Independence and self-reliance versus pampered leisure under A.I. domination and control - the dilemma posed by far-seeing author Miles J. Breuer. Paradise and Iron will thrill young adult readers. It's a timely warning for our times.

Gathered here for the first time are Miles J. Breuer s first publication, The Man with the Strange Head ; his neglected dystopian novel Paradise and Iron (appearing here in book form for the first time); stories such as Gostak and the Doshes and Mechanocracy ; and Breuer s essay The Future of Scientifiction, one of the early critical statements of the genre. Also included are some of the author s letters from the Discussions column of Amazing Stories. Much of what we know as science fiction saw the light and found its themes, styles, and modes in the science fiction magazines of the early twentieth century. It was in these magazines of the 1920s and 1930s that Breuer often led the way. Breuer himself found his inspiration in the work of H. G. Wells and in turn influenced science fiction masters from Jack Williamson to Robert A. Heinlein. The Man with the Strange Head and Other Early Science Fiction Stories collects the best work of this pioneer of the genre.

Paradise is a place more wonderful than anyone has ever imagined, in which all creation returns to God in an eternal process of becoming divine. In Paradise we get to be all that we want to be, and change is all gain and no loss. In the genre of philosophy-fiction, this book tells the story of a professor's journey through Paradise. Some of his questions are answered, and many more arise in the discussions that he has with friends, family and other beings he encounters there.

No one knows heaven’s paradise, but earthly paradises created by mortals may mirror the paradise of the afterlife. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan crafted paradises with Diwan-e-Khas in Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra. Enthralled by the splendor, he inscribed a Persian couplet on the Diwan’s arches: ‘If there is paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this.’ The title and contents of this book echo the crux of this couplet. This travelogue explores the author's five-decade journey through European monarchs' architectural marvels of paradisiacal proportions and their eminence relative to South Asian architectural resurgence under Shah Jahan in the 17th century CE.