"13 stories of dripping, creeping, gurgling, purling, trilling, oozing, seeping, gushing deadly monsters" --

Speculative fiction--both science fiction and fantasy--reflects, among other things, the fears of the culture that created it, contributing (perhaps unconsciously) to our efforts to prevent our fears from coming true. While the names and media change over time, the themes of speculative fiction have a long history. Nineteenth century works such as Frankenstein and The Invisible Man contain many of the same messages as the more modern tales of Terminator, Jurassic Park and even Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, although almost a century separates their creation. This critical study discusses the ways in which speculative fiction reflects societal fears and analyzes how such cautionary tales contribute to society's efforts to avoid the realization of these fears. Beginning with a discussion of the nature of speculative fiction, it takes a look at the characteristics of the cautionary tale. The core of the book, however, is the concept of the "Nightmares Model," which examines and categorizes the repetition of specific themes within the genre. The dangers of science and technology, the perils of power, and the threat of the unknown are discussed as recurrent themes within a variety of works in prose, film and television. Works analyzed range from Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea to 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Blair Witch Project. Sources include the author's own observations as a member of the genre's fandom, a variety of published commentaries and the perspectives of contemporary professionals gained through personal interviews and panel discussions.

Who better to parody science fiction than science fiction authors themselves? *** In this classic collection of stories, compiled by Mike Resnick (winner of five Hugos, plus a plethora of other awards in multiple categories), such prominent authors as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Barry Malzberg and a host of others take their pens and wits to make fun of themselves and the genre they live for. *** This collection was originally titled Shaggy B.E.M. Stories and was compiled exclusively for the 1988 Worldcon (Nolacon II). Seventy- five percent of the original edition sold out over the Worldcon weekend and the rest disappeared soon after. *** Phoenix Pick is proud to republish this classic collection of parodies. All the original stories are included and the only changes that have been made are corrections of typos and other mistakes. One new poem ('There's a Bimbo on the Cover' by Michael F. Flynn) has been added to the book for obvious reasons-it just begged to belong to this irreverent collection.

"Mr Snitcher is an alien! Pass it on..." Nobody knew where the rumour came from. Most of the boys think it's a joke. But the more Joe and Harry and their friends think about it, the weirder Mr Snitcher starts to look. Is he really an alien? And how about the rest of the teachers? Laugh-out-loud school story with a sci-fi twist.

This book is a unique teaching tool that takes math lovers on a journey designed to motivate kids (and kids at heart) to learn the fun of factoring and prime numbers. This volume visually explores the concepts of factoring and the role of prime and composite numbers. The playful and colorful monsters are designed to give children (and even older audiences) an intuitive understanding of the building blocks of numbers and the basics of multiplication. The introduction and appendices can also help adult readers answer questions about factoring from their young audience. The artwork is crisp and creative and the colors are bright and engaging, making this volume a welcome deviation from standard math texts. Any person, regardless of age, can profit from reading this book. Readers will find themselves returning to its pages for a very long time, continually learning from and getting to know the monsters as their knowledge expands. You Can Count on Monsters is a magnificent addition for any math education program and is enthusiastically recommended to every teacher, parent and grandparent, student, child, or other individual interested in exploring the visually fascinating world of the numbers 1 through 100.

What has a bluish-greenish nose, sharp white teeth and big yellow eyes? It is the Big Green Monster, in this book children can change the features of the monster, it is designed to help dispel their fears of night-time monsters.