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      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        June 2022

        Critical theory and dystopia

        by Patricia McManus, Darrow Schecter

        Critical theory and dystopia offers a uniquely rich study of dystopian fiction, drawing on the insights of critical theory. Asking what ideological work these dark imaginings perform, the book reconstructs the historical emergence, consolidation and transformation of the genre across the twentieth century and into our own, ranging from Yevgeny Zamayatin's We (1924) and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) to Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange (1963) and Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games series (2000s and 2010s). In doing so, it reveals the political logics opened up or neutered by the successive moments of this dystopian history.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        June 2017

        Terry Gilliam

        by Peter Marks

        Terry Gilliam presents a sustained examination of one of cinema's most challenging and lauded auteurs, proposing fresh ways of seeing Gilliam that go beyond reductive readings of him as a gifted but manic fantasist. Analysing Gilliam's work over nearly four decades, from the brilliant anarchy of his Monty Python animations through the nightmarish masterpiece Brazil to the provocative Gothic horror of Tideland, it critically examines the variety and richness of Gilliam's sometimes troubled but always provocative output. The book situates Gilliam within the competing cultural contexts of the British, European and American film industries, examining his regular struggles against aesthetic and commercial pressures. He emerges as a passionate, immensely creative director, whose work encompasses a dizzying array of material: anarchic satire, childhood and adult fantasy, dystopia, romantic comedy, surrealism, road movie, fairy tale and the Gothic. The book charts how Gilliam interweaves these genres and forms to create magical interfaces between reality and the illuminating, frightening but liberating worlds of the imagination. Scrutinising the neglected importance of literature and adaptation in Gilliam's career, this study also observes him through the lenses of auteurism, genre, performance, design and national culture, explaining how someone born in Minnesota and raised in California came to be one of British television and film's most compelling figures.

      • Loveoid

        by JL Morin

        This cli-fi love story is a Cygnus 1st Place Sci-fi Award Winner; Book Excellence Award Finalist, Erotica; ScreenCraft Semifinalist (top 12% of submissions); Fish shortlist (top 4% of submissions); Global Thriller Book Awards for High Stakes and Lab Lit Novels shortlist   An American euthanasist and an Egyptian astrological farmer delve into the evolution of the collective soul ... as an extremophile virus targets a select few.   The twisted scientific changes of our present-day lives catalyze love in parallel universes, as love-lacking predators on top kill off life on earth. Loveoid grapples with the dilemmas of the latest generation of humankind ⎯ that the loving don't survive. In the present-day novel Loveoid, Olivia unravels a virus that only harms the corporate elite. In combat with media, governments and corporations, Olivia finds love, and comes to question her own ideals. The impossibly mixed match encounters life-threatening obstacles, as Khalid elicits her darkest fears, yet lights the way with astrological farming and ancient holistic remedies. Will love allow them to stay human?   "Loveoid is a wildly unique and immensely realized science fiction thriller set in a dystopian present in which overpopulation is decimating the Earth and its natural resources at a rapid rate. Additionally, the world of the story is incredibly deep, filled with dense detail and nuance that give the impression of a very realized universe."   ⎯ScreenCraft   "With a new, scary virus as the backdrop, Olivia and Khalid navigate love, cures, and a different world. A timely novel with an interesting message about love and nature."    ⎯Booklist   "The smart choice to set this eco-thriller in the present brings home the tenebrous climate prognostications we usually reserve for another year." ⎯Brussels Express   "As overpopulation grows, natural resources are depleted, species go extinct, and the polar ice caps continue to melt. People now check into euthanasia hotels to escape a hopeless future.... The story's premise is interesting."⎯Library Journal   "Morin's wit can be delicious"  ⎯Canberra Times, Australia   "I take heart from her ethereal intuition: true love is what eventually will separate man from vegetable."  ⎯Andreas Bergsten, Author, The Rift   "About time some serious writers and artists grappling with the biggest issue of our time--maybe all time. This story shows that engagement is fully underway!"   ⎯Bill McKibben, Founder 350.org     JL Morin grew up in inner-city Detroit. She proffered moral support while her parents sacrificed all to a failed system. Wondering what the Japanese were doing right, she decamped to Tokyo. Her debut Japan novel, Sazzae, won an eLit Gold Medal, and a Living Now Book Award. Her second novel, Travelling Light, was a USA Best Book Awards finalist, and her third, Trading Dreams, became ‘Occupy’s first bestselling novel’. Her climate fiction novel, Nature’s Confession, won first place in the Dante Rossetti Book Awards; a Readers’ Favorite Book Award; a LitPick 5-Star Review Award; and an excerpt received an Honorable Mention in the Eco-Fiction Story Contest, published in the Winds of Change anthology of eco-fiction. Her second cli-fi novel, Loveoid, is a Cygnus Sci-fi 1st place winner, among others. Her cli-fi novels are on course syllabi at many universities. Ivy League professors have facilitated discussions with JL Morin’s writing, and it is discussed in textbooks, such as Science Fiction and Climate Change: A Sociological Approach, by Andrew Milner, ‎and J. R. Burgmann, 2020, published by Oxford University Press. Her most recent work, Tuck-a-tuck Dragon, is a diverse rhyming children’s book illustrated by children throughout their childhood from the ages of 2–21. JL Morin’s writing draws on a breadth of experience. She traded derivatives in New York while studying nights for her MBA at New York University’s Stern School of Business; worked for the Federal Reserve Bank posted to the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center; presented the news as a TV broadcaster; and she is adjunct faculty at Boston University. Morin’s fiction has appeared in The Harvard Advocate and Harvard Yisei, and her articles and translations in The Huffington Post, Library Journal, The Detroit News, European Daily, Livonia Observer Eccentric Newspapers, The Harvard Crimson, and Agence France Presse while she worked in their Middle East Headquarters.

      • Fiction
        June 2019

        Proximity

        If the police always know where I am...How do I kill you?

        by Jem Tugwell

        Proximity is gripping, darkly twisted crime thriller set in an eerily near future.   Back blurb: You can’t get away with anything. Least of all murder.DI Clive Lussac has forgotten how to do his job. Ten years of embedded technology – ‘iMe’ – has led to complete control and the eradication of crime. Then the impossible happens. A body is found, and the killer is untraceable. With new partner Zoe Jordan, Clive must re-sharpen his detective skills and find the killer without technology, before time runs out for the next victim…

      • Fantasy
        August 2020

        THE LOST QUEEN

        by Ana Cristina Melo

        The world is at peace. There is no hunger or violence, but there is a price to pay. Make no mistake. Nothing is what it seems. Who would not like to live in a country where there is no violence or hunger? This is how it is in Aghaia, a dystopian society, where the country has been divided into districts that provide everything for the population. Ellena lives in District Seven. She and her family walk two hours, round trip, to the fabric factory, where they work 14 hours a day. Her best friend, Vick, is an Expert who works in the old City Hall building. She is about to get married and can't imagine her life any other way; quite different from Ellena, who dreams of becoming an Admitted, to go to work in the Capital. But if this change would free her grandfather Set, who is sick and would be taken by force by the Guardian of the Assistance in case the Government finds out he can't work anymore, on the other hand, King Petrus manipulates this "gift" in a cruel way. Nobody can return to his District, nor send or receive news from their families. On Vick's wedding day, she and Ellena discover they are among the ten new Admitted. As they cross the walls of the District, they begin a round trip to question the politics of the Capital, to uncover well-guarded secrets and to put their friendship to the test. All this while facing the longings, pains and forbidden love triangle between Ellena, Lukhas and Reed, the heir princes of Aghaia. A political and romantic maze, masterfully sewn by Ana Cristina Melo, that will involve young and adult readers, and make them recognize many metaphors for our real world.

      • April 2021

        Line

        by Niall Bourke

      • Children's & YA

        Future History 2050

        by Thomas Harding

        Nominated for the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis 2021   It is the year 2020 and a researcher finds a stack of notebooks in a Berlin archive. He starts reading and is shocked to find that this is the history of the next thirty years. Could this really be the story of the future?

      • Children's & young adult fiction & true stories
        March 2021

        Animal Farm

        by George Orwell

        All the animals were looking forward to the new, happy lives they would lead when Mr Jones’s rule over them came to an end. When the animals get rid of Mr Jones and take over the farm, they are excited by their new freedom. But can they run the farm with tools that are designed for humans? Will they be able to harvest the food that they need for the winter? The farmers decide to band together to win back the farm for Mr Jones. Will the animals be able to fight them off ? Can life on Animal Farm be as wonderful as they had all hoped for – or will new dangers threaten their happiness? A retelling of Orwell's dystopian masterpiece for children and young people by Tony Evans with illustrations by Angelo Ruta.

      • Fiction

        Revelation

        by M.W. Innes-Jones

        Nathanial and those left of the original twelve may have made it to the end of phase one of their training, but will they all make it to start of the second, let alone finish it? Book Two, the chess board becomes deadlier; Professor Redmond sharpens his game and the council's fractious nature starts to unravel. Against this, Nathanial must act to survive Chris' retribution while treading carefully not to become a statistic for the mystery informant who is killing the remaining eight, one by one. And what has this all to do with the cryptic question Commander Reed gave Nathanial to figure out? In the end the real question is; of those who are left standing, which side will they be on? Book Two in the powerful Engelberg Records by MW Innes-Jones,

      • Fiction

        Concealment

        by M.W. Innes-Jones

        If your only crime was to be different, what would you do when a knock at the door shattered your world? This is the Nathanial Paquette’s reality, and it is about to become deadly. For twenty-three years Nathanial has lived in humanities last city, a refuge high in the Swiss Alps. Shielded from who he really is, Nathanial has grown up in the safety of family and a society sheltered from the ravages of the Fall.  Now be must face the unexpected truth – he is genetically altered. Together with eleven others, he must survive the rigorous training he and his fellow recruits are faced with. It is a world of competing agendas of a ruling council and a man of science, where friendships are forged, enemies are made, and death awaits – ever wanting to become everyone’s new best friend. The question is; when will it be Nathanial’s turn? Concealment – book one of the Engelberg Records, a six-part series by MW Innes-Jones, which follows Nathanial and his fellow internees through a world of deception and lies. Where the dark underbelly of power and science meet, threatening at every turn.

      • Nature's Confession

        by JL Morin

        The epic tale of two teens in a fight to save a warming planet...the universe...and their love. A cli-fi quest to outsmart polluters, full of romance, honour and adventure.    “The novel is epic” –The Guardian    “It makes no apologies for its mission: to save our Planet Earth from self-destructing. A thought-provoking novel that brings the genre of ‘cli-fi’ to young adult readers.” —Florence Griswold Museum Reading Club, in an event featuringDr. Mark J. Schenker, Senior Associate Dean andDean of Academic Affairs at Yale University   Readers' Favorite Award Winner Book Excellence Finalist A Top 10  Best Science Fiction book Best Climate and Environmental Fiction book LitPick Award winner In "12 Works of Climate Fiction Everyone Should Read" 'Top Fiction Read' of the Year New York Book Festival Honorable Mention An excerpt received an Eco-Fiction Story Contest Honorable Mention     "Honestly, it's not my fault.  Humans were polluting the planet to desolation.  What else could I do?  I had to save her. "   When a smart-mouthed, mixed-race teen wonders why the work that needs to be done pays nothing compared to the busywork glorified on holovision news, the search for answers takes him on the wildest journey of anyone's lifetime. With the girl of his dreams, he inadvertently invents living computers. Just as the human race allows corporations to pollute Earth into total desolation, institute martial law and enslave humanity, the two teens set out to save civilization. Can they thwart polluters of Earth and other fertile planets? The heroes come into their own in different kinds of relationships in this diverse, multi-cultural romance. Along the way, they enlist the help of female droid Any Gynoid, who uncovers cutting-edge scientific mysteries. Their quest takes them through the Big Bang and back. Will Starliament tear them from the project and unleash 'intelligent' life's habitual pollution, or will youth lead the way to a new way of coexisting with Nature? Nature's Confession couldn't be more timely, just as the IMF reveals that governments give $5.3 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies every year, while we continue to propagate the idea that solar and wind power are unprofitable. The ideal classroom tool, with illustrations and topics for discussion at the back of the book. JL Morin entertains questions about busywork; economic incentives to pollute; sustainable energy; exploitation; cyborgs; the sanctity of Nature; and many kinds of relationships in this diverse, multi-cultural romance.

      • December 2020

        Deliverance: Dimensional Fugitive

        by Shireishou

        Traversing through dimensions to save themselves is the only thing they can do. A seventeen-year-old boy lives with his eleven-year-old sister. They just want to live in peace, yet a dozen killers are ready to kill them both.   When the harsh life in a dilapidated world makes both of them have to fight as hard as they can to survive, Alf is faced with a choice: to kill or to be killed.   Will he manage to protect his sister, Neysha? How many dimensions must he go through before he can find the answer? Or does he have to keep witnessing Neysha's death in every different dimension?

      • Fiction
        August 2019

        The Trespassers

        by Meg Mundell

        A shipload of migrant workers flees the pandemic-stricken UK, seeking a fresh start in Australia. For nine-year-old Cleary the journey promises adventure, for former nurse Billie it’s a chance to put a shameful mistake behind her, while struggling schoolteacher Tom hopes for a brighter future. But when a crew member is murdered and people start falling gravely ill, the Steadfast descends into chaos. Trapped on the ship, the trio must join forces to survive the journey and its aftermath.   The Trespassers is a beguiling novel that explores the consequences of greed, the experiences of migration and exile, and the way strangers can become the ones we hold dear.

      • Graphic novels

        The Last Detective

        Redemption

        by Claudio Alvarez, Geraldo Borges

        After 20 years, detective Joe Santos is forced to return to investigate a series of crimes that have covered New Amazonia with death. Will Santos solve this time the mystery that ended his career, crushed his body and caused the death of his partner?

      • Fiction
        May 2019

        SAHA MANSION

        by Cho Nam-joo

        There are two classes of people in the Town: L and L2. The ones with citizenship are referred to as Ls, or Citizens. They are above a certain level of financial status with knowledge or skills that the Town requires. The L2s are people without citizenship but have a clean criminal record. After interview and physical examination, they can stay and work for two years in this safest and richest corporate nation on earth.   Then there are those below even the L2s, illegal aliens called the saha. They are the immigrants, the disabled, the misfits, victims of violence and poverty who dwell in the decrepit Saha Mansion and are named accordingly.   So what happens when a respected young pediatrician is found dead in a parking lot, with evidence of drug overdose and sexual assault, and the prime suspect is her saha boyfriend?   A major police crackdown ensues, with the boyfriend quickly arrested and executed, but is he really behind the murder? His sister, Jinkyung, vows to find out the truth, only to discover the disappearance of a saha girl who has been the test subject of the Town Medical Lab. What lies behind the impenetrable walls of the Town, and who are the mysterious seven Premiers who rule it?   Eight years in the making, SAHA MANSION is a powerful tale of dystopia and a battle cry for the dispossessed. Cho gives voice to the marginalized and often unseen minority: They are all Kim Jiyoung, every single one of them.

      • Science fiction
        October 2018

        Berlin: Rostiges Herz

        by Sarah Stoffers

        "Sie war das eine Mädchen, das ich nicht haben konnte, und das seit vielen Jahren schon." Berlin, die rastlose Stadt am Meer. Hier ragen die Türme der Zauberer bis in den Himmel. Im Schein der Glühlichter werden rauschende Partys gefeiert. Zucker wird in Gold aufgewogen und die Geheimpolizei wacht über den zerbrechlichen Frieden zwischen Zauberern und Erfindern. Die Erfinderin Mathilda liebt ausgerechnet Rosa, die Tochter des magischen Großmeisters von Berlin. Genau wie der Zauberlehrling Fidelio. Beide wollen Rosa auf deren Geburtstagsparty ihre Gefühle gestehen, doch sie sind nicht die einzigen mit Plänen für den Abend. Ein Mörder hat sich unter die Gäste gemischt. Die Erfinder planen eine Rebellion gegen die Zauberer. Und tief unter der Stadt liegt ein uraltes Geheimnis verborgen. Eine Reise in ein dystopisches Berlin für alle Freunde von magischem Steampunk und LGBT-Geschichten

      • Fiction
        October 2019

        THE UNION UNDER FIRE

        by GIOVANNI MAGISTRELLI

        In the near future, European nations have disappeared, incorporated in the Union, a technocracy divided into four provinces and with the central power in Brussels. The European continent has become a utopian paradise for its citizens, where everyone lives together in peace and freedom, at least on the surface. Meanwhile, a clandestine movement is plotting to overthrow the government or, at least, reveal the dictatorship that hides behind the fake democracy. In Berlin, the capital of the Eastern Province, Governor Angelika März is killed by a sniper just before Christmas. Major Ian Lamm of the Secret Service is among the officers charged with finding the culprit, just among the supporters of the underground movement. The line between oppression and freedom, right and wrong is blurred, in this fictional political thriller.

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