New Arrivals, Old Encounters: Twelve Surreal Visions of the Fantastic, of the Forbidden, and of the Future
Apr 2025 · Open Road Media
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About this ebook
Twelve exciting science fiction stories by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of the Helliconia trilogy, Hothouse, and Non-Stop.
"Aldiss offers up tales of humanity's possible futures, in visions ranging from apocalyptic to comic. . . . Quite stunning. . . . Overall, the book demonstrates Aldiss had more range as a storyteller than many of the field's popular practitioners at the time." — Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews
There is much to be learned through travel. In New Arrivals, Old Encounters, Science Fiction Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss takes readers on adventures to fantastical new worlds. Here are twelve tales that provide stunning vantage points from which to view the shadowy realms of human nature . . .
An idyllic planet is visited by humans who play terrible music in the title story. A time traveler forges a friendship with an ancient Chinese poet in "The Small Stones of Tu Fu." "Amen and Out" tells of a machine-dominated world where everyone prays to talking shrines, and an acid head's immortal ancestor reveals some troubling truths. A tourist becomes involved with the Tahitian underworld when his family leaves him behind and the bureaucracy won't allow him to leave in "A Spot of Konfrontation." The crew of Earth's first interstellar mission returns home after 120 years away to find a world radically different from when they left in "Three Ways."
With humor and imagination, Aldiss leads readers from Earth to the stars and back again on a riveting journey that shows what makes mankind tick.
"The wit is often brilliant, the sense of humor is usually informed by a zest for living and a nice awareness of the distance between man's intellectual reach and his emotional grasp." —Robert Nye, The Guardian
"Aldiss offers up tales of humanity's possible futures, in visions ranging from apocalyptic to comic. . . . Quite stunning. . . . Overall, the book demonstrates Aldiss had more range as a storyteller than many of the field's popular practitioners at the time." — Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews
There is much to be learned through travel. In New Arrivals, Old Encounters, Science Fiction Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss takes readers on adventures to fantastical new worlds. Here are twelve tales that provide stunning vantage points from which to view the shadowy realms of human nature . . .
An idyllic planet is visited by humans who play terrible music in the title story. A time traveler forges a friendship with an ancient Chinese poet in "The Small Stones of Tu Fu." "Amen and Out" tells of a machine-dominated world where everyone prays to talking shrines, and an acid head's immortal ancestor reveals some troubling truths. A tourist becomes involved with the Tahitian underworld when his family leaves him behind and the bureaucracy won't allow him to leave in "A Spot of Konfrontation." The crew of Earth's first interstellar mission returns home after 120 years away to find a world radically different from when they left in "Three Ways."
With humor and imagination, Aldiss leads readers from Earth to the stars and back again on a riveting journey that shows what makes mankind tick.
"The wit is often brilliant, the sense of humor is usually informed by a zest for living and a nice awareness of the distance between man's intellectual reach and his emotional grasp." —Robert Nye, The Guardian
Twelve exciting science fiction stories by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of the Helliconia trilogy, Hothouse, and Non-Stop.
"Aldiss offers up tales of humanity's possible futures, in visions ranging from apocalyptic to comic. . . . Quite stunning. . . . Overall, the book demonstrates ...
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About the author
Brian W. Aldiss was born in Norfolk, England, in 1925. Over a long and distinguished writing career, he published award-winning science fiction (two Hugo Awards, a Nebula Award, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award); bestselling popular fiction, including the three-volume Horatio Stubbs saga and the four-volume the Squire Quartet; experimental fiction such as Report on Probability A and Barefoot in the Head; and many other iconic and pioneering works, including the Helliconia Trilogy. He edited many successful anthologies and published groundbreaking nonfiction, including a magisterial history of science fiction ( Billion Year Spree, later revised and expanded as Trillion Year Spree). Among his many short stories, perhaps the most famous was "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long," which was adapted for film by Stanley Kubrick and produced and directed after Kubrick's death by Steven Spielberg as A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Brian W. Aldiss passed away in 2017 at the age of 92.
Brian W. Aldiss was born in Norfolk, England, in 1925. Over a long and distinguished writing career, he published award-winning science fiction (two Hugo Awards, a Nebula Award, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award); bestselling popular fiction, including the three-volume Horatio Stubbs saga a...
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