Visionary Fiction

Vampires, ghosts, and other horrors abound in this collection of 19th-century fantastic literature, selected and edited by Italo Calvino, a 20th-century master of the speculative.

Paulo es un joven que sueña con ser escritor, se deja el cabello largo y sale al mundo en busca de la libertad y para darle un significado profundo a su vida. Una jornada que va desde el famoso "Tren de la muerte a Bolivia", después Perú, Chile y Argentina, hasta el encuentro con Karla en Ámsterdam, quien lo convence de viajar juntos en el Magic Bus, un autobús que viaja por Europa y Asia Central hasta Katmandú. En el camino, Karla y Paulo no sólo vivirán una extraordinaria historia de amor, sino también conocerán a maravillosos compañeros de viaje.

Ganesha is torn between staying with his wife or leaving. So when he goes on a year long retreat at a five-hundred-year-old hacienda in Mexico, he finds himself caught in past troubles and a growing love affair with a wildflower named Rati.

As a writer lies dying, he has one last story to tell: a tale of faith and devotion, a meditation on what lies beyond this life, and a prayer of gratitude that may lead to rebirth.

John William Barry has inherited the pedigree - and wealth - of two of Seattle's elite families; Neil Countryman is blue-collar Irish. Nevertheless, when the two boys meet in 1972 at age 16, they're brought together by what they have in common: a fierce intensity and a love of the outdoors that takes them together into Washington's remote backcountry.

Prepare to lose yourself in the heady, mythical expanse of the Vorrh. In B. Catling's twisting, poetic narrative, Bakelite robots lie broken - their hard shells cracked by human desire - and an inquisitive Cyclops waits for his keeper and guardian, growing in all directions. Beyond the colonial city of Essenwald lies the Vorrh, the forest which sucks souls and wipes minds.

Crowns: The boldness of the Shield Knight has won a respite for the realm of Andomhaim, but the Heralds of Ruin still threaten to unleash catastrophe. Ridmark Arban must prepare to face the Heptarchy and its legions of fanatic orcs. Visionary: The legions of the Heptarchy have invaded Andomhaim, and Ridmark Arban stands in their way. But without aid, Andomhaim cannot defeat the Heralds of Ruin. To seek out the weaknesses of his foes, Ridmark must travel into the depths of the Heptarchy to seek out the mysterious wizard called the Master of Keys.

Cadenza is the City of Words, a city run by poets, its skyline dominated by the steepled towers of its libraries, its heart beating to the stamp and thrum of the printing presses in the Printing Quarter. Carlo Mazzoni, a young wordsmith, arrives at the city gates intent on making his name as the bells ring out with the news of the death of the city's poet-leader. Instead, he finds himself embroiled with the intrigues of a city in turmoil, the looming prospect of war with their rival Venice ever-present.

Canary Islands, 1882: Explorer and plant biologist Niklas Bruunis researches a species alleged to have hallucinogenic qualities capable of eliminating the psychic limits between one human mind and another. Buenos Aires, 1983: Born to a white Argentinian anthropologist and a black Brazilian engineer, Cassio comes of age with the Internet, and demonstrates the skills and personality that will make him one of the first great Argentine hackers. The southern Argentinian techno-hub of Bariloche, 2024: Piera, on the same research group as Cassio, studies human DNA.

Conspirators plot to explode a train carrying nerve gas. A perfect servant suddenly reveals himself to be the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. Science-fantasy wars, racism, corporate capitalism, drug addiction, and various medical and psychiatric horrors all play their parts in this mosaic, experimental novel. Here is William S. Burroughs at his coruscating and hilarious best.

For Bobbie, the normal difficulties of growing up are overshadowed by his unique condition. Bobbie's inability to communicate normally is misdiagnosed as autism, and masks the great part in history he is destined to play. His unique ability to create beautiful works of art is just the tip of the iceberg. Coveted by those who would use him for their own purpose, Bobbie and his mother flee their home out of desperation. In the course of their escape, the truth behind Bobbie's gift and its effects on the planet begin to reveal themselves, as the future of humanity hangs in the balance.

On the verge of adulthood, Rafi attends the Lyceum, a school for the psionically gifted. Rafi possesses mental abilities that might benefit people . . . or control them. Some wish to help Rafi wield his powers responsibly; others see him as a threat to be contained. Rafi’s only freedom at the Lyceum is Wallrunning: a game of speed and agility played on vast vertical surfaces riddled with variable gravity fields. Serendipity and Ntenman are also students at the Lyceum, but unlike Rafi they come from communities where such abilities are valued.

Single mom Cynthia Pace has her hands full with her uniquely gifted child. She has no idea how or why Maddie does the things she does, and neither does her daughter. But there is an answer, discovered by mother and child only after tragedy strikes.

No one knows quite what to make of Nigel Considine. He calls himself "the High Executive", and he has inspired the entire continent of Africa to revolt and make war upon Europe. Is Considine a magician, a charismatic politician, a divinely annointed prophet, or the antichrist? A small circle of London friends all seem to disagree, even as Considine's influence is tearing England apart....

Barely recovered from his previous divine mission, former contract killer Toby O'Dare is once again summoned by the angel Malchiah to investigate the poisoning of a prominent nobleman and stop the haunting of a diabolical dybbuk. Together, they travel back to fifteenth-century Italy—the age of Michelangelo, the Holy Inquisition, and Pope Leo X—and this time Malchiah has Toby pose as a lute player sent to charm and calm this troublesome spirit.

The Star Rover is a 1914 collection of science fiction short stories with the theme of reincarnation. It tells the story of Darrell Standing, an inmate of San Quentin’s death row. The narrator escapes the horror of prison life by withdrawing into altered states and the memory of past lives. Forming the body of the work, the accounts of these past lives are vivid but disconnected. They include a desert island survival story, one which involves a Roman perspective on Christ, a tale of medieval Korea, and one which takes place in a prehistoric era.

Anthropologist Theodore Hansen discovers a magical plant in the Amazon rainforest that has the potential to both heal and destroy society. He steals a cutting from the indigenous guardians of the plant and clones enough of it to sell to the world, becoming one of the richest humans alive.

Over the course of a burning hot summer, two very different men—Calvert, an ex-soldier traumatized by his experience in the Falklands War, and his affable friend Redbone—set out nightly in a decrepit camper van to undertake an extraordinary project. Under cover of darkness, they traverse the fields of rural England in secret, forming crop circles in elaborate and mysterious patterns, painstakingly avoiding damaging the wheat to yield designs so intricate that their overnight appearances inspire awe amongst a mystified public.

Fierce. Audacious. Independent. Curtis Ash can't be bothered to settle down. He's too busy enjoying his cushy job as a high-paid stylist, caught in a whirlwind of hookups, parties, and obscenely priced cocktails. The only snarl in an otherwise charmed life is the salon's hotshot colorist, Red Turner. Not only does Red put the whammy on customers and rake in all the big tips, he's oblivious to Crash's flirtation. But there will be plenty of time to win him over - or so Crash thinks.

Stanley cannot find meaning in his life. Work is an endless drudgery serving only to pay bills. After being unemployed for six months, he can’t even do that. Religion doesn’t make sense. His family is the only thing that has any meaning in his life, but even that gets turned upside down when he is offered a two-month contract on the other side of the country and he has to leave his family behind. His cross-country road trip gets strange right away as he reluctantly picks up an enigmatic hitchhiker who takes him on a difficult but soul-fulfilling road trip of self-discovery.