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The Wind's Twelve Quarters
''The Wind's Twelve Quarters'' is a collection of short stories by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, named after a line from A. E. Housman's ''A Shropshire Lad'', and first published by Harper Perennial, Harper & Row in 1975. A retrospective of Le Guin's short stories, it collects 17 previously published pieces of speculative fiction. Four of these were the germs of novels she was to write later, and a few others shared connections to Le Guin novels. At least four stories are set in the Hainish Cycle, Hainish Universe, and two others in ''Earthsea''. Many stories share themes and motifs, including time and utopia: certain images and characters also recur, including isolated scholars or explorers seeking knowledge in a hostile world. ''The Wind's Twelve Quarters'' won the Locus Award for best single author collection in 1976. Several stories had won awards upon initial publication. The collection was critically well-received. Several contemporary reviewers wrote that it showcas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ursula K
Ursula commonly refers to: * Ursula (name), feminine name (and a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * Ursula (''The Little Mermaid''), a fictional character who appears in ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989) * Saint Ursula, a legendary Christian saint Ursula may also refer to: * ''Ursula'' (album), an album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron * Ursula (crater), a crater on Titania, a moon of Uranus *Ursula (detention center) Ursula is the colloquial name for the Central Processing Center, the largest U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention center for undocumented immigrants. The facility is a retrofitted warehouse that can hold more than 1,000 people. It was ope ..., processing facility for unaccompanied minors in McAllen, Texas * Ursula Channel, body of water in British Columbia, Canada * 375 Ursula, a large main-belt asteroid * HMS ''Ursula'', a destroyer and two submarines that served with the Royal Navy * Tropical Storm Ursula (other), a typhoon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earthsea (universe)
Earthsea is a fictional universe, fictional world created by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Introduced in her short story "The Word of Unbinding", published in 1964, Earthsea became the setting for six ''Earthsea'' books, beginning with ''A Wizard of Earthsea'', first published in 1968, and continuing with ''The Tombs of Atuan'', ''The Farthest Shore'', ''Tehanu'', ''Tales from Earthsea'' and ''The Other Wind''. Nine short stories by Le Guin are set in Earthsea; the earliest two ('"The Word of Unbinding'" and "The Rule of Names") in her 1975 collection of short stories ''The Wind's Twelve Quarters'', five in ''Tales from Earthsea'', and the final two (2014's '"The Daughter of Odren'" and 2018's "Firelight") in an illustrated collection (along with the 1993 essay ''Earthsea Revisioned'') in ''The Books of Earthsea'' (released in 2018 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ''A Wizard of Earthsea''). Geography The world of Earthsea is one of sea and islands: a vast archipelago ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantastic (magazine)
''Fantastic'' was an American digest size, digest-size fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by the publishing company Ziff Davis as a fantasy companion to ''Amazing Stories''. Early sales were good, and the company quickly decided to switch ''Amazing'' from pulp magazine, pulp format to digest, and to cease publication of their other fantasy/science fiction pulp, ''Fantastic Adventures'', which was merged with ''Fantastic''. Within a few years sales fell, and Howard Browne, the editor, was forced to switch the focus to science fiction rather than fantasy. Browne lost interest in the magazine as a result and the magazine generally ran poorer-quality fiction in the mid-1950s, under Browne and his successor, Paul W. Fairman. At the end of the 1950s, Cele Goldsmith took over as editor of both ''Fantastic'' and ''Amazing Stories'', and quickly invigorated the magazines, bringing in many new writers and making ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brísingamen
In Norse mythology, ''Brísingamen'' (or ''Brísinga men'') is the torc or necklace of the goddess Freyja, of which little else is known for certain., st. 13, "necklace of the Brisings"; endnote: "..frequently mentioned in connection with Freyja, but we know little more about it". Etymology The name is an Old Norse compound ''brísinga-men'' whose second element is ''men'' "(ornamental) neck-ring (of precious metal), torc". The etymology of the first element is uncertain. It has been derived from Old Norse ''brísingr'', a poetic term for "fire" or "amber" mentioned in the anonymous versified word-lists (''þulur'') appended to many manuscripts of the Prose Edda, making Brísingamen "gleaming torc", "sunny torc", or the like. However, ''Brísingr'' can also be an ethnonym, in which case ''Brísinga men'' is "torc of the Brísings"; the Old English parallel in ''Beowulf'' supports this derivation, though who the Brísings (Old Norse ''Brísingar'') may have been remains unknown. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances in other magazines, including some published by Gernsback, but ''Amazing'' helped define and launch a new genre of pulp fiction. ''Amazing'' has been published, with some interruptions, for 98 years, going through a half-dozen owners and many editors as it struggled to be profitable. Gernsback was forced into bankruptcy and lost control of the magazine in 1929. In 1938 it was purchased by Ziff-Davis, which hired Raymond A. Palmer as editor. Palmer made the magazine successful though it was not regarded as a quality magazine within the science fiction community. In the late 1940s ''Amazing'' presented as fact stories about the Shaver Mystery, a lurid mythos that explained accidents and disaster as the work of robots named deros, whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dowry Of The Angyar
"The Dowry of Angyar" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in 1964. It is the first work of the '' Hainish Cycle''. The story is set on a fictional planet of the star Fomalhaut and follows a highborn woman as she tries to track down a family heirloom. It was framed by commentary from ethnologists studying the intelligent life forms of the Fomalhaut system. The story drew from Norse mythology, including the legend of the ''Brísingamen'', and explored the concept of time dilation. "The Dowry of Angyar" drew comments for its stylistic devices, while a review praised Le Guin's writing as "crystalline prose". It was later used as the prologue to Le Guin's 1966 novel '' Rocannon's World''. In later publications, including in the 1975 anthology ''The Wind's Twelve Quarters'', the story was given the title "Semley's Necklace". Setting and framing "The Dowry of Angyar" is the first work set in Le Guin's fictional Hainish universe. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" () is a 1973 short work of philosophical fiction by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. With deliberately both vague and vivid descriptions, the narrator depicts a summer festival in the utopian city of Omelas, whose prosperity depends on the perpetual misery of a single child. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Short Fiction in 1974 and won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1974. Plot The only chronological element of the work is that it begins by describing the first day of summer in Omelas, a shimmering city of unbelievable happiness and delight. In Omelas, the summer solstice is celebrated with a glorious festival and a race featuring young people on horseback. The vibrant festival atmosphere, however, seems to be an everyday characteristic of the blissful community, whose citizens, though limited in their technology and resources, are still intelligent, sophisticated, and cultured. Omela ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relativistic Time Dilation
Time dilation is the difference in elapsed time as measured by two clocks, either because of a relative velocity between them (special relativity), or a difference in gravitational potential between their locations (general relativity). When unspecified, "time dilation" usually refers to the effect due to velocity. The dilation compares "wristwatch" clock readings between events measured in different inertial frames and is not observed by visual comparison of clocks across moving frames. These predictions of the theory of relativity have been repeatedly confirmed by experiment, and they are of practical concern, for instance in the operation of satellite navigation systems such as GPS and Galileo. Invisibility Time dilation is a relationship between clock readings. Visually observed clock readings involve delays due to the propagation speed of light from the clock to the observer. Thus there is no direct way to observe time dilation. As an example of time dilation, two expe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hainish Universe
The ''Hainish Cycle'' consists of a number of science fiction novels and stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is set in a future history in which civilizations of human beings on planets orbiting a number of nearby stars, including Terra ("Earth"), are contacting each other for the first time and establishing diplomatic relations, and setting up a confederacy under the guidance of the oldest of the human worlds, peaceful Hain. In this history, human beings did not evolve on Earth but were the result of interstellar colonies planted by Hain long ago, which was followed by a long period when interstellar travel ceased. Some of the races have new genetic traits, a result of ancient Hainish experiments in genetic engineering, including people who can dream while awake, and a world of hermaphroditic people who only come into active sexuality once a month, not knowing which sex will manifest in them. In keeping with Le Guin's style, she uses varied social and environmental settings to exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaster Than Empires And More Slow
"Vaster than Empires and More Slow" is a science fiction story by American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the collection '' New Dimensions 1'', edited by Robert Silverberg. It is set in the fictional Hainish universe, where Earth is a member of an interstellar "League of Worlds". The anthology was released in United States in 1971, by Doubleday Books. The story follows an exploratory ship sent by the League to investigate a newly discovered planet, named World 4470. The team includes Osden, an "empath" who is able to feel the emotions of those around him; however, he has an abrasive personality that leads to tensions within the team. The ship finds World 4470 to be a world covered in forests, and apparently devoid of animal life. However, the team eventually begins to feel a fear emanating from the planet. The team realizes that the entire vegetation on the planet is part of a singular consciousness, which is reacting in fear at the explorers after spending its wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Word For World Is Forest
''The Word for World Is Forest'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the United States in 1972 as a part of the anthology '' Again, Dangerous Visions'', and published as a separate book in 1976 by Berkley Books. It is part of Le Guin's Hainish Cycle. The story focuses on a military logging colony set up on the fictional planet of Athshe by people from Earth (referred to as "Terra"). The colonists have enslaved the completely non-aggressive native Athsheans, and treat them very harshly. Eventually, one of the natives, whose wife was raped and killed by a Terran military captain, leads a revolt against the Terrans, and succeeds in getting them to leave the planet. However, in the process their own peaceful culture is introduced to mass violence for the first time. The novel carries strongly anti-colonial and anti-militaristic overtones, driven partly by Le Guin's negative reaction to the Vietnam War. It also explores themes of sens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dispossessed
''The Dispossessed'' (subtitled ''An Ambiguous Utopia'') is a 1974 anarchist utopian science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, one of her seven Hainish Cycle novels. It is one of a small number of books to win all three Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards for Best Novel. It achieved a degree of literary recognition unusual for science fiction due to its exploration of themes such as anarchism and revolutionary societies, capitalism, utopia, individualism, and collectivism. It features the development of the mathematical theory underlying a fictional '' ansible'', a device capable of faster-than-light communication (it can send messages without delay, even between star systems) that plays a critical role in the Hainish Cycle. The invention of the ansible places the novel first in the internal chronology of the Hainish Cycle, although it was the fifth published. Background In her introduction to the Library of America reprint in 2017, Le Guin reflected on her past ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
