Even if you are one of those readers who claim that they don’t like science fiction, it’s more than likely that there are some works in the genre that you have appreciated and enjoyed. When it comes to science fiction there are some many diverse areas in literature, film, and art that even the naysayers probably have some favorites. Whether it’s a classic such as Frankenstein or a campy TV series like Doctor Who, nearly everyone can find some sci-fi to love.
To celebrate National Science Fiction Day the folks at Global English Editing created the infographic below featuring 16 of the “best” science fiction books of all time. Like me, you probably have some quibbles with the list. It’s certainly heavily weighted to favor English language literature and male authors, but the titles all deserve to be on someone’s “best of” list. What books would you add, or delete?
On January 1, 2020, works from 1924 will enter the US public domain, where they will be free for all to use and build upon, without permission or fee. These works include George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, silent films by Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, and books such as Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India, and A. A. Milne’s When We Were Very Young. These works were supposed to go into the public domain in 2000, after being copyrighted for 75 years. But before this could happen, Congress hit a 20-year pause button and extended their copyright term to 95 years.2
Now the wait is over. How will people celebrate this trove of cultural material? The Internet Archive will add books, movies, music, and more to its online library. HathiTrust will make tens of thousands of titles from 1924 available in its digital library. Google Books will offer the full text of books from that year, instead of showing only snippet views or authorized previews. Community theaters can screen the films. Youth orchestras can afford to publicly perform the music. Educators and historians can share the full cultural record. Creators can legally build on the past—reimagining the books, making them into films, adapting the songs.
Here are some of the works that will be entering the public domain in 2020. (To find more material from 1924, you can visit the Catalogue of Copyright Entries.)
h/t to Duke University Law School
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ezra Pound, Venice 1971
And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass.
Ezra Pound, “And The days Are Not Full Enough”
A much darker side to the beloved character Peter Pan has been revealed with the publication this month of J. M. Barrie’s original manuscript, Peter Pan and Wendy. I never much liked the book growing up, but fans will be able to read the previously unpublished version of the novel in Barrie’s own handwriting and see the changes that he made to his manuscript as he was writing it.
The new edition, from the Paris-based publisher Éditions des saints Pères, shows how Barrie toned down Peter Pan’s character to suit readers in 1911, after having second thoughts about how negatively Peter should be portrayed. For example, he deleted descriptions of him as “an elfish boy” who speaks “defiantly” to Wendy and tries to be “more contemptuous than ever”.
The special edition of just 1,000 hand-numbered copies of the 282-page manuscript has been released. Each one includes 21 full-page color illustrations by Gwynedd Hudson from a rare 1930 edition of the novel. Some of the profits from sales will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital, which still owns the copyright it was given by Barrie before he died.
The Spanish street artist known as Okuda San Miguel recently brought his signature style to a blighted neighborhood in Fort Smith, Arkansas . His project, “The Rainbow Embassy,” was organized by Justkids for the Unexpected , a group trying to revitalize economically disadvantaged areas of Arkansas through a series of artistic initiatives.
For the project, Okuda painted an abandoned house next to Darby Junior High School with a series of multicolored geometric shapes and lines, along with two faces resembling animals painted on its sides.
“This project gave me the opportunity to develop my previous work, adding an architectural dimension and completing my vision of mythical animals , “ says Okuda.
Okuda, whose real name is Oscar San Miguel Ericea, has brought his innovative style to far-flung projects from India to the Americas and from Africa to Russia.You can find more of the artist’s vibrant transformations on his Instagram profile.
In 1981 the Spanish town of Ibi revived the 200 year-old tradition of the Els Enfarinats Festival. On December 28th each year a mock war takes place around the town hall. A group of local married men, called “els Enfarinats,” pelt each other with eggs, flour, fireworks, fire extinguishers, and more, in a mock coup to take over Ibi. The purpose of the insurrection is to impose and attempt to enforce silly new laws. Another group of men known as “la Oposicio” try to restore order and put down the uprising. At the end of the festivities, any money collected in fines for violating the new laws is donated to charity.
photos: David Ramos
I recently spent three weeks in New Zealand driving on the “wrong” side of the road. Needless to say, it was sometimes a challenge, especially in cities like Wellington and Auckland. As the map above shows, in most countries, people drive on the right side of the road (red=right side; blue=left side). Have you ever driven on the opposite side of the road that is normal for you? How stressful was it?
In the holiday spirit, here’s the pop-up book Chanukah Lights, published by Candlewick Press in 2011, with a text by Michael J. Rosen, illustration and paper engineering by Robert Sabuda, and additional design work by Simon Arizpe and Shelby Arnold, explores the eight day Jewish “festival of lights”.
The book presents “eights scenes that, like the flame of the shamash candle, illuminate places and times where Jews have celebrated” the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of the lamp therein: the Temple in Jerusalem; a desert encampment; the hold of a refugee ship; Jewish settlements around the world; a shtetl in the shadow of imperial Russia; an early 20th-century American tenement; an Israeli kibbutz; “and a spectacular final scene in which city skyscrapers become menorahs that call upon the stars to be their flames. In each window into history, the Hanukah lights reflect freedom’s promise, hope rekindled amid oppression, and the unflagging faith mirrored in the eyes of all who gather for this Festival of Lights.”
written & illustrated by Maryline Poole Adams
This little small press book explores many traditional aspects of Midwinter holiday festivals, including the mysteries of mistletoe. It looks at various stories, legends and traditions from around the world, and is illustrated with two color hand cut linoleum block prints. I bet that did you know that mistletoe is actually a parasite that grows primarily on oak trees.
“Mistletoe was printed letterpress with 6 pt. Deepdene type, and linoleum blocks, on dampened paper handmade at Barcham Green. Design, printing, binding, linoleum blocks, and marbling hand done by M.P. Adams.“ –Colophon
h/t University of Iowa Library
Travel Between The Pages 