Most Popular Books by John C. Wright

"A novel of the Eschaton sequence"--Cover.

"Shoot him with an elf arrow!"Learn why this may be author John C. Wright''s most famous line!A collection of brilliant and thought-provoking essays by the science fiction grandmaster John C. Wright. From the history of the Golden Age of science fiction to the ideology of the gender wars presently dividing hard science fiction from urban fantasy-romance, Wright''s commentary is always intelligent, observant, and precisely to the point.In the 16 essays that make up the collection, Wright addresses a wide spectrum of ideas. He considers the darker possibilities of transhumanism, provides a professorial lesson on the mechanics of writing fiction, explains the noble purpose underlying science fiction, and shows how the genre''s obsession with strong female characters is nothing less than an attack on human nature. In every essay, Wright exhibits his compassion, his humanity, and his deep and abiding love for literature.John C. Wright has been described as one of the most important and audacious authors in science fiction today. In a recent poll of more than 1,000 science fiction readers, he was chosen as the sixth-greatest living science fiction writer.

ufeff Since the Cold War, outer space has become of strategic importance for nations looking to seize the ultimate high ground. World powers establishing a presence there must consider, among other things, how they will conduct warfare in orbit. Leaders must dispense with "Buck Rogers" notions about operations in space and realize that policies there will have serious ramifications for geopolitics. How should nations view space? How should they fight there? What would space warfare look like and how should strategists approach it? Offering critical observations regarding this unique theater of international relations, a military professional explores the strategic implications as human affairs move beyond Earth''s atmosphere.

Within these pages lie eighteen stories, from eighteen worlds shaped by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its first year. Some are international bestsellers. Among them are winners and nominees for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, Aurealis, Ditmar, British Science Fiction Association, and Dragon Awards. Some have been writing for decades, others are at the beginning of their careers. All have honed their craft to razor-sharpness. A teenage girl finds something strange in the middle of the Canadian prairie. An exobiologist tries to liberate a giant alien enslaved on its homeworld by humans. The music of the spheres becomes literal for an Earth ship far from home. A superhero league interviews for new members. Strangers share a drink on a world where giant starships fall. Two boys, one a werewolf, one a mage, get more than they bargained for when they volunteer to fight an evil Empire. A man with amnesia accepts a most unusual offer. A young woman finds unexpected allies as she tries to win a flying-machine race in steampunk London . . . Ranging from boisterous to bleak, from humorous to harrowing, from action-filled to quiet and meditative; taking place in alternate pasts, the present day, the far, far future, and times that never were; set on Earth, in the distant reaches of space, in fantasy worlds, and in metaphysical realms, each of these stories is as unique as its creator. And yet, they all showcase one thing: the irrepressible need of human beings to create, to imagine, to tell stories. To shape worlds.

The Vindication of Man is the epic and mind-blowing continuation of John C. Wright''s visionary space opera series surpasses all expectation. Menelaus Montrose, having renewed his enmity with his immortal adversary, Ximen del Azarchel, awaits the return of the posthuman princess Rania, their shared lost love. Rania brings with her the judgment of the Dominions ruling the known cosmos, which will determine the fate of humanity, once and for all. Vindication or destruction? And if it is somehow both, what manner of future awaits them? At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

THE GOLDEN AGE is the first book in a grand space opera trilogy by one of the true Grand Masters of science fiction, John C. Wright. It is an astounding story of artificial intelligence, advanced science, and adventure that recreates the wonder of science fiction''s golden age. Taking place 10,000 years in the future, the Golden Oecumene is a utopian society of an immortal posthumanity that has transcended the limits of Earth and of humanity itself. But even in utopia, there are rebels... While celebrating the thousand-year anniversary of the High Transcendence, Phaethon of Radamanthus House encounters an old friend who informs him that Phaethon is an exile from his own memory for a crime he cannot remember committing.

James Wright was born in 1671 and died in 1760. Dr. John Briscoe was born about 1590.

Fantasy roman.

Beginning with The Golden Age, continuing with The Phoenix Exultant and now concluding in The Golden Transcendence, John C. Wright''s grand space opera is a SF adventure saga in the tradition of A. E. van Vogt and Roger Zelazny. It is an astounding story of super-science, a thrilling wonder story that recaptures the excitements of SF''s golden agewriters in the suspenseful and passionate tale of a lone rebel unhappy in utopia. The end of the Millennium is imminent, when all minds, human, posthuman, cybernetic, sophotechnic, will be temporarily merged into one solar-system-spanning supermind called the Transcendence. This is not only the fulfillment of a thousand years of dreams, it is a day of doom, when the universal mind will pass judgment on all the races of humanity and transhumanity. The mighty ship Phoenix Exultant is at last in the hands of her master; Phaethon the Exile is at her helm. But the terrible truth has been revealed: he is being hunted by the agents from a long-lost dead star, the eerie and deadly Lords of the Silent Oecumene, whose super-technology plumbs depths even the all-knowing Earthmind cannot fathom. Humanity will be helpless during the Golden Transcendence. Phaethon''s enemies plan to use the opportunity to destroy the population of the Inner System, man and machine alike. To do this, they must take control of Phaethon''s beloved starship and turn her unparalleled power to warlike uses. Phaethon''s memories are incomplete - but he knows a spy for the Silent Ones is already aboard. And when the all-encompassing Mind of the Golden Transcendence wakes - who will it condemn? Which future will it chose? Are Phaethon''s dreams of star-flight about to revolutionize the Golden Age into an age even more glorious than gold, or will they kindle the first open war fought across the immensity of interstellar space? At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

And now The Phoenix Exultant, a second epic novel of an heroic quest in a far future world of super-science from an important new talent. The Phoenix Exultant is a continuation of the story begun in The Golden Age and, like it, a grand space opera in the tradition of Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny (with a touch of Cordwainer Smith-style invention). At the conclusion of the first book, Phaethon of Radamanthus House, was left an exile from his life of power and privilege. Now he embarks upon a quest across the transformed solar system--Jupiter is a second sun, Mars and Venus terraformed, humanity immortal--among humans, intelligent machines, and bizarre life-forms, to recover his memory, to regain his place in society and to move that society away from stagnation and toward the stars. And most of all Phaethon''s quest is to regain ownership of the magnificent starship, the Phoenix Exultant, the most wonderful ship ever built, and to fly her to the stars. It is an astounding story of super-science, a thrilling wonder story that recaptures the verve of SF''s Golden Age writers The Phoenix Exultant is a suitably grand and stirring fulfillment of the promise shown in The Golden Age and confirms John C. Wright as a major new talent in the field. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The epic and mind-blowing finale to this visionary space opera series surpasses all expectation: Menelaus Montrose, having forged an uneasy alliance with his immortal adversary, Ximen del Azarchel, maps a future on a scale beyond anything previously imagined. No longer concerned with the course of history across mere millennia, Montrose and del Azarchel have become the architects of aeons, bringing forth minds the size of planets as they steer the bizarre intellectual descendants of an extinct humanity. Ever driving their labors and their enmity is the hope of reunion with their shared lost love, the posthuman Rania, whose eventual return is by no means assured, but who may unravel everything these eternal rivals have sought to achieve. John C. Wright''s The Architect of Aeons is the latest in his millennia spanning space opera.

“Those who like sophisticated fantasy with a mild erotic charge will be most rewarded” by this “intriguing” fantasy about teens held hostage by Greek gods (Publishers Weekly). John C. Wright burst onto the SF scene with the Golden Age trilogy. His next project was the ambitious fantasy sequence, The Last Guardians of Everness. Wright’s new fantasy is a tale about five orphans raised in a strict British boarding school who begin to discover that they may not be human beings. The students at the school do not age, while the world around them does. The children begin to make sinister discoveries about themselves. Amelia is apparently a fourth-dimensional being; Victor is a synthetic man who can control the molecular arrangement of matter around him; Vanity can find secret passageways through solid walls where none had previously been; Colin is a psychic; Quentin is a warlock. Each power comes from a different paradigm or view of the inexplicable universe: and they should not be able to co-exist under the same laws of nature. Why is it that they can? The orphans have been kidnapped from their true parents, robbed of their powers, and raised in ignorance by super-beings no more human than they are: pagan gods or fairy-queens, Cyclopes, sea-monsters, witches, or things even stranger than this. The children must experiment with, and learn to control, their strange abilities in order to escape their captors.

Wright''s new fantasy, which began with Orphans of Chaos, and continues in Fugitives of Chaos, is a tale about five orphans raised in a strict British boarding school who begin to discover that they may not be human beings. The students at the school do not age, while the world around them does. The orphans have been kidnapped from their true parents, robbed of their powers, and raised in ignorance by super-beings no more human than they are: pagan gods or fairy-queens, Cyclopes, sea-monsters, witches, or things even stranger. The five have made sinister discoveries about themselves. Amelia is apparently a fourth-dimensional being; Victor is a synthetic man who can control the molecular arrangement of matter around him; Vanity can find secret passageways through solid walls where none had previously been; Colin is a psychic; Quentin is a warlock. Each power comes from a different paradigm or view of the inexplicable universe: and they should not be able to co-exist under the same laws of nature. Why is it that they can? The children must experiment with and learn to control their strange abilities in order to escape their captors. Something very important must be at stake in their imprisonment.

From a new talent comes an ambitious and beautifully written story--a heroic adventure featuring young Galen Waylock, the last watchman of the dreamgate beyond which ancient evils, hungry for the human world, wait.

The Chronicles of Everness continue. Young Galen Waylock is the last watchman of the Dream Gate, beyond which the ancient evils wait, hungry for the human world. For a thousand years, Galen''s family has stood guard, scorned by a world that dismissed the danger as myth. Even Galen''s father deserted their post. Discarding his belief in the other world, he left Castle Everness and the lonely coast of Maine to travel the world as a soldier. But the warning bell has sounded in the dream world, unheeded. Now, the minions of Darkness have stirred in the deep and the long watch is over. An army of mythic monsters has invaded our world, and Galen and his friends have begun to fight them. To join the battle with universal darkness, even his father returns. The forces of light have gathered in Castle Everness, which must stand, or all is lost. John Wright has been called the most important talent of the new century, and received rave reviews for each volume of his debut SF trilogy, The Golden Age. Now, in Mists of Everness he continues the towering fantasy begun in The Last Guardian of Everness, a stirring epic that will inspire readers everywhere. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The first book in an all-new space adventure!

“Faithfully emulates van Vogt’s labyrinthine plot twists and energetic prose while answering questions. . . . that have burned in fans’ minds for decades.” —Booklist In this heart-stopping sequel to A.E. van Vogt’s World of Null-A, Gilbert Gosseyn, the superhuman amnesiac with a double brain, must pit his wits once more against the remorseless galactic dictator Enro the Red and the mysterious shadow-being known as The Follower. And he must do it while he is being hurled headlong through unimaginable distances in space, in time, and through alternate eternities to fend off the death and complete the rebirth of the Universe itself! Praise for John C. Wright “An exciting voice, adding richness to hard science fiction.” —David Brin, Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Existence

The year is 10,515 AD. The Hyades Armada, traveling at near lightspeed, will reach Earth in just four centuries to assess humanity''s value as slaves. For the last 8,000 years, two opposing factions have labored to meet the alien threat in very different ways. One of them is Ximen del Azarchel, immortal leader of the mutineers from the starship Hermetic and self-appointed Master of the World, who has allowed his followers to tamper continuously with the evolutionary destiny of Man, creating one bizarre race after another in an apparent search for a species the Hyades will find worthy of conquest. The other is Menelaus Montrose, the posthuman Judge of Ages, whose cryonic Tombs beneath the surface of Earth have preserved survivors from each epoch created by the Hermeticists. Montrose intends to thwart the alien invaders any way he can, and to remain alive long enough to be reunited with his bride Rania, who is on a seventy-millennia journey to confront the Hyades'' masters, tens of thousands of light-years away. Now, with the countdown to the Hyades'' arrival nearing its end, del Azarchel and Montrose square off for what is to be their final showdown for the fate of Earth, a battle of gunfire and cliometric calculus; powered armor and posthuman intelligence. Judge of Ages is the wildly inventive third volume in a series exploring future history and human evolution from John C. Wright. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A kaleidoscopic vision of future history and human evolution, as witnessed by the one man who may hold the key to humanity''s salvation against an approaching alien threat.

The third volume in the ground-breaking, genre-bending, boundary-pushing CLOCKWORK PHOENIX anthology series, now available in digital format. Includes critically-acclaimed and award-nominated stories by Marie Brennan, Tori Truslow, Georgina Bruce, Michael M. Jones, Gemma Files, C.S.E. Cooney, Cat Rambo, Gregory Frost, Shweta Narayan, S.J. Hirons, John Grant, Kenneth Schneyer, John C. Wright, Nicole Kornher-Stace and Tanith Lee. With a whimsical introduction and new afterword by Nebula Award-nominated editor Mike Allen. CONTENTS The Gospel of Nachash • Marie Brennan Tomorrow Is Saint Valentine''s Day • Tori Truslow Crow Voodoo • Georgina Bruce Your Name Is Eve • Michael M. Jones Hell Friend • Gemma Files Braiding the Ghosts • C.S.E. Cooney Surrogates • Cat Rambo Lucyna''s Gaze • Gregory Frost Eyes of Carven Emerald • Shweta Narayan Dragons of America • S.J. Hirons Where Shadows Go at Low Midnight • John Grant Lineage • Kenneth Schneyer Murder in Metachronopolis • John C. Wright To Seek Her Fortune • Nicole Kornher-Stace Fold • Tanith Lee Praise for CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 3 . . . . Allen’s third volume of extraordinary short stories reaches new heights of rarity and wonder. Marie Brennan sets the bar high with “The Gospel of Nachash,” a fine reinterpretation of the Adam and Eve legend from a fresh perspective. Tori Truslow’s scholarly “Tomorrow Is Saint Valentine’s Day” tells the story of the Great Ice Train and its encounter with the merfolk on the Moon. Gemma Files’s “Hell Friend” and C.S.E. Cooney’s “Braiding the Ghosts” are sinister, spine-tingling ghost stories. Cat Rambo deals with realism and escapism in her futuristic “Surrogates,” where appearances and reality are mutable. Shweta Narayan’s “Eyes of Carven Emerald” eloquently rewrites the history of Alexander the Great to include mechanical entities. Without a wrong note, all the stories in this anthology admirably fulfill Allen’s promise of “beauty and strangeness.” — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review With a balance of new names and established authors, the third Clockwork Phoenix installment collects some magnificent interpretations of fantastic ideas. “The Gospel of Nachash” opens, Marie Brennan’s haunting tale of the beginning of time, and a very interesting reinterpretation of a gospel it is, too. Tanith Lee’s “Fold” is a story of a man who wrote love letters to the people he saw passing beneath his window, and only left his apartment once. Gemma Files’ “Hell Friend” is really a heart-warming ghost story; Georgina Bruce’s “Crow Voodoo” is an unnerving take on something common to fairy tales; and Gregory Frost’s “Lucyna’s Gaze” starts off sweet, and grows more awful with every revealed detail. Clockwork Phoenix delivers on its promise of both beauty and strangeness, and adds in some fright and a few new ways of looking at old tropes. All in all, it’s a very successful collection of thematically similar, but wildly varied in subject, works. — Booklist CLOCKWORK PHOENIX is a series of anthologies from Norilana Books, edited by Mike Allen, that bears the subtitle “New Tales of Beauty and Strangeness”. This seems a quite appropriate subtitle — the stories really do seem attempts at evoking both beauty and the strange. This makes them consistently interesting . . . There is a mixture of wild science fiction (as with John C. Wright’s “Murder in Metachronopolis”, a convoluted time travel mystery) with what seems best called slipstream (say, Tanith Lee’s curious “Fold”, about a man who sends people paper airplane love letters) with out and out fantasy. One of the latter is my favorite here: C. S. E. Cooney’s “Braiding the Ghosts”, in which a girl goes to her grandmother after her mother’s death, and learns from the older woman the secret of “braiding” ghosts — which is to say enslaving them. So ghosts are the servants of the older woman. But the girl is not so happy with this . . . especially when she falls for the ghost she is forced to braid. And the ghosts — are they happy? Read the story and find out . . . lovely stuff. — Locus For the past three years editor Mike Allen has been publishing his unique CLOCKWORK PHOENIX anthologies, inviting authors like Tanith Lee and Catherynne M. Valente to give us their take on the concepts of, as the title has it, “beauty and strangeness.” The result has been a critical and artistic success and, if volume three is any indication, the spell won’t be lifting any time soon. Allen continues to assemble some of the most adventurous, beauteous, and just plain weird stuff our current crop of speculative authors are capable of producing. Adventurous minds are invited to attend. — Strange Horizons

One of America''s foremost applied animal behaviorists offers a humane, effective approach to pet behavior modification. Includes Dr. Wright''s 11 steps to a well-behaved pet, how to read a pet''s body language, sections devoted to dogs'' and cats'' life cycles; the latest breakthroughs in animal behavior studies, and more. Illustrations.

In The Crooked Tree we find a collection of authentic Indian legends. John Wright listened to his grandmother weave these legends of her people and as a result, we find that he has combined this nameless trait of the Indian storyteller with a sense of realism that makes one believe that the story actually happened.

Winner! 1995 Best Instructional Nonfiction Book --Cat Writers'' Association "This is a delightful, practical, well-written, sensible, and easy-to-follow book.about living with cats and enjoying them." -- John E. Saidla, DVM, Director of Continuing Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University Is Your Cat Crazy? provides feline fans with a wealth of practical information and entertaining stories drawn from Dr. Wright''s long practice making housecalls on dysfunctional cats. Along with helpful suggestions on how to cope with the most common behavior problems, he shows cat owners how and when to pick out a new kitten, what determines a cat''s personality, how to deal with multiple cats, and what works and doesn''t work when it comes to kitty "discipline." Whether the problem is strange eating habits or disdain for the litter box, aggression or post-traumatic stress, Is Your Cat Crazy? will help restore order to a cat-crazy home.

Whether the problem is strange eating habits or a sudden personality change, aggression or post-traumatic stress, the treatment plan Dr. Wright devises is tailored to the specific cat, situation, and client. A new location for the litter box solves one case, while another requires a systematic desensitization program undertaken over several weeks. The key to some problems lies in the use of an upside-down mousetrap set on a sheet of waxed paper; others call for the client to stop punishing the cat and substitute more effective behavior modification techniques. Through these stories readers will learn why cats scratch and bite, refuse to use their litter boxes, and react in different ways to different people and other animals. They''ll find out how and when to pick out a new kitten, what determines a cat''s personality, how to deal with multiple cats or outside agitators, and what works and doesn''t work when it comes to kitty discipline.

AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND is an epic collection of four of John C. Wright''s brilliant forays into the dark fantasy world of William Hope Hodgson''s 1912 novel, THE NIGHT LAND. Part novel, part anthology, the book consists of four related novellas which collectively tell the haunting tale of the Last Redoubt of Man and the end of the human race.

Gilberic Parzival Moth is a strange and lonely boy who has grown up without a father, raised by a single mother who moves from town to town in fear of something she will not name. When he awakens one night at the Thirteenth Hour, he begins to learn about his true heritage, the heritage of Twilight.

Tommy Robertson was once a king.As a child, he and his three friends found their way to a magical elfin world and saved it from the Winter King.Now a grown man successful in the world, Tommy has all but forgotten his childish adventures. He hasn''t even spoken to those friends in years.Then a silver key and a black cat show up on his front porch, and Tommy starts to remember. Just because he grew up and left Faerie behind doesn''t mean that Faerie is finished with him.Tommy is called to be the hero of England, and for that, he wants his friends at his side. But the real world has weighed them down and they are no longer the children he remembers. And evil things from childhood stories grow older and darker and more frightening with the passing of the years.One Bright Star to Guide Them begins where other fairy tales end.Can Tommy remember the courageous boy he once was, and set aside grown-up things to be a child again to save England? Or will the weight of the world prove to be too much for him and his friends?

Peek into the heart of Science Fiction!From John Carter''s Mars to that of C. S. Lewis, Science Fiction astounds us with wonder.Science Fiction Grandmaster John C Wright here presents essays on topics both deep and trivial surrounding the strange and wonderful worlds of science fiction and fantasy. Thoughtful, humorous, deep, or absurd, Wright travels the width of the cosmos and plumbs the deeps of eternity through the lens of simple space adventure stories to say what these flights of fancy say about life on earth, and the secrets hidden in the human heart.