Avram Davidson Knihy

Poselství z jiné planety napsané na zubní protéze? Jízdní kola na chov? Jak vidno, v žánru vědeckofantastické literatury se zpravidla fantazii meze nekladou. A proto snad bez pozastavení – někdy s příjemně děsivým pocitem hrůzy, jindy s pobavením a úsměvem a nejednou i s hlubokým citovýmprožitkem – můžeme sledovat těchto třináct výletů do říše autorovy obrazotvornosti. Avram Davidson, pokračovatel E. A. Poea a R. Bradburyho, se nám v tomto výboru sci-fi povídek představuje jako nápaditý vypravěč, kterému jeho schopnost ironizovat lidské slabosti nebrání pociťovat v plné míře účastný vztah k prostému obyčejnému člověku a jenž se – často důrazně a kriticky – dokáže vyslovit i k závažným otázkám celospolečenského vývoje.

Collected here for the first time are Davidson's remarkable mystery tales, including: the 1840s murder investigations of New York's chief constable, Jacob Hays; a sinister lesson in New England thrift; a bride who disappears on her wedding day; a slavetrader and a deal gone terribly wrong; treachery in a nursing home; a greedy antiquarian repents his ways; expatriates who will kill for a little peace and quiet; and much ado about an exiled earl, Albanian Trotskyites, the Mafia, New Amsterdam river pirates, and the aspiring hooligans known as the Nafia (who "control all the gumball and India nut machines south of Vesey Street").

Dust jacket design by Peter Rauch. The title novella, together with five stories in the science fiction and fantasy genre, each with an afterword by Davidson.

A New Collection of Long Out-of-Print Stories From One of the Greatest Fantasists of the Twentieth Century Avram Davidson, who died in 1993, was widely regarded as one of the most outstanding authors of short fantasy fiction in our time. This collection comprises his distinctive historical fantasies-tales of strange Mitteleuropas, of magic in Victorian England and on the American frontier. Here are "The Lineaments of Gratified Desire," "Traveller from an Antique Land," and "What Strange Stars and Skies"; here are dragons, cameras, and "The Singular Incident of the Dog on the Beach." Witty, whimsical, dark, and strange, these tales of times and places that almost were will leave even the most jaded readers amazed. No one has ever written like Avram Davidson, before or since.

Legend has it that Virgil, author of THE AENEID, was more than a mere poet. Legend has it that he was an adventurer, an alchemist - a magus. Driven to do the bidding of Queen Cornelia of Carsus, who has taken hostage part of his soul, Virgil embarks upon an attempt to create a virgin speculum - a magic mirror - so that Cornelia can locate her kidnapped daughter. Virgil's quest to assemble this artefact takes him across the ancient world to encounter powers and prophecies, gods and monsters - all the myths and legends of a time that never was. The time of Virgil Magus.

Several generations after the Third Galactic War, only about seventy of the Hundred Worlds remain. Humanity is weary of fighting; maintaining the status quo is the best hope. The impoverished world of Pia 2 has contact with the rest of humanity only through the Q-ship of the Guild of the Second Academy, which arrives every five years to supply the Guild Station and collect the essential red-wing harvest. When the harvest declines, Edran Lomar is sent as an envoy to Pia 2 to uncover the cause. However, none of the parties involved, including the bureaucrats of the Guild Station and the Tocks, descendants of the original colonists, welcome Lomar's interference. Additionally, there are the rorks, fearsome indigenous creatures that complicate the situation. Lomar becomes, against his will, a catalyst that disrupts the fragile balance on Pia 2. Avram Davidson, a prominent figure in 20th-century science fiction and fantasy, is known for his erudition and literary style, with works that have garnered a Hugo and multiple World Fantasy Awards.

Here are a dozen stories - the cream of the crop from one of the masters of science fiction and fantasy. With an introduction by Michael Kurland.

Avram Davidson was one of the great original American writers of the 20th century. He was erudite, cranky, Jewish, wildly creative, and sold most of his wonderful stories to pulp magazines. They are wonderful.Now his estate and his friends have brought together a definitive collection of his finest work, each story introduced by an SF luminary: writers like Ursula K. Le Guin, William Gibson, Poul Anderson, Gene Wolfe, Guy Davenport, Peter S. Beagle, Gregory Benford, Thomas M. Disch, and dozens of others. This is a volume every lover of fantasy will need to own.

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