Tento autor preslávil svoj jedinečný štýl logickej fantasy, ktorý vtlačil do nadčasových diel. Jeho príbehy sa ponárajú do hlbín ľudskej psychiky a skúmajú, ako sa jednotlivci a spoločnosť vyrovnávajú s nečakanými hrozbami a podivnými okolnosťami. S majstrovskou schopnosťou budovať napätie a atmosféru nám ponúka znepokojivo uveriteľné vízie budúcnosti, ktoré nútia k zamysleniu a zanechávajú trvalý dojem. Jeho diela zostávajú relevantné pre svoje skúmanie základných ľudských reakcií na nevysvetliteľné.
Biológ Bill Masen je po operácií očí a ako jeden z mála ľudí na svete si nemôže pozrieť zvláštny meteorický roj. Všetci, ktorí toto vesmírne divadlo videli, však oslepli. Bezpečný a známy svet, ktorý Bill poznal len pred dvadsiatimi štyrmi hodinami, je navždy preč. Okrem nástrah po katastrofickej udalosti všade číhajú aj trifidy – dvojmetrové mäsožravé rastliny, ktoré dokážu kráčať a jedovatým žihadlom poľahky zabiť dospelého človeka.Ľudstvo je v troskách a trifidy sú na ceste ovládnuť svet.
Anglický autor John Wyndham (1903–1969) patří k nejvýznamnějším tvůrcům žánru science fiction. Proslavil se především díky románu Den trifidů. Nemenší úspěchy Wyndham slavil i se svými dalšími invazními a katastrofickými romány Kukly či Midwichské kukačky. Ke klasice žánru patří rovněž jeho povídky, které vycházejí v uceleném sborníku u nás poprvé. Ve sbírce najdete tucet příběhů, jež chronologicky mapují celou Wyndhamovu tvorbu od klasické novely Světy na výměnu přes invazní Pýchavkovou hrozbu až po příběhy s hororovými prvky Neviditelná stvůra, Rudé svinstvo a další.... celý text
The Chrysalids is set in the future after a devastating global nuclear war. David, the young hero of the novel, lives in a tight-knit community of religious and genetic fundamentalists, who exist in a state of constant alert for any deviation from what they perceive as the norm of God's creation, deviations broadly classified as 'offenses' and 'blasphemies.' Offenses consist of plants and animals that are in any way unusual, and these are publicly burned to the accompaniment of the singing of hymns. Blasphemies are human beings; ones who show any sign of abnormality, however trivial. They are banished from human society, cast out to live in the wild country where, as the authorities say, nothing is reliable and the devil does his work. David grows up surrounded by admonitions: KEEP PURE THE STOCK OF THE LORD; WATCH THOU FOR THE MUTANT. At first he hardly questions them, though he is shocked when his sternly pious father and rigidly compliant mother force his aunt to forsake her baby. It is a while before he realizes that he too is out of the ordinary, in possession of a power that could doom him to death or introduce him to a new, hitherto-unimagined world of freedom. The Chrysalids is a perfectly conceived and constructed work from the classic era of science fiction. It is a Voltairean philosophical tale that has as much resonance in our own day, when genetic and religious fundamentalism are both on the march, as when it was written during the Cold War.
Matthew, they thought, was just going through a phase of talking to himself. And, like many parents, they waited for him to get over it, but it started to get worse. Then Matthew started doing things he couldn't do before, like counting in binary-code mathematics. So he told them about Chocky - the person who lived in his head.
The children of Midwich are all blond, golden-eyed, grow up too fast, and were all conceived on a night when a silver object appeared and the Midwich inhabitants fell unconscious. Now the children are exhibiting frightening abilities that bring them into conflict with the other villagers.
Ships are sinking for no apparent reason, carrying hundreds to a dark underwater grave. Strange fireballs race through the sky above the deepest trenches of the oceans. Something is about to show itself, something terrible and alien, a force capable of causing global catastrophe.
The island of Tanakuatua seems like heaven to the 40 people who go there in order to create a utopian society, but soon they start to die in a horrible way and it seems that something strange and deadly is out there in the jungle.
Frighteningly real, completely believable, here are six stories of people who find themselves suddenly living in another year of their own lives. With the casual ease of a master writer, John Wyndham gives flesh and substance to that strange moment when the bottom suddenly drops out from under us and we meet ourselves in the future or the past—ourselves as we will be, or might have been.Includes:Consider Her WaysOddHow Do I DoStitch in TimeRandom QuestTime Out
