David Sandner

His Unburned Heart

Challenging the idea that fantastic literature emerged in the Romantic period, Sandner shows that fantastic tales were popular throughout the eighteenth century. Reading fiction and criticism by Joseph Addison, Samuel Johnson, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley and Walter Scott, among others, Sandner argues that the fantastic functions as a discourse of the sublime imagination and thereby redefines the antecedents of the fantastic.

Critical Discourses of the Fantastic, 1712-1831

Deborah Biancotti

Marie Brennan

Laird Barron

John Grant

Catherynne M. Valente

Leah Bobet

Tanith Lee

Vandana Singh

Erin Hoffman

John C. Wright

Ekaterina Sedia

Cat Rambo

Cat Sparks

Joanna Galbraith

Michael J. DeLuca

Jennifer Crow

C.S. MacCath

The first volume in the ground-breaking, genre-bending, boundary-pushing Clockwork Phoenix anthology series, newly available in digital format. Includes critically-acclaimed and award-nominated stories by Catherynne M. Valente, David Sandner, John Grant, Cat Rambo, Leah Bobet, Michael J. DeLuca, Laird Barron, Ekaterina Sedia, Cat Sparks, Tanith Lee, Marie Brennan, Jennifer Crow, Vandana Singh, John C. Wright, C.S. MacCath, Joanna Galbraith, Deborah Biancotti and Erin Hoffman. With a whimsical introduction and new afterword by Nebula Award-nominated editor Mike Allen. CONTENTS The City of Blind Delight • Catherynne M. Valente Old Foss Is the Name of His Cat • David Sandner All the Little Gods We Are • John Grant The Dew Drop Coffee Lounge • Cat Rambo Bell, Book and Candle • Leah Bobet The Tarrying Messenger • Michael J. DeLuca The Occultation • Laird Barron There Is a Monster Under Helen's Bed • Ekaterina Sedia Palisade • Cat Sparks The Woman • Tanith Lee A Mask of Flesh • Marie Brennan Seven Scenes from Harrai's 'Sacred Mountain' • Jennifer Crow Oblivion: A Journey • Vandana Singh Choosers of the Slain • John C. Wright Akhila, Divided • C. S. MacCath The Moon-Keeper's Friend • Joanna Galbraith The Tailor of Time • Deborah Biancotti Root and Vein • Erin Hoffman Praise for CLOCKWORK PHOENIX . . . . Selected for the Locus Magazine 2008 Recommended Reading List Author and editor Allen (Mythic) has compiled a neatly packaged set of short stories that flow cleverly and seamlessly from one inspiration to another. In “The City of Blind Delight” by Catherynne M. Valente, a man inadvertently ends up on a train that takes him to an inescapable city of extraordinary wonders. In “All the Little Gods We Are,” Hugo winner John Grant takes a mind trip to possible parallel universes. Modern topics make an appearance among the whimsy and strangeness: Ekaterina Sedia delves into the misunderstandings that occur between cultures and languages in “There Is a Monster Under Helen’s Bed,” while Tanith Lee gleefully skewers gender politics with “The Woman,” giving the reader a glimpse of what might happen if there was only one fertile woman left in a world of men. Lush descriptions and exotic imagery startle, engross, chill and electrify the reader, and all 19 stories have a strong and delicious taste of weird. — Publishers Weekly, May 12, 2008 A very strong first volume … Established writers and new names all are in good form here … A series of great promise. Prospects on the anthology front look ever better. — Locus, July 2008 I would have bought this book for its mysteriously gorgeous cover art alone, but the stellar lineup of contributing writers sold me completely … CLOCKWORK PHOENIX editor Mike Allen describes the anthology as “a home for stories that sidestep expectations in beautiful and unsettling ways, that surprise with their settings and startle with the ways they cross genre boundaries, that aren’t afraid to experiment with storytelling techniques.” His choices here don’t disappoint. — PhillyBurbs.com Even if you’re not into the genre, this is a welcome read that’ll hopefully strike an emotional chord in you. — Bibliophile Stalker Another “new weird” collection, perhaps? A slipstream opus? Whatever — set somewhere between fantasy, SF, and something else, the stories selected by editor Mike Allen have an unique property: they are never tedious … I highly recommend the book to anyone looking for top-notch fiction irrespective of genre labels. — The Harrow

Tales of Beauty and Strangeness

Clockwork Phoenix

Culls together important criticism of fantastic literature from Plato and Aristotle to present critics.

A Critical Reader

Fantastic Literature

Examines the ways in which Romanticism took part in the revolution of the view of fantasy literature, arguing that nineteenth-century children's fantasy cultivated a new image of children and the role of imagination.

Romanticism and Transcendence in Nineteenth-century Children's Fantasy Literature

The Fantastic Sublime

Jacob Weisman

The fantastic, the supernatural, the poetic, and the macabre entwine in this incomparable culmination of storytelling. Imaginative stories of wit and intelligence weave through vivid landscapes that are alternately wondrous and terrifying. As major literary figures from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—from Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Edith Wharton to Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde—these masters of English and American literature created unforgettable tales where goblins and imps comingle with humans from all walks of life. This deftly curated assemblage of notable classics and unexpected gems from the pre-Tolkien era will captivate and enchant readers. Forerunners of today’s speculative fiction, these are the authors that changed the fantasy genre forever.

The Treasury of the Fantastic

C.W. Sullivan III

Donald E. Palumbo

Philip K. Dick was a visionary writer of science fiction. His works speak to contemporary fears of being continually watched by technology, and the paranoia of modern life in which we watch ourselves and lose our sense of identity. Since his death in 1982, Dick's writing remain frighteningly relevant to 21st century audiences. Dick spent his life in near poverty and it was only after his death that he gained popular and critical recognition. In this new collection of essays, interviews, and talks, Philip K Dick is rediscovered. Concentrating both on recent critical studies and on reassessing his legacy in light of his new status as a "major American author," these essays explore, just what happened culturally and critically to precipitate his extraordinary rise in reputation. The essays look for his traces in the places he lived, in the SF community he came from, and in his influence on contemporary American literature and culture, and beyond.

Essays of the Here and Now

Philip K. Dick

David Sandner

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