Mike Ashley
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From an innovative tale by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to influential works by H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H. G. Wells, this anthology traces the rise of modern fantasy during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Linked by the concept of dreams and imagination, these twenty-three tales were created by writers who inspired storytellers such as J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and other master fantasists. Featured stories include...
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The popularity of the detective story began with the Victorian-era debut of Sherlock Holmes, whose adventures inspired legions of imitators. Subsequent tales of malfeasance and its deduction gradually took a decided turn away from melodrama and toward plausibility, leading to a Golden Age of crime fiction during the 1920s and 30s. The 15 short stories in this anthology, which date from 1905 to 1921, trace the development of an increasingly sophisticated...
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"I was suddenly struck with the sight of a trail of rich red vegetation of several miles in the midst of the eternal snows. I approached with curiosity this oasis in the frozen desert."
An antique-shop owner gets a glimpse of the Red Planet through an intriguing artifact. A Martian's wife contemplates the possibility of life on Earth. A resident of Venus describes his travels across the two alien planets. From an arid desert to an advanced...
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The companion volume to The Darker Sex and The Dreaming Sex, this absorbing anthology of early women's crime fiction belongs on the bookshelf of any serious crime fan. Many of the leading writers of crime fiction are women - Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell et al - but it still comes as a surprise to many that the first full-length detective novel was by one Metta Fuller whose The Dead Letter, under the alias Seeley Regester, appeared as far back as...
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Drawing on a 200-year-old tradition, this original collection features a deft combination of vintage vampire tales with more contemporary stories. Anthologist Mike Ashley introduces a dozen fantasies that weave together dark, psychological elements with well-recognized vampire themes. His notes trace the development of vampire fiction, illustrating the genre's life beyond the well-known conventions established by Bram Stoker's Dracula. Selections...