantage over most editors in being able to spot talent before somebody else had published it, furthermore, he never stopped developing new writers. The week before his stroke, Jim bought a first novel from a writer whom Baen Books had been grooming through short stories over the past year, the most important thing of all which Jim brought to his company was a personal vision. Baen Books didnt try to be for everybody, but it was true to itself. In that as in so many ways, the company mirrored Jim himself. Baen edited several series in paperback format, trying to combine the feeling of an anthology. To achieve this, they were numbered and dated like a magazine and contained many features, Destinies, Far Frontiers
Jim Baen
–
James Patrick "Jim" Baen
33.
Chalion
–
The Curse of Chalion is a 2001 fantasy novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. In 2002 it won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, both The Curse of Chalion and its sequel Paladin of Souls are set in the landlocked medieval kingdom of Chalion. The Hallowed Hunt is a novel that takes place in the Weald to the south of Chalion, lupe dy Cazaril, a castillar, returns home to the Royacy of Chalion a broken man, though he is only 35 years old. Caz, as he is known to his friends, had defended a castle during a long siege, afterward, a jealous enemy had seen to it that he was not ransomed, but sold into slavery, spending 19 months as a galley slave before finally being rescued. Caz finds himself attracted to Betriz, there, Caz encounters his betrayer, Dondo dy Jironel, the debauched younger brother of the Chancellor, the latter the power behind the throne of the ineffectual Orico. Deaths, betrayal and scheming bring Chalion to the brink of civil war, through all this, Caz comes to realize that the five gods have chosen him to act for them, though his mission is not made clear. With the second sight he is given, he discovers that a black curse hangs over the family of Chalion. A possible prophecy states that a man must be willing to die, not once, but three times in order to lift the curse, but how is that possible. Chalion is a version of the kingdom of Castile and León, and the novel is loosely based on the lives of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. However, the story of The Curse of Chalion is not simply a retelling of the lives of Isabella and Ferdinand, the story takes quite a different path from the historical one, and the major characters are distinct personalities, not simply versions of historical people. Iselles mother Ista, heroine of the sequel Paladin of Souls, is based on Isabella of Portugal, Iselles father Roya Ias is based on John II of Castile, whose favorite Alvaro de Luna inspired Bujolds Arvol dy Lutez. Iselles half-brother Orico represents Henry IV of Castile, who was called the Impotent, the geography is likewise based on that of the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century—but mirrored, north for south. Chalion is Castile, Ibra is Aragon and Valencia, South Ibra is Catalonia, Brajar is Portugal, the Roknari princedoms are Al-Andalus, the description of the Chalionese royal castle called the Zangre exactly matches the Alcázar of Segovia. Publishers page for The Curse of Chalion Bujold Nexuss Chalion index, includes link to map of Ibran Peninsula The Curse of Chalion at Worlds Without End
Chalion
–
Cover of first edition (hardcover)
34.
University of Minnesota
–
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses are approximately 3 miles apart, and it is the oldest and largest campus within the University of Minnesota system and has the sixth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 51,147 students in 2013–14. The university is the institution of the University of Minnesota system, and is organized into 19 colleges and schools, with sister campuses in Crookston, Duluth, Morris. Minnesota is one of Americas Public Ivy universities, which refers to top universities in the United States capable of providing a collegiate experience comparable with the Ivy League. Founded in 1851, The University of Minnesota is categorized as an R1 Doctoral University with the highest research activity in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Minnesota faculty, alumni, and researchers have won 25 Nobel Prizes and three Pulitzer Prizes. Notable University of Minnesota alumni include two Vice Presidents of the United States, Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, and Bob Dylan, who received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities is also a member of the Association of American Universities which is an association of the 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. In its 2017 edition, U. S. News & World Report ranked Minnesota 38th in their Best Global University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2015 ranks Minnesota 46th in the world. In 2015, Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked the university 11th in the world for mathematics, the University of Minnesota is ranked 14 over-all among the nations top research universities by the Center for Measuring University Performance. The U. S. News & World Reports 2016 rankings placed the program of the University as the 69th-best National University in the United States. Additionally, nineteen of the Universitys graduate-school departments have been ranked in the nations top-twenty by the U. S. National Research Council, in both 2008 and 2012 U. S. News & World Report ranked the College of Pharmacy 2nd in the nation. 2016 U. S. News & Report now rank the College of Pharmacy 2nd in the nation. In 2011, U. S. News & World Report ranked the School of Public Health 8th in the nation, the University of Minnesota ranked 19th in NIH funding in 2008. Minnesota is listed as a Public Ivy in 2001 Greenes Guides The Public Ivies, the university developed Gopher, a precursor to the World Wide Web which used hyperlinks to connect documents across computers on the internet. However, the produced by CERN was favored by the public since it was freely distributed. The University also houses the Charles Babbage Institute, a research, the department has strong roots in early days of supercomputing with Seymour Cray of Cray supercomputers. Notable faculty of the department are Yousef Saad, Vipin Kumar, Jaideep Srivastava, John Riedl, some notable alumni of the department are Ed Chi, Imrich Chlamtac, Leah Culver, Jeff Dean, Mark P. McCahill, Arvind Mithal, and Calvin Mooers. Puffed rice - Alexander P. Anderson led to the discovery of puffed rice, transistorized cardiac pacemaker - Earl Bakken founded Medtronic, where he developed the first external, battery-operated, transistorized, wearable artificial pacemaker in 1957
University of Minnesota
–
Mall panorama, from left: Ford Hall, Coffman Memorial Union, Kolthoff Hall, Smith Hall (in center of image), Walter Library, Johnston Hall, Northrop, and Morrill Hall
University of Minnesota
–
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
University of Minnesota
–
Aerial photo of the Minneapolis campus, facing east
University of Minnesota
–
East Bank
35.
The Sharing Knife
–
The Sharing Knife is a romance/fantasy crossover series by Lois McMaster Bujold, published in 2006–09. The original story grew so long in the telling that it was split into two volumes, Beguilement and Legacy, Bujold then wrote a sequel, which was also divided, into Passage and Horizon. No further books are planned in the series, Beguilement establishes a fictional space inspired by the part of North America Bujold grew up in, the country south of the Great Lakes. Recovery from a collapse of a prior high magical culture has brought population. It is able to mold man-like agents out of animals, called mud-men. A malice that emerges in areas away from humans is likely to become somewhat strange, southeast seacoast survivors from the commoner caste have been invited by them to re-settle the area south of the Dead Lake. Anyone not a Lakewalker is labeled a farmer, Farmers have little or none of the Lakewalkers great talent and tool, ground sense. In its absence, Farmers tend to take a view of Lakewalkers activities and abilities. Although both Farmers and Lakewalkers are human, and they speak the language, there are physical differences, in addition to the Lakewalkers ability to sense. Lakewalkers are significantly taller than Farmers, and Lakewalkers have a longer life-span
The Sharing Knife
–
Split cover illustration of first two volumes, by
Julie Bell, showing Fawn (l) and Dag (r).
The Sharing Knife
36.
Komarr
–
Komarr is a 1998 science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the twelfth novel in publication order. It was included in the 2008 omnibus Miles in Love, the engineer dies unintentionally after the conspirators capture him and Miles. When Ekaterin and the other Auditors wife are taken prisoner by the fleeing conspirators and he is surprised and utterly delighted to discover that Ekaterin has a previously hidden talent for inflicting mayhem on her enemies and has already dealt the plot a fatal blow. In a departure from the style of previous Vorkosigan books, the point of view is split between Miles and Ekaterin, offering a view on Miles. Komarr has had a reception from reviewers
Komarr
–
Cover of the first edition
37.
The Vor Game
–
The Vor Game is a science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in September 1990. It won the 1991 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Vor Game is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the sixth full-length novel in publication order. It was included in the 1997 omnibus Young Miles, Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Academy, but is upset to learn he is being sent to replace the weather officer at the Empires winter infantry training base on remote Kyril Island. He is somewhat mollified by the placement officers explanation that the posting is to see if he can handle the discipline, if he can, he will be reassigned to a more desirable posting. However, he cannot help but get into trouble, Miles refuses to obey what he deems a criminal order by the base commander, who has him arrested for mutiny, and as he is high Vor, technically treason. Miles, sent to evaluate the Hegen Hub, is framed for murder. Miles attempts to extricate Gregor, but is soon up to his neck in a plot involving an amoral femme fatale, his homicidal former Kyril Island commanding officer. Miles encounters his Dendarii mercenary friends and, after once again outmaneuvering their leader, Admiral Oser, Gregor and ImpSec decide to put the Dendarii on permanent secret retainer for covert missions, with Miles officially installed as liaison. The first several chapters of The Vor Game were originally published in a different form as a novella entitled The Weatherman in the February 1990 issue of Analog magazine. The story covers Miless assignment to Kyril Island through his arrest, the Vor Game won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1991. It also received a nomination for a Locus Award that same year
The Vor Game
–
The cover of the first edition
38.
Barrayar
–
Barrayar is a science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. It was first published as four installments in Analog in July–October 1991, Barrayar won both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1992. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the seventh novel of the series. Barrayar is a sequel to Bujolds first novel, Shards of Honor. Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan are expecting their first child, when the crafty old Emperor Ezar Vorbarra dies, Aral reluctantly takes over as regent for Ezars grandson Gregor. A plot to assassinate the Vorkosigans with poison gas fails, but the antidote, Barrayar, due to its harsh environment, has fostered a deep loathing for mutations, and babies with even minor birth defects are routinely euthanized. Arals father, Count Piotr Vorkosigan, seeks to abort the fetus rather than have the Vorkosigan name, a furious Cordelia keeps him at bay. When Count Vidal Vordarian attempts a coup, five-year-old Emperor Gregor is rescued by his security chief, Captain Negri. Cordelia, Gregor and bodyguard Bothari hide from Vordarians men in the hills, while Aral, after Cordelia rejoins Aral, they learn that the replicator containing their child, whom they have named Miles, has been captured. Without proper maintenance, the fetus will succumb within six days, however, Cordelias personal bodyguard, Droushnakovi, was previously stationed at the palace and knows several top-secret exit routes, which can be used to get in undetected. Cordelia, Droushnakovi and Bothari set out to rescue the replicator and hopefully Gregors mother, when one of Arals officers, Koudelka, finds out, they kidnap him. Once in the palace, Cordelia and her party are caught and they manage to overpower their captors, but not before Kareen is killed. Bothari beheads Vordarian at Cordelias order, and they escape with the replicator, without its leader, the coup falls apart. Miles is born, fragile and deformed, five years later, he has very brittle bones, but is very active, rambunctious and intelligent, capturing even Piotrs affection. Barrayar won both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1992 and it was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1991. One birth, one death, and all the acts of pain and will between, Lois Mcmaster Bujolds Barrayar
Barrayar
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Barrayar
39.
Mirror Dance
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Mirror Dance is a Hugo- and Locus-award-winning science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. Part of the Vorkosigan Saga, it was first published by Baen Books in March 1994 and these teenage clones are scheduled to have their brains replaced by those of their wealthy, aged progenitors. When Miles finds out, he attempts to rescue his troops and his brother from the mess Mark has made and he is frozen in a cryonic chamber on the spot, but the medic in charge becomes separated from the rest of the men while retreating under fire. The medic uses an automated shipping system to send the chamber to safety, but is killed before he can tell anyone what he did, the Dendarii flee the debacle and take Mark to Miless parents on Barrayar. Cordelia accepts him as son and has him acknowledged legally as a member of the family. After a while, Mark is convinced that Miles is still on Jacksons Whole, cordelia helps by buying him a ship. Meanwhile, the frozen Miles has been resuscitated by the Duronas and they hope to engage the services of the Dendarii, who have a reputation for difficult extractions, to help them escape from Jacksons Hole. Miles memory takes some time to return, and the doctors treating him do not know whether he is Mark, together, the first three protect Marks fragile persona, while Killer bides his time. When Ryovals assistant informs him that Mark seems to have adjusted remarkably quickly and is enjoying the torture. Killer takes the opportunity to kill Ryoval, enabling Mark to escape, Mark sells Ryovals security access codes to Baron Fell for a large sum of money and the Durona Group. Miles short death and revivification have serious repercussions for his health, Mark has his own problems, thanks to his strange upbringing, complicated by the torture. When he asks his mother for help, she sends him to Beta Colony for psychiatric treatment, by necessity, this novel is told from the viewpoints of Miles and Mark. This was the first novel in the Vorkosigan series to be written this way, though not the first time Bujold has employed this style, mirror Dance won both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1995
Mirror Dance
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Cover from Baen first edition March 1994
40.
Cryoburn
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Cryoburn is a science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in October 2010. Part of the Vorkosigan Saga, it was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2011, also in 2011, it was one of the top five finishers in the poll for the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Cryoburn takes place six or seven years after Diplomatic Immunity and he is sent by Emperor Gregor to the planet Kibou-daini to investigate White Chrysanthemum Cryonics Corporation. WhiteChrys, a major cryocorp, to which sick or dying people go to be frozen in hopes of one day being revived and cured, is opening a subsidiary on Komarr, arousing suspicions. The narrative follows three points of view, those of Miles, his Armsman Roic, and Jin Sato, at a conference, an attempt is made to kidnap Miles and the other attendees. Miles avoids capture because an allergic reaction to the used on him makes him extremely hyperactive, and escapes into the below-ground Cryocombs. Roic is caught along with Raven, a cryo-revival specialist from the Durona Group who assisted in reviving Miles after his death on Jacksons Whole. When Miles finds his way back to the surface, he encounters Jin, Jin introduces him to a society of outcasts living in abandoned facilities. This helps Miles piece together what is going on. The other two choices under consideration were Cold Breath and Cryopolis, Bujold read the first two chapters at Denvention 3 in August 2008. The full-length electronic Advance Reader Copy was made available through Webscriptions on August 3,2010, the hardcover version of Cryoburn also comes with a CD-ROM containing E-Book versions of the omnibus editions of the Vorkosigan Saga
Cryoburn
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Cryoburn
41.
Diplomatic Immunity (novel)
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Diplomatic Immunity is a 2002 science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, part of the Vorkosigan Saga. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2003, Miles and Ekaterin are enjoying a delayed honeymoon off-world while their first two children are approaching birth in their uterine replicators back on Barrayar. There, he is reunited with the Betan hermaphrodite Bel Thorne. A convoy of Komarran merchant ships are being prevented from leaving the station due to trouble caused by Barrayaran personnel from their military escort, furthermore, a Barrayaran security officer is missing, possibly murdered or deserted. While investigating, Miles uncovers a plot by a high-ranking Cetagandan to steal a cargo of extreme importance to the Cetagandans and hide its tracks, if necessary, by the time Miles figures out what is going on, he and Bel have been infected by a highly lethal bioweapon. Miles almost dies and barely averts a war between Cetaganda and Barrayar. Paul Brink, in his review for School Library Journal said that this quick read has an abundance of plot twists to keep teens glued to the pages. The author gets the details right, but keeps explanations to a minimum. 2002, U. S. Baen ISBN 0-7434-3533-8, Pub date 2002, Hardcover Prologue chapter which Bujold wrote, but decided to exclude from the published text
Diplomatic Immunity (novel)
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Cover of first edition
42.
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
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The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. In October 2011, the edition was made available for free online. The first edition, edited by Peter Nicholls with John Clute, was published by Granada in 1979 and it was retitled The Science Fiction Encyclopedia when published by Doubleday in the United States. Accompanying its text were numerous black and white photographs illustrating authors, book and magazine covers, film and TV stills, a second edition, jointly edited by Nicholls and Clute, was published in 1993 by Orbit in the UK and St. Martins Press in the US. The second edition contained 1.3 million words, almost twice the 700,000 words of the 1979 edition, the paperback edition included an addendum. Unlike the first edition, the print versions did not contain illustrations, there was also a CD-ROM version in 1995, styled variously as The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Grolier Science Fiction. This contained text updates through 1995, hundreds of covers and author photos, a small number of old film trailers. The companion volume, published after the print edition and following its format closely, is The Encyclopedia of Fantasy edited by John Clute. All print and CD-ROM editions are out of print. The beta text of the third edition launched online on 2 October 2011, with editors John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, the encyclopedia is updated regularly by the editorial team with material written by themselves and contributed by science fiction academics and experts. It received the Hugo Award for Best Related Work in 2012, the online edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction was released in October 2011 with 12,230 entries, totaling 3,200,000 words. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, An Illustrated A to Z, St Albans, Herts, UK, Granada Publishing Ltd. p.672. The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Clute, John, Langford, David, Nicholls, Peter, Sleight, Graham
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
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Cover of the first edition
43.
LASFS
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The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc. or LASFS is a science fiction society with its headquarters in Van Nuys, a neighborhood in San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, California. LASFS HQ is located at the corner of Tyrone & Aetna streets, LASFS is the oldest continuously operating science fiction club in the world, helped considerably in that record by being one of the few to own a clubhouse. The organization continues to hold weekly meetings on Thursdays. The club maintains a lending library of books, videos. It maintains a web site and discussion forum, publishes a magazine called Shangri LAffaires. The LASFS monthly newsletter, De Profundis, is named for the club motto, deProf is available for reading at the LASFS web site, and can be obtained by writing its editor/publisher, Marty Cantor. In 1934 Hugo Gernsback, editor of the then-prominent science fiction magazine Wonder Stories, local groups across the nation could join by filling out an application. Early meetings were held first at the Pacific Electric Building, then moved to Cliftons Cafeteria, Forrest J Ackerman later wrote, The first meetings of the club were held in what was called the Pacific Electric Building in downtown Los Angeles. I think that once a month, a man who worked there was able to get the seventh or eighth floor free for us, then we moved to Cliftons Cafeteria, a feature of which was their free limeade and lime juice. Some of the members who didnt have more than a nickel or dime to spend guzzled a lot of that free juice, by 1936, the League had begun to fail. New management was interested in the League, and the members grew up. Charter group number four, in Los Angeles, had a member in Forrest J. Ackerman, who missed the first few meetings. Forry and a cadre of other members kept it alive as the science fiction, local authors also helped by coming to meetings from time to time. In 1939, the group broke with the Science Fiction League, changed its name to the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, in this decade, the club began publishing the fanzine Shangri LAffaires. Nicknamed Shaggy, the zine has died and been revived many times over the decades, when published now, it is photocopied, but originally it was done on a mimeograph machine. One of the ways to earn your dues was to crank the machine, world War II was a very busy time for the club, though few major changes were made. Most members were either below or well above draft age, some moved to Los Angeles to work in defense industries. For some years, the club sponsored Fanquets for members who had made their first professional sale, in the 1950s, the club became embroiled in controversy, partly from taking the stand that if they didnt address controversies, they would fade away
LASFS
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LASFS Meeting at the clubhouse, 6012 Tyrone Ave., Van Nuys, CA
LASFS
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People standing around talking at a party at the LASFS clubhouse
LASFS
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LASFS Library
44.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
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A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
45.
JSTOR
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JSTOR is a digital library founded in 1995. Originally containing digitized back issues of journals, it now also includes books and primary sources. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals, more than 8,000 institutions in more than 160 countries have access to JSTOR, most access is by subscription, but some older public domain content is freely available to anyone. William G. Bowen, president of Princeton University from 1972 to 1988, JSTOR originally was conceived as a solution to one of the problems faced by libraries, especially research and university libraries, due to the increasing number of academic journals in existence. Most libraries found it prohibitively expensive in terms of cost and space to maintain a collection of journals. By digitizing many journal titles, JSTOR allowed libraries to outsource the storage of journals with the confidence that they would remain available long-term, online access and full-text search ability improved access dramatically. Bowen initially considered using CD-ROMs for distribution, JSTOR was initiated in 1995 at seven different library sites, and originally encompassed ten economics and history journals. JSTOR access improved based on feedback from its sites. Special software was put in place to make pictures and graphs clear, with the success of this limited project, Bowen and Kevin Guthrie, then-president of JSTOR, wanted to expand the number of participating journals. They met with representatives of the Royal Society of London and an agreement was made to digitize the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society dating from its beginning in 1665, the work of adding these volumes to JSTOR was completed by December 2000. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded JSTOR initially, until January 2009 JSTOR operated as an independent, self-sustaining nonprofit organization with offices in New York City and in Ann Arbor, Michigan. JSTOR content is provided by more than 900 publishers, the database contains more than 1,900 journal titles, in more than 50 disciplines. Each object is identified by an integer value, starting at 1. In addition to the site, the JSTOR labs group operates an open service that allows access to the contents of the archives for the purposes of corpus analysis at its Data for Research service. This site offers a facility with graphical indication of the article coverage. Users may create focused sets of articles and then request a dataset containing word and n-gram frequencies and they are notified when the dataset is ready and may download it in either XML or CSV formats. The service does not offer full-text, although academics may request that from JSTOR, JSTOR Plant Science is available in addition to the main site. The materials on JSTOR Plant Science are contributed through the Global Plants Initiative and are only to JSTOR
JSTOR
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The JSTOR front page
46.
International Standard Serial Number
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An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title, ISSN are used in ordering, cataloging, interlibrary loans, and other practices in connection with serial literature. The ISSN system was first drafted as an International Organization for Standardization international standard in 1971, ISO subcommittee TC 46/SC9 is responsible for maintaining the standard. When a serial with the content is published in more than one media type. For example, many serials are published both in print and electronic media, the ISSN system refers to these types as print ISSN and electronic ISSN, respectively. The format of the ISSN is an eight digit code, divided by a hyphen into two four-digit numbers, as an integer number, it can be represented by the first seven digits. The last code digit, which may be 0-9 or an X, is a check digit. Formally, the form of the ISSN code can be expressed as follows, NNNN-NNNC where N is in the set, a digit character. The ISSN of the journal Hearing Research, for example, is 0378-5955, where the final 5 is the check digit, for calculations, an upper case X in the check digit position indicates a check digit of 10. To confirm the check digit, calculate the sum of all eight digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, the modulus 11 of the sum must be 0. There is an online ISSN checker that can validate an ISSN, ISSN codes are assigned by a network of ISSN National Centres, usually located at national libraries and coordinated by the ISSN International Centre based in Paris. The International Centre is an organization created in 1974 through an agreement between UNESCO and the French government. The International Centre maintains a database of all ISSNs assigned worldwide, at the end of 2016, the ISSN Register contained records for 1,943,572 items. ISSN and ISBN codes are similar in concept, where ISBNs are assigned to individual books, an ISBN might be assigned for particular issues of a serial, in addition to the ISSN code for the serial as a whole. An ISSN, unlike the ISBN code, is an identifier associated with a serial title. For this reason a new ISSN is assigned to a serial each time it undergoes a major title change, separate ISSNs are needed for serials in different media. Thus, the print and electronic versions of a serial need separate ISSNs. Also, a CD-ROM version and a web version of a serial require different ISSNs since two different media are involved, however, the same ISSN can be used for different file formats of the same online serial
International Standard Serial Number
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ISSN encoded in an EAN-13 barcode with sequence variant 0 and issue number 5
47.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
OCLC
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Fred Kilgour (1st director of OCLC)
OCLC
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Online Computer Library Center (OCLC)
OCLC
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OCLC headquarters (Ohio)
OCLC
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OCLC offices in Leiden (the Netherlands)
48.
Goodreads
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Goodreads is an Amazon company and social cataloging website founded in December 2006 and launched in January 2007 by Otis Chandler, II, a software engineer and entrepreneur, and Elizabeth Chandler. The website allows individuals to freely search Goodreads database of books, annotations, users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and reading lists. They can also create their own groups of book suggestions, surveys/polls, blogs, in December 2007, the site had over 650,000 members and over 10,000,000 books had been added. By July 2012, the site reported 10 million members,20 million monthly visits, on July 23,2013, it was announced on their website that the user base had grown to 20 million members, having doubled in close to 11 months. The websites offices are in San Francisco, on March 28,2013, Amazon announced its acquisition of Goodreads for an undisclosed amount. The Chandlers created Goodreads in 2006, Goodreads stated mission is to help people find and share books they love. To improve the process of reading and learning throughout the world, Goodreads also addressed what publishers call the discoverability problem by guiding consumers in the digital age to find books they might want to read. During its first year of business, the company was run without any formal funding, in December 2007, the site received funding estimated at $750,000 from angel investors. This funding lasted Goodreads until 2009, when Goodreads received two dollars from True Ventures. In October 2010 the company opened its application programming interface, which enabled developers to access its ratings, Goodreads also receives a small commission when a user clicks over from its site to an online bookseller and makes a purchase. After a user has rated 20 books on its five-star scale, Otis Chandler believed this rating system would be superior to Amazons, as Amazons includes books a user has browsed or purchased as gifts when determining its recommendations. Later that year, Goodreads introduced an algorithm to suggest books to registered users and had five million members. In October 2012, Goodreads announced it had grown to 11 million members with 395 million books catalogued, a month later, in November 2012, Goodreads had surpassed 12 million members, with the member base having doubled in one year. In March 2013, Amazon. com announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Goodreads in the quarter of 2013 for an undisclosed sum. In September 2013, Goodreads announced it would delete, without warning, in January 2016, Amazon announced on Shelfari. com that it would be merging Shelfari with Goodreads and closing down Shelfari. To prepare Shelfari members for the move, Amazon posted on Shelfari. com a prominent announcement stating, IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT, although Shelfari discussion threads will not be migrated, users were advised, you may save your own data for your own records. In April 2016, Goodreads announced that over 50 million user reviews have been posted, once users have added friends to their profile, they will see their friends shelves and reviews and can comment on friends pages. Goodreads features a system of one to five stars, with the option of accompanying the rating with a written review
Goodreads
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Goodreads
49.
Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, the Library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. it also maintains the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, which houses the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world and its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages. Two-thirds of the books it acquires each year are in other than English. The Library of Congress moved to Washington in 1800, after sitting for years in the temporary national capitals of New York. John J. Beckley, who became the first Librarian of Congress, was two dollars per day and was required to also serve as the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s, most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812. To restore its collection in 1815, the bought from former president Thomas Jefferson his entire personal collection of 6,487 books. After a period of growth, another fire struck the Library in its Capitol chambers in 1851, again destroying a large amount of the collection. The Library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to have two copies deposited of books, maps, illustrations and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections of British and other European works and it included several stories built underground of steel and cast iron stacks. Although the Library is open to the public, only high-ranking government officials may check out books, the Library promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book, and Poet Laureate. James Madison is credited with the idea for creating a congressional library, part of the legislation appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress. And for fitting up an apartment for containing them. Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and 3 maps, was housed in the new Capitol, as president, Thomas Jefferson played an important role in establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. The new law also extended to the president and vice president the ability to borrow books and these volumes had been left in the Senate wing of the Capitol. One of the only congressional volumes to have survived was a government account book of receipts and it was taken as a souvenir by a British Commander whose family later returned it to the United States government in 1940. Within a month, former president Jefferson offered to sell his library as a replacement
Library of Congress
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Construction of the
Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888, to May 15, 1894.
Library of Congress
Library of Congress
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The West façade of the Library of Congress in 1898
Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress inside the
U.S. Capitol Building c. 1890
listen) boo-ZHOHLD; born November 2, 1949) is an American speculative fiction writer.[1] She is one of the most acclaimed writers in her field, having won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record, not counting his Retro Hugo. Her novella "The Mountains of Mourning" won both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award; in the fantasy genre, The Curse of Chalion won the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the 2002 World Fantasy Award for best novel, and both her fourth Hugo Award and second Nebula Award were for Paladin of Souls. In 2011 she was awarded the Skylark Award;[2] in 2013 she was awarded the Forry Award.[3] In 2017 she won a Hugo Award for Best Series, for the Vorkosigan Saga.[4]
