Dying Earth is a fantasy series by the American author Jack Vance, comprising four books originally published from 1950 to 1984. Some have been called picaresque. They vary from short story collections to a fix-up, perhaps all the way to novel.
The Foundation series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories in 1942–50, and subsequently in three collections in 1951–53, for thirty years the series was a trilogy: Foundation; Foundation and Empire; and Second Foundation. It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. Asimov began adding new volumes in 1981, with two sequels: Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth, and two prequels: Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation. The additions made reference to events in Asimov's Robot and Empire series, indicating that they also were set in the same fictional universe.
The Caine Mutiny is a 1954 American military trial film directed by Edward Dmytryk, produced by Stanley Kramer, and starring Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson, Robert Francis, and Fred MacMurray. It is based on Herman Wouk’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1951 novel of the same name.
Krypton is a fictional planet appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly appearing or mentioning in stories starring the superhero Superman as the world he came from. The planet was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and was named after the chemical element of the same name. The planet was first mentioned in Action Comics #1 and made its first appearance in Superman #1 (1939).
Lar Gand, known mainly as Mon-El, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the Legion of Super-Heroes, Superboy, and Superman. The character has been reinterpreted over the years, but in all versions, he serves as a hero with abilities similar to those of Superman, sometimes serving as a substitute for him.
R. Daneel Olivaw is a fictional robot created by Isaac Asimov. The "R" initial in his name stands for "Robot," a naming convention in Asimov's future society during Earth's early period of space colonization. Daneel is introduced in The Caves of Steel, a serialized story published in Galaxy magazine vol. 7 #1-3 from October to December 1953. The full story was published by Doubleday as a hardcover book in 1954.
"Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books. The main miniseries debuted in October 2005, and each issue was released with two variant covers: one by Pérez and one by Jim Lee and Sandra Hope.
Matthew Woodring Stover is an American fantasy and science fiction novelist. He is most well known for his four Star Wars novels, including the novelization of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. He has also written several fantasy novels, including Iron Dawn and Jericho Moon. He has written four science-fiction/fantasy hybrid stories featuring a hero named Caine: Heroes Die, Blade of Tyshalle, and Caine Black Knife, with the most recent, Caine's Law, released April 4, 2012.
Chris Edgerly is an American voice actor, comedian and singer.
The Eyes of the Overworld is a picaresque fantasy fix-up novel by American writer Jack Vance, published by Ace in 1966, the second book in the Dying Earth series that Vance inaugurated in 1950. Retitled Cugel the Clever in its Vance Integral Edition (2005), the story takes place in Vance's Dying Earth setting, where the Sun is dying and magic and technology coexist. It features the self-proclaimed Cugel the Clever in linked episodic stories. Cugel is an anti-hero character; while he is typically a crafty scoundrel who seeks to turn a profit from a situation, he retains some good values at times. In the novel, Cugel is caught stealing from a wizard, who forces Cugel to travel to a faraway realm to find a rare magical jewel.
Heroes Die is a science fantasy novel by American writer Matthew Stover, the first of a series of novels featuring the protagonist Caine.
The Caine Mutiny is a 1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard two destroyer-minesweepers in the Pacific Theater in World War II. Among its themes, it deals with the moral and ethical decisions made at sea by ship captains and other officers. The mutiny of the title is legalistic, not violent, and takes place during Typhoon Cobra, in December 1944. The court-martial that results provides the dramatic climax to the plot.
Genji: Days of the Blade, known in Japan as Genji: Kamui Sōran, is an action game that was released for the PlayStation 3, and the sequel to Genji: Dawn of the Samurai.
Cugel's Saga is a picaresque fantasy novel by American writer Jack Vance, published by Timescape in 1983, the third book in the Dying Earth series, the first volume of which appeared in 1950. The narrative of Cugel's Saga continues from the point at which it left off at the end of The Eyes of the Overworld (1966).
Gone is a bestselling book series written by Michael Grant.
Caine Black Knife is a 2008 science fantasy novel by American writer Matthew Stover. It is labeled as the third of the Acts of Caine, and is act one of the Atonement story arc. It is published by the Ballantine Books division of Del Rey. This is the third book in "The Acts of Caine" series, following Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle.
Solaris is a 1972 Soviet science fiction drama film based on Stanisław Lem's 1961 novel of the same name. The film was co-written and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, and stars Donatas Banionis and Natalya Bondarchuk. The electronic music score was performed by Eduard Artemyev and features a composition by J.S. Bach as its main theme.
Conan the Great is a fantasy novel by American writer Leonard Carpenter, featuring Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in paperback by Tor Books in April 1990. It was reprinted by Tor in August 1997. It is the only one of the Tor series of Conan novels set in the period of Conan's kingship.
Dying Earth is a subgenre of science fantasy or science fiction which takes place in the far future at either the end of life on Earth or the end of time, when the laws of the universe themselves fail. Themes of world-weariness, innocence, idealism, entropy, (permanent) exhaustion/depletion of many or all resources, and the hope of renewal dominate.
Shi Yukun, courtesy name Zhenzhi, was a highly popular Qing dynasty storyteller who performed in Beijing during the first half of the 19th century. Little is known about his life, but anecdotes recorded in the 1940s claimed he worked as a Booi Aha at prince Zhaolian's mansion before he became a performer.
