{"product_id":"fights-of-fancy-george-slusser-9780820315331","title":"Fights of Fancy: Armed Conflict in Science Fiction and Fantasy","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis collection of fifteen original essays offers new perspectives on armed conflict as a central aspect of science fiction and fantasy writing. Looking past the superficial conventions associated with ray guns and aliens, swords and sorcerers, the contributors show how writers in the genre today are not so much imagining war more fully as they are completely re-imagining it. Science fiction and fantasy writing is no longer mired in epic or chivalric models but is responding to new and more complex \"real-world\" motivations for armed aggression: advances in weaponry, shifts in the theaters of war, and changes in battlefield conditions. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMost of the papers were presented at the annual J. Lloyd Eaton Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, the field's most prestigious international gathering. The trend throughout the book is away from critical interest in stories of spatial or territorial conquest and toward works that deal with topics related to wars of temporal logistics and the internationalization of the combat zone, including urban street violence, gender conflicts, and resistance to runaway technology. The essays range from studies of the semantics and linguistics of warfare in science fiction to a critique of Osip Senkovsky's \u003ci\u003eFantastic Journeys of Baron Brambeus\u003c\/i\u003e; from writer Joe Haldeman's assessment of the impact of his Vietnam experiences on his fiction to inquiries into a shared author\/reader agenda in novels concerning potential mass destruction, including Stephen King's \u003ci\u003eDead Zone\u003c\/i\u003e and M. J. Engh's \u003ci\u003eArslan\u003c\/i\u003e. The collection also charts new directions in writing, such as the anti-apocalyptic science fiction of Samuel R. Delany, and embraces new modes of presentation, particularly computer animation and the bande dessinee, or illustrated narrative, as exemplified by French novelist Phillippe Druillet's \u003ci\u003eLa Nuit\u003c\/i\u003e. Musician Bob Marley, film actor\/directors Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Lee, and the cyberpunk film classics \u003ci\u003eTerminator\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eRoad Warrior\u003c\/i\u003e series are among other topics discussed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTogether, the essays reinforce the editors' contention that the true function of these fantasies and science fictions is neither nostalgia nor fancy, but analysis. The contributors treat the texts they examine as a means not of playing war games but of understanding the role of war in the present and the future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e George Slusser\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0820315338\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780820315331\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Georgia Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/01\/1993\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.83lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.75d","brand":"George Slusser","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47930686013695,"sku":"9780820315331","price":32.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_5a295de0-da53-4794-a9d1-a65559277771.jpg?v=1766343565","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/fights-of-fancy-george-slusser-9780820315331","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}