Maxima Library

Potrebbe capitare a ognuno di noi: fare un passo falso, inciampare in quello che sembrava un sasso (ma non lo era), scivolare oltre una soglia invisibile o molto ben nascosta e trovarci in un mondo sconosciuto, completamente diverso dal nostro. Ci sono porte che si spalancano fra le dimensioni, e alcune — come si accorgerà il protagonista di questo romanzo — sono dimensioni proibite. Ma se dall’altra parte incontrassimo un personaggio straordinario, una donna dotata di poteri stupefacenti, un essere di cui non possiamo più fare a meno? Ci mettererrimo alla ricerca di lei a ogni costo, rischieremmo la vita per trovarla e scoprire il suo segreto. Ma cosa ci aspetterebbe alla fine dell’awentura? È pericoloso scherzare con i mondi altrui: non si sa mai quello che può succedere…

An anthology of stories

Move over, vampires. Make room for the hottest creatures in fantasy: werewolves. Most people think werewolves are creatures of ancient legend, associated with prowling darkened forests and terrifying peasants in medieval cottages. But what about today's werewolf in modern society? Has twenty-first century life changed the rules and lifestyles of the contemporary lycanthrope? Are wolf packs communicating online via social networks? Could the person who at first glance looks like an average commuter (on the early train, to avoid the rising of the full moon) be one of them? Have werewolves infiltrated every level of government? Full Moon City answers these questions, and many more. Featuring contributions from bestselling fantasy luminaries, this collection of spellbinding stories puts the fun back into dark fiction.

Bien loin de la Terre, deux planètes soeurs, Sainte-Anne et Sainte-Croix, ont été colonisées par des Français qui ont détruit la population indigène de la seconde.

Bien des décennies plus tard — après que les colons français ont été eux-mêmes vaincus et dispersés —, un ethnologue, le Dr Marsh, consacre sa vie à retrouver des traces de cette culture effacée, oubliée, passée au rang des mythes et qu'une culpabilité ancienne tend à refouler dans l'imaginaire.

En trois contes d'une écriture à chaque fois renouvelée, Gene Wolfe retrace les aspects contradictoires mais complémentaires de cette quête de l'identité d'un peuple, d'une pureté originelle dont un génocide a voilé jusqu'au souvenir.

Voici un livre étrange, subtil et attachant, sans pareil dans le domaine de la science-fiction et qui imprègne longtemps le souvenir du lecteur comme d'un parfum, comme d'une vibration, comme du souvenir d'un songe.

Muy lejos de su planeta madre, la Tierra, dos mundos gemelos, Sainte Anne y Sainte Croix, fueron colonizados en su tiempo por inmigrantes franceses, que aniquilaron a la población nativa del segundo de ellos. Muchos siglos después, tras una guerra que dispersó a los colonos originales y relegó a la leyenda el recuerdo del genocidio original, un etnólogo de la Tierra, John V. Marsch, dedica su vida a buscar las huellas de aquella cultura alienígena, los abos, el Pueblo Libre, los hijos de la Sombra, convertida hoy en una indefinida mitología aplastada bajo un subterráneo sentimiento de culpabilidad que niega incluso la realidad de su existencia…

one world among many…eleven stories about them all

What if Lincoln never became president, and the Civil War never took place? What if Columbus never discovered America, and the Inca developed a massive, technologicallyadvanced empire? What if magic was real and a half-faerie queen ruled England? What if an author discovered a book written by an alternate version of himself?

These are just some of the possible pathways that readers can take to explore the Other Earths that may be waiting just one page away.

Powieść można porównać do tkaniny o skomplikowanym, fascynującym wzorze, misternie utkanej z wątków trzech, pozornie odrębnych, mikropowieści. Każda z nich stanowi pasjonującą lekturę, razem tworzą natomiast zupełnie nową jakość; dopiero przewróciwszy ostatnią kartkę czytelnik zaczyna sobie uświadamiać jak wielkie znaczenie miały pozornie mało istotne wzmianki rozrzucone w tekście i natychmiast zaczyna czytać książkę od nowa, by móc w pełni docenić mistrzostwo Gene Wolfe'a, jednego z najbardziej oryginalnych i fascynujących twórców współczesnej science fiction.

A truly breathtaking new anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders,

offers stunning new tales of sword and sorcery action, romance, and dark adventure written by some of the most respected, bestselling fantasy writers working today—from Joe Abercrombie to Gene Wolfe. An all-new Elric novella from the legendary Michael Moorcock and a new visit to Majipoor courtesy of the inimitable Robert Silverberg are just two of the treasures offered in

—a fantasy lover’s dream.

Seventeen original tales of sword and sorcery penned by masters old and new

Elric…the Black Company…Majipoor. For years, these have been some of the names that have captured the hearts of generations of readers and embodied the sword and sorcery genre. And now some of the most beloved and bestselling fantasy writers working today deliver stunning all-new sword and sorcery stories in an anthology of small stakes but high action, grim humor mixed with gritty violence, fierce monsters and fabulous treasures, and, of course, swordplay. Don’t miss the adventure of the decade!

is the most important new fantasy anthology to be published this decade. Featuring new stories from the bestselling and brightest writers working in the genre, including:

New York Times

bestselling authors Scott Lynch and Garth Nix; genre greats Michael Moorcock (with an all-new Elric novella), Michael Shea (with a fully authorized new Cugel the Clever adventure), Robert Silverberg (with an all-new Majipoor tale), Glen Cook (with an all-new Black Company story), Gene Wolfe, and C. J. Cherryh; and hot new writers who’ve been re-inventing swords and sorcery like Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Tim Lebbon, and many more.

Thirty-one stories by the most distinguished creator of literary sf makes for a pretty indispensable volume. Of course, “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” and “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”—recognized as classics for many years now—are here. So are such objects of amused contemplation (on account of their titles) well before they are read (and as amusedly enjoyed) as “The Hero as Werewolf,” “The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton” (steampunk with more than one difference), “Seven American Nights” (an account of archaeology of the future), and “Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?” written in homage to the witty Catholic sf (and historical) novelist R. A. Lafferty (1914–2002). Each of those and the rest of these stories characteristically begin at a point from which Wolfe diverges in a number of different directions—with just how many depending, surprisingly enough, on the particular reader.

Far from Earth two sister planets, Sainte Anne and Sainte Croix, circle each other. It is said that a race of shapeshifting aliens once lived here, only to become extinct when human colonists arrived. But one man believes they still exist, somewhere out in the wilderness. In

The Fifth Head of Cerberus

, Gene Wolfe brilliantly interweaves three tales: a scientist’s son gradual discovery of the bizarre secret of his heritage; a young man’s mythic dreamquest for his darker half; the mystifying chronicle of an anthropologist’s seemingly-arbitrary imprisonment. Gradually, a mesmerising pattern emerges.

A novel of the fantastic set in an imagined country in Europe

An American writer of travel guides in need of a new location chooses to travel to a small and obscure Eastern European country. The moment Grafton crosses the border he is in trouble, much more than he could have imagined. His passport is taken by guards, and then he is detained for not having it. He is released into the custody of a family, but is again detained. It becomes evident that there are supernatural agencies at work, but they are not in some ways as threatening as the brute forces of bureaucracy and corruption in that country. Is our hero in fact a spy for the CIA? Or is he an innocent citizen caught in a Kafkaesque trap?

Gene Wolfe keeps us guessing until the very end, and after.