Fly to Mars and explore the mysteries of the red planet. Journey through time to futures ruled by cold computers and hear the deafening roar of dinosaurs in the past. Sing the body electric and look into the mechanical eyes of androids that want to replace human life as we know it. Visit idyllic landscapes and nostalgic towns that hide sinister secrets. Available in one massive collection for the first time digitally, experience the wondrous mind...

Ray Bradbury's terrifying short story, one of the great stories of childhood-as-nightmare, appeared originally in Esquire in October 1953; it first appeared in book form in the Ballantine first issue of his famous novel, Fahrenheit 451. Charles Underhill, seeking to protect his young son from the agonies of schoolyard bullying in the playground makes a deal with the playground's mysterious manager but only at the end discovers the true nature of the...

A compilation of brief summaries of approximately thirteen contemporary novels, illustrated with infographics for easy consumption, and bearing Spark's TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read) brand. Chapters in this volume consist of six-page summaries of well-known contemporary novels illustrated with four-color infographics and organized in thematic groupings: "If This Goes On" (e.g., Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid's Tale); "Made in America" (e.g., The Great...

Book 2 in the Enchained Trilogy. Perfect for those who like character driven stories like The Hunger Games and Divergent, but also like the dark and horrifying nature of 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World. Recent terror attacks on Arel have put the city on edge as unrest brews, threatening to consume what peace is left, and Noni finds herself trapped between helping the ones she cares about and doing what is expected of her. Burdened by conflicted...

Letta, charged with collecting and saving words, uncovers a sinister plan to suppress language, robbing the people of Ark of the power of speech, and realizes she must also save the culture, itself.

"People think - wrongly - that speculative fiction is about predicting the future, but it isn't; or if it is, it tends to do a rotten job of it. Futures are huge things that come with many elements and a billion variables, and the human race has a habit ... What speculative fiction is good at is not the future but the present - taking an aspect of it that troubles or is dangerous and extrapolating that aspect into something that allows the people...

A LITTLE JOURNEY (August 1951) marks Bradbury's final contribution to the editorial decade of Horace Gold, the editor of GALAXY magazine. Like THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and THE FIREMAN, the story demonstrates Bradbury's characteristic blending so early in his career of the sentimental and the transcendent, the homely and the mystical. Bradbury's old women in space and their strange outcome are reminiscent of his more famous story KALEIDOSCOPE (published...

"Silence is essential. Question nothing. Obey everything." Franklin Gamble finds himself bound by these strict principles as a member of the Sovereign State. However, haunting dreams of a forgotten family and a growing suspicion that his reality is a carefully constructed facade drive him to seek the truth. When the enigmatic Coalition reaches out to him, Franklin reluctantly embarks on a journey to uncover the elusive answers. In his quest for truth,...

The 29th Amendment guarantees everybody one monogamous romantic and sexual partner. As a detective with the Intimacy Allocation Unit, Sean hunts down the hoarders who violate this law. Sean likes his job. It's the perfect cover. But when Sean gets invited to an underground play party, his safe, simple life becomes...complicated. Every hour he spends with these outlaws, leading their life-the life he could have had-makes them seem less like targets,...

The celebrated author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles offers inspiration and insight on finding one's muse and channeling it onto the page. Acclaimed writer of novels and short stories as well as screen- and stage plays, Ray Bradbury has established himself as one of the most legendary voices in science fiction and fantasy. In Zen in the Art of Writing, he shares how his unbridled passion for creating worlds made him a master of the...