Books in the Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy series

As the first extended, critical study dedicated to Star Trek: Voyager, this book examines how the series uses the physical distance from the crew's home quadrant and the effect this has on the dynamic between community formation, self-creation and a sense of place.

Building on the ideas of the nineteenth-century Gothic and utopian movements, speculative writers anticipated literary Modernism and blazed alternative literary trails. This book documents the Gothic and utopian roots of speculative fiction and explores how these authors played a crucial role in shaping the culture of the new century.

Exploring the roles of monsters in coming-of-age narratives and the need to confront and understand the monstrous, this work explores recent developments in the presentation of monsters in maturation narratives, discusses monsters inhabiting the psychic landscapes of child characters, and touches on monsters in science fiction.

J. R. R. Tolkien is arguably the most influential fantasy writer of all time - his world building and epic mythology have changed western audiences' imaginations and the entire fantasy genre. This book offers the first wide-ranging Christian Platonic reading on Tolkien's fiction.

Offers a new perspective on Mary Shelley and on science fiction, arguing that Shelley both established a new discursive space for moral thinking and laid the groundwork for the genre of science fiction.

Writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, H.P. Lovecraft, and others are examined in this exploration of Fortean science fiction - a genre that borrows from the reports and ideas of Charles Fort and others who saw the possible science-fictional nature of our reality.

Concentrating both on studies of Philip K. Dick's writing from recent critical perspectives, 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.

Features over a dozen interdisciplinary scholars reading popular texts through critical lenses that range from traditional literary studies, to video game scholarship, to ecocriticism. Challenging the field of popular vampire studies, this book asks the question: What is the vampire in different global contexts, and what does it represent?

Star Trek: The Next Generation blended speculative science fiction and space opera in its portrayal of communication. This book proposes that these patterns of communication reveal a foundational philosophy of Star Trek that informs the series as a whole while also enticing millions of viewers.

We live in an information economy, a vast archive of data ever at our fingertips. In the pages of science fiction, powerful entities - governments and corporations - seek to use this archive to control society, enforcing conformity or turning citizens into passive consumers. Opposing them are protagonists fighting to liberate the collective mind.

Offers a critical study of the fantastic religions and religious themes present in the works of selected American and Canadian writers. The aim is to reveal and investigate these authors' references to biblical tradition and Christian teachings in order to examine their overall approach to Christianity and to comment on the relationship between Christianity and the fantasy genre.

What are the greatest, most widely read, most influential, most translated and most adapted children's classics? Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and Carlo Collodi's Le Avventure di Pinocchio are candidates, and through them this book explores what it means to be transnational fantasy icons.

Explores the relationship between the works of British comic `mavericks' such as Alan Moore and the mainstream comic book style that was dominant at the time - how the British Invasion subverted the norm, but also the many ways in which the movement came to rely on the genius of the American system.

This companion to Frank Herbert's six original Dune novels provides an encyclopaedia of characters, locations, terms and other elements, and highlights the series' underrated aesthetic integrity. An extensive introduction covers themes of ecology, chaos theory, concepts and structures, and Joseph Campbell's monomyth in Herbert's narrative.

This is the first book to bring together the imagination and energy of rock music with its sources in mythology and science fiction. The mythological roots of classic rock music artists from David Bowie, the Jefferson Airplane, and Pink Floyd, to Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, and Iron Maiden are explored, along with the stories they tell and the critiques of contemporary society that their songs carry.

Interpreted and adapted for more than a century, H.G. Wells' texts have resisted easy categorization and are perennial subjects for emerging critical and theoretical perspectives. The author examines Wells' works through the post-structuralist philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. Via this critical perspective, concepts now synonymous with science fiction demonstrate the intrinsic relevance of Wells.

From wondrous fairy-lands to nightmarish hellscapes, the elements that make fantasy worlds come alive also invite their exploration and study. This first book-length study of critically acclaimed novelist Patricia A. McKillip's lyrical other-worlds analyses her characters, environments and legends and their interplay with genre expectations.

A literary genre that pervades 21st-century popular culture, science fiction creates mythologies that make statements about humanity's place in the universe and embody an intersection of science, religion and philosophy. This book considers the significance of this confluence through an examination of myths in the writings of H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick and Frank Herbert.

As a pop culture text, the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars offers critical commentary on contemporary issues, marking a moment of interplay whereby author and audience come together in collaborative meaning making. This book critically examines the series as a voice in the political dialogues concerning human cloning, torture, just war theory, peace and drone warfare.

Explores the construction of gendered heroic identity from both production and fan perspectives by applying a variety of critical lens (media, fan culture, and queer theory). In addition, fan fiction, criticism, and videos that celebrate and resist BBC SF television heroes and villains are considered.

Spaces, as well as a sense of place or belonging, play major roles in many science fiction works. This book focuses especially on science fiction that includes depictions of the future that include, but move beyond, dystopias and offer us ways to imagine reinventing ourselves and our perspectives; especially our links to and views of new environments.

Many believe that Robert A. Heinlein was the most important American science fiction writer of the 20th century. This is the first detailed critical examination of his entire career. It looks at each piece of fiction (and a few pieces of sf-related non-fiction) that Heinlein wrote, chronologically by publication, in order to consider what each contributes to his overall accomplishment.

Presents the genre of mythopoeic fantasy from a holistic perspective, arguing that this subgenre of fantasy literature is misunderstood as a result of decades of incomplete and reductionist literary studies.

Recognizes science fiction as a modern expression of Gnosticism, rejecting bodily concerns for an exclusive emphasis on spirituality. This book covers such topics as HG Wells, science fiction in academia, and the role of genre in storytelling.

Examines how women authors have explored fantasy fiction in ways that connect with feminist narrative theories.

Considers the development of science fiction for children and teens between 1950 and 2010, exploring why it differs from science fiction aimed at adults. This book sheds light on changing attitudes toward children and teenagers, toward science education, and toward the authors' expectations and sociological views of their audience.

Suzette Hayden Elgin's Native Tongue trilogy, Suzy McKee Charna's Holdfast series, and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale are analyzed, with a focus on how they cover the interrelated categories of gender, race and class, along with their relationship to classic literary dualism and the dystopian narrative.