The Wood Beyond the World William Morris http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3626 urn:isbn:0345237307 en 1894 Novels Fantasy The Wood Beyond the World is a fantasy novel by William Morris, perhaps the first modern fantasy writer to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural, and thus the precursor of much of present-day fantasy literature. When the wife of Golden Walter betrays him for another man, he leaves home on a trading voyage to avoid the necessity of a feud with her family. His efforts are fruitless, as word comes to him enroute that his wife's clan has killed his father. As a storm then carries him to a faraway country, the effect of this news is merely to sunder his last ties to his homeland. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3626.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3626.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3626.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3626.mobi The Well at the World's End William Morris http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3628 urn:isbn:1598182986 en 1892 Novels Romance Fantasy Using language with elements of the medieval tales which were his models, Morris tells the story of Ralph of Upmeads, the fourth and youngest son of a minor king, who sets out, contrary to his parents' wishes, to find knightly adventure and seek the Well at the World's End, a magic well which will confer a near-immortality and strengthened destiny on those who drink from it. Although the novel is relatively obscure by today's standards it has had a significant influence on many notable fantasy authors. C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien both seem to have found inspiration in The Well at the World's End: ancient tables of stone, a "King Peter", a quick, white horse named "Silverfax", and a character named "Gandalf" are only a few, to say nothing of Ralph's journey home as denouement, anticipating the Hobbits' return and battle for the Shire. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3628.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3628.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3628.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3628.mobi Looking Backward Edward Bellamy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829 urn:isbn:155709506X en 1888 Novels Science Fiction Set in Boston on December 26, 2000, but written before the turn of the nineteenth century, this classic Utopian novel is more significant and relevant than ever with its reappearance this millennium. Addressing moral and material concerns of late nineteenth century industrial America through romantic narrative, Bellamy suggests a fictionalized society in which war, poverty, and malice do not exist. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829.mobi The Sundering Flood William Morris http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2908 urn:isbn:1587154994 en 1897 Novels Fantasy The Sundering Flood, among the last of Morris's works, was published in 1897, after his death. The beautiful prose and rich use of language are typical of Morris and fill the reader with a sense of awe and wonder. The "flood" of the title is nothing less than a river, metaphorically as well as literally dividing two lovers. And there is the fantastic, too: dwarf folk, a magic sword, and an ageless warrior to mentor the hero. All told, a delightful story certain to appeal to all lovers of classic fantasy. "C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien both acknowledged the influence of William Morris." http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2908.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2908.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2908.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2908.mobi Lord of the World Robert Hugh Benson http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462 urn:isbn:8184565224 en 1907 Novels Science Fiction Religion In or about the year 2000, humanity has reached "that incredibly lofty goal to which its intrinsic efforts can carry it" — but rejected everything but crass materialism. Technology has advanced to the point where no one need work for a living, while the social sciences have achieved a smoothly-running if almost unbearably sterile social order. Formal religious beliefs except for Catholicism have been uprooted and eliminated as coherent systems, and the Catholic Church has been completely discredited in the eyes of the world, finally being outlawed. The result is everything the late Victorians and Edwardians believed would bring human happiness — and which brings nothing but the advent of new superstitions, despair, and the end of the world … maybe. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462.mobi A Dream of John Ball William Morris http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3688 urn:isbn:1603124330 en 1888 Novels History Politics A Dream of John Ball (1888) is a novel by English author William Morris about the English peasants' revolt of 1381 and the rebel John Ball. Like the novels close contemporary - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) by Mark Twain - it describes a dream and time travel encounter between the medieval and modern worlds. However unlike Twain's vision of a violent and chaotic "Dark Age", Morris describes a positive image of the Middle Ages, seeing it as a golden, if brief, period when peasants were prosperous and happy and guilds protected workers from exploitation. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3688.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3688.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3688.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3688.mobi A Journey in Other Worlds John Jacob Astor http://www.feedbooks.com/book/905 urn:isbn:0803259492 en 1894 Novels Science Fiction What did our ancestors dream of when they gazed up at the stars and looked beyond the present? Wildly imaginative but grounded in reasoned scientific speculation, A Journey in Other Worlds races far ahead of the nineteenth century to imagine what life would be like in the year 2000. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Earth is effectively a corporate technocracy, with big businesses using incredible advances in science to improve life on the planet as a whole. Seeking other planets habitable for the growing human population, the spaceship Callisto, powered by an antigravitational force known as apergy, embarks on a momentous tour of the solar system. Jupiter proves to be a wilderness paradise, full of threatening beasts and landscapes of inspired beauty, where the explorers must fight for their lives. Dangers less tangible but equally deadly await the Callisto crew on Saturn, which yields profound secrets about their fate and the ultimate destiny of mankind. Thoughtful, adventurous, and replete with a dazzling array of futuristic devices, A Journey in Other Worlds is a classic, unforgettable story of utopias and humankind’s restless exploration of the stars. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/905.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/905.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/905.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/905.mobi Utopia Thomas More http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198 urn:isbn:0393961451 en 1515 Non-Fiction Philosophy De Optimo Republicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (translated On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia) or more simply Utopia is a 1516 book by Sir (Saint) Thomas More. The book, written in Latin, is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. The name of the place is derived from the Greek words οὐ u ("not") and τόπος tópos ("place"), with the topographical suffix -εία eía, hence Οὐτοπεία outopeía (Latinized as Utopia), “no-place land.” It also contains a pun, however, because “Utopia” could also be the Latinization of Εὐτοπεία eutopeía, “good-place land,” which uses the Greek prefix ευ eu, “good,” instead of οὐ. One interpretation holds that this suggests that while Utopia might be some sort of perfected society, it is ultimately unreachable. Despite modern connotations of the word "utopia," it is widely accepted that the society More describes in this work was not actually his own "perfect society." Rather he wished to use the contrast between the imaginary land's unusual political ideas and the chaotic politics of his own day as a platform from which to discuss social issues in Europe. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198.mobi The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721 urn:isbn:0192801694 en 1907 Novels Mr Verloc, the secret agent, keeps a shop in London's Soho where he lives with his wife Winnie, her infirm mother, and her idiot brother, Stevie. When Verloc is reluctantly involved in an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory things go disastrously wrong, and what appears to be 'a simple tale' proves to involve politicians, policemen, foreign diplomats and London's fashionable society in the darkest and most surprising interrelations. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.mobi Paradise Lost John Milton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174 urn:isbn:0393924289 en 1667 Poetry Religion Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books; a second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. The poem concerns the Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man; the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is "justify the ways of God to men" and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.mobi Equality Edward Bellamy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824 urn:isbn:1410100383 en 1897 Novels Science Fiction Politics The sequel to Bellamy's Looking Backward, his utopian novel of several years earlier, where a young man falls asleep in 1887 and wakes in a utopian year 2000, where all social ills are solved. This novel continues the thread of his utopian vision. Equality begins when Julian West returns to the year 2000 to continue his education. The book describes an ideal society in that year. Equality was published just before his death and was not received nearly as well as Looking Backward. Bellamy was born in 1850 in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. As a young man he studied law and entered the bar, but never practiced. He was a journalist and social theorist as well as a novelist. Bellamy's theory of public capitalism would greatly affect American political thought in the 20th century. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824.mobi Golf in the Year 2000, or, What we are coming to J. McCullough http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1412 en 1892 Novels Science Fiction Written by a mysterious 19th-century Scottish golfer named J. (or Jay) McCullough, using the pseudonym "J.A.C.K.," it also predicted the advent of golf carts, golf professionals and international golf competitions. The book chronicles the tale of one Alexander J. Gibson, who falls into a deep sleep in 1892. He awakens 108 years later into a world, where, among other wonders, women dress like men and hold top positions in society. They also do all the work while the men play golf full time! Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1412.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1412.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1412.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1412.mobi Police Operation Henry Beam Piper http://www.feedbooks.com/book/383 urn:isbn:1428049134 en 1948 Short Fiction Science Fiction Hunting down the beast, under the best of circumstances, was dangerous. But in this little police operation, the conditions required the use of inadequate means! Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/383.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/383.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/383.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/383.mobi The Panchronicon Harold Steele MacKaye http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3573 urn:isbn:0548548641 en 1904 Novels Science Fiction A novel about time travel. Excerpt: "Don't have to keep count," he replied. "See that indicator?" he continued, pointing to a dial in the ceiling which had not been noticed before. "That reads May 3, 1898, now, don't it? Well, it's fixed to keep always tellin' the right date. It counts the whirls we make an' keeps tabs on every day we go backward. Any time all ye hev to do is to read that thing an' it'll tell ye jest what day 'tis." This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3573.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3573.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3573.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3573.mobi Hooking Up Tom Doyle http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2817 en 2006 Short Fiction Science Fiction High school and evolution, VR space, artificial intelligence and the unrestrained id. Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2817.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2817.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2817.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2817.mobi The Night Land William Hope Hodgson http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2417 urn:isbn:1605971685 en 1912 Novels Science Fiction Horror Fantasy The Sun has gone out: the Earth is lit only by the glow of residual vulcanism. The last few millions of the human race are gathered together in a gigantic metal pyramid, the Last Redoubt, under siege from unknown forces and Powers outside in the dark. These are held back by a Circle of energy, known as the "air clog," powered from the Earth's internal energy. For millennia, vast living shapes - the Watchers - have waited in the darkness near the pyramid: it is thought they are waiting for the inevitable time when the Circle's power finally weakens and dies. Other living things have been seen in the darkness beyond, some of unknown origins, and others that may once have been human. To leave the protection of the Circle means almost certain death, or worse, but as the story commences, the narrator establishes mind contact with an inhabitant of another, forgotten, Redoubt, and sets off into the darkness to find her. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2417.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2417.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2417.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2417.mobi Children of Tomorrow Arthur Leo Zagat http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3058 en 1939 Short Fiction Science Fiction They roamed the vanished world that yesterday was America. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3058.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3058.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3058.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3058.mobi The Scarlet Plague Jack London http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2379 urn:isbn:1843911752 en 1912 Short Fiction Science Fiction This novella explores life following a devastating plague that wipes out most of humanity. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2379.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2379.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2379.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2379.mobi A Martian Odyssey Stanley Grauman Weinbaum http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2244 urn:isbn:1846770602 en 1934 Short Fiction Science Fiction This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2244.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2244.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2244.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2244.mobi Deathworld Harry Harrison http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3749 urn:isbn:1932100415 en 1960 Novels Science Fiction Adventure Some planet in the galaxy must—by definition—be the toughest, meanest, nastiest of all. If Pyrrus wasn't it ... it was an awfully good approximation! Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3749.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3749.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3749.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3749.mobi