Theater Of Science Fiction

Willingham presents a historical survey of science fiction drama and focusses particularly on the history of attempts to stage science fiction. Little attention has been given to science fiction drama, though numerous science fiction plays exist. This volume gives special attention to works intended for adult audiences, with emphasis on the nature of science fiction drama, its origins and history, the staging of science fiction plays, and works by representative playwrights. The appendix offers an annotated list of 328 science fiction plays, with entries grouped in five categories: original drama, adaptations, musicals and operas, theatre pieces and multi-media works, and Frankenstein dramas. An extensive bibliography concludes the volume.

A best-of collection of short stories from Cowboy of the New Flesh, The Longest Night and Other Stories, and Escape From the Planet of the Retarded Monkeys and Other Stories.

Fill your classroom or library with imagination and excitement with this latest readers theatre offering from best-selling author Anthony D. Fredericks. The participatory approach in combination with some of the most creative and far-flung scripts in the universe will have your students actively engaged in scientific principles and possibilities. The 20 scripts in this fantastical resource will put your students in the roles of explorers, discoverers, scientists, and, yes--a few aliens, too. Students will be able to let their creativity take flight with this perfect addition to the language arts and science curriculum, as well as your library programming. Students will discover a mysterious object on the planet Pluto, observe aliens landing on a strange world and discover that some people are not what they seem to be. Packed with activity ideas and learning extensions, this resource is guaranteed to be a hit with your kids!

In the wake of the juvenile space operas of the early 1950s, a groundbreaking series debuted and paved the way for one of viewers’ favorite genres today: adult-oriented science fiction. Science Fiction Theatre aired with a fresh anthology-style narrative from the vision of veteran producer Ivan Tors and with compelling narration by Truman Bradley. Created by industry-leading syndicator Ziv Television Programs, the show pioneered a scientifically based approach to aliens, telepathy, and the mysteries of the universe that provided a model for Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone (1959–64) and a myriad of acclaimed programs that followed, including The Outer Limits (1963–65), The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985–92),and Black Mirror (2011–present). This book contextualizes Science Fiction Theatre within the budding American television industry of the 1950s, as powerful networks and independent producers and syndicators vied to create and distribute programming to an audience eager to embrace this new, free medium. Including a complete videography of this historically neglected series, author J. P. Telotte illuminates Science Fiction Theatre as a touchstone for understanding the development of science fiction media and the dynamic nature of early television broadcasting.

This is the story of M. Francisco Fabrigas, explorer, philosopher, heretical physicist, who took a shipful of children on a frightening voyage to the next dimension, assisted by a teenaged Captain, a brave deaf boy, a cunning blind girl, and a sultry botanist, all the while pursued by the Pope of the universe and a well-dressed mesmerist. Dark plots, demonic cults, murderous jungles, quantum mayhem, the birth of creation, the death of time, and a creature called the Sweety: all this and more waits beyond the veil of reality.

A surgeon must bring a dead family back to life in this fabulist debut novel set in rural India, called “otherworldly” and “a haunting contemplation of life, death, the liminal space in between, and the dogged search for resurrection” (Kirkus Reviews, starred). Fleeing scandal in the city, a surgeon accepts a job at a village clinic. He buys antibiotics out of pocket, squashes roaches, and chafes at the interventions of the corrupt officer who oversees his work. But his outlook on life changes one night when a teacher, his pregnant wife, and their young son appear. Killed in a violent robbery, they tell the surgeon that they have been offered a second chance at living if the surgeon can mend their wounds before sunrise. So begins a night of quiet work, “as if the crickets had been bribed,” during which the surgeon realizes his future is tied more closely to that of the dead family than he could have imagined. By dawn, he and his assistant have gained knowledge no mortal should have. In this inventive novel charged with philosophical gravity and sly humor, Vikram Paralkar takes on the practice of medicine in a time when the right to health care is frequently challenged. Engaging earthly injustice and imaginaries of the afterlife, he asks how we might navigate corrupt institutions to find a moral center. Encompassing social criticism and magically unreal drama, Night Theater is a first novel as satisfying for its existential inquiry as for its enthralling story of a skeptical physician who arrives at a greater understanding of life's miracles.

From the award-winning author of Amatka and Jagannath—a fantastical tour de force about friendship, interdimensional theater, and a magical place where no one ages, except the young In a world just parallel to ours exists a mystical realm known only as the Gardens. It’s a place where feasts never end, games of croquet have devastating consequences, and teenagers are punished for growing up. For a select group of masters, it’s a decadent paradise where time stands still. But for those who serve them, it’s a slow torture where their lives can be ended in a blink. In a bid to escape before their youth betrays them, Dora and Thistle—best friends and confidants—set out on a remarkable journey through time and space. Traveling between their world and ours, they hunt for the one person who can grant them freedom. Along the way, they encounter a mysterious traveler who trades in favors and never forgets debts, a crossroads at the center of the universe, our own world on the brink of war, and a traveling troupe of actors with the ability to unlock the fabric of reality. Endlessly inventive, The Memory Theater takes us to a wondrous place where destiny has yet to be written, life is a performance, and magic can erupt at any moment. It is Karin Tidbeck’s most engrossing and irresistible tale yet.