Humans are naturally curious and inquisitive. The thought and desire to simplify life and the desire for knowledge have always been what drove development. New findings, research and innovations are constantly changing life on our planet. At a time when this process is accelerating, the question arises as to what will happen when humanity eventually becomes unable to adapt. These short stories deal with the changes that technologies bring with them and look at them from different points in time and perspectives.

Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502 – 1550) was renowned throughout Renaissance Europe as a draftsman, painter, and publisher of architectural treatises. The magnificent tapestries he designed were acquired by the wealthiest clients of the day, up to and including rulers such as Emperor Charles V, King Francis I of France, King Henry VIII of England, and Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici of Tuscany. At the same time, Coecke was remarkable not only for the complexity and unparalleled quality of his tapestries, but also for his fluency in various media: this lavishly illustrated volume examines the full range of his work, from tapestry and stained-glass window designs to panel paintings, prints, drawings, and architectural treatises. Though only forty-eight when he died, Coecke was one of the greatest Netherlandish artists of the sixteenth century. His paintings and drawings, initially wrought in the style of the Antwerp Mannerists, evolved through his enthusiastic response to Italian Renaissance design, and influenced generations of artists in his wake. This comprehensive study explores Coecke’s stylistic development, as well as his substantial contribution to the body of great Renaissance art in Flanders. Featuring twenty monumental tapestries, along with many of their cartoons and preparatory sketches, plus seven paintings, additional drawings, and printed matter—many of them newly photographed for this volume—Grand Design provides a thorough reappraisal of Coecke’s work, amply justifying the high regard in which Coecke’s work was held and its wide dissemination long after his death.

The first issue of Oriental Stories, edited by Farnsworth Wright, includes work by such "Weird Tales" regulars as Robert E. Howard, Frank Owen, Otis Adelbert Kline, and many more.

This book explores the past and current traces that cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals used by humans have left in Anglophone literary fiction. In times of accelerated global warming, an acute pandemic, and breakthroughs in bioengineering practices, discussions on how to rethink the relationships to these animals have become as heated as perhaps never before. Livestock and Literature examines what literature has to contribute to these debates. In particular, it draws on counter-narratives to so-called livestock animals’ commodification in selected science- and speculative fiction (SF) works from the twenty-first century. These texts imagine ‘what if’ scenarios where "livestock" practice resistance, transform into biotechnologically modified, postanimal beings, or live in close companionship to humans. Via these three points of access, the study delineates the formal and thematic strategies SF authors apply to challenge anthropocentric and speciesist thought patterns. The aim is to shed light on how these alternative storyworlds expand readers' understanding of the lives of farmed animals; seeking insight into how literature shapes human-animal relationships beyond the page. Liza B. Bauer is Interim Scientific Manager of the Panel on Planetary Thinking and co-speaker of the interdisciplinary research section on Human-Animal Studies at the Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.

Presents extended reviews of noteworthy books, short reviews, essays and articles on topics and trends in publishing, literature, culture and the arts. Includes lists of best sellers (hardcover and paperback).

The remains of Tai Fu's lost collection Kuang-i chi preserve three hundred short tales of encounters with the other world. This study analyses these tales.

This work contains songs, anecdotes, and poetry from the Civil War.

Narrative generation can be applied to systematic frameworks that cover theoretical and philosophical thoughts of narratives and narrative generation, analytical research of related narrative genres and narrative works, and narrative works writing and creation using narrative generation systems. The design and development of narrative generation systems refers to the themes regarding narrative work creation as arts and literature through narrative generation systems beyond narrative generation systems as a technology. Internal and External Narrative Generation Based on Post-Narratology: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an essential scholarly publication that explores the creation of narrative systems using practical frameworks and advanced narrative analysis. Highlighting a range of topics such as marketing, synthetic narrative, and application systems, this book is ideal for academicians, information technology professionals, designers, developers, researchers, and students.

Like a lovingly guided midnight tour, this book covers the seductive shadows of the most fascinating horror films and melodramas from the 1930s and 1940s. From the bloody censorship battles behind 1935's Bride of Frankenstein, to the sexual controversies of 1941's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the gruesome Nazi atrocities of 1943's Women in Bondage, this book delves into newly excavated research to tell the behind-the-scenes sagas of some of Hollywood's most frightening films. Peek behind the scenes, revel in on-the-set anecdotes and get a look at the script notes illuminating characters like WereWolf of London, Richard III, Panther Woman and Rasputin. Included are profiles of the performers and filmmakers who made the nightmares feel all too real in the darkened theaters of yesteryear, and an examination of the factors that have kept these films popular so many decades later.