NEW STAR WARS BOOK

The Story

Star Wars: Master & Apprentice by Claudia Grey hits the stores. Twenty years ago, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was being released. To conmemorate the anniversary, the next entry on the Star Wars novels will follow two of the most relevant characters ever created in the Star Wars Universe. Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi.

What is it about?

When another Jedi, former student of Dooku, requests Qui-Gon’s assistance with a political dispute, the duo travel to the royal court of Pijal for what may be their final mission together.

What should be a simple assignment quickly becomes clouded by deceit, and by visions of violent disaster that take hold in Qui-Gon’s mind. As Qui-Gon’s faith in prophecy grows, Obi-Wan’s faith in him is tested—just as a threat surfaces that will demand that Master and apprentice come together as never before, or be divided forever.

You can read an excerpt right here.

AUTHOR GENE WOLFE DIES

The Story

Beloved Science-fiction author Gene Wolfe dies in Peoria at age 87. Wolfe was most known for his masterpiece The Book of the New Sun. In 2012, Mr. Gene Wolfe was rightfully named a grand master of science fiction and fantasy by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

What else Gene wrote?

Among his most recognized works, you can find his The Soldier series:

• Soldier of the Mist (1986) Locus Fantasy winner, WFA nominee
• Soldier of Arete (1989) Locus Fantasy and WFA nominee
• Soldier of Sidon (2006) World Fantasy Award winner, Locus Fantasy Award nominee.

The No Award Situation

Back in 1971, Science Fiction giant Isaac Asimov mistakenly announced Gene as the winner of a Nebula award for his short story “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”. Later, it was revealed that “no award” had actually won the category that day, not Gene. Asimov joked about it, saying that Gene should write a story called “The Death of Doctor Island”. To everyone’s surprise, Gene wrote the thing (which he also titled “The Death of Doctor Island”) and won a Nebula for it in 1974.

Potato chips

As an engineer, Gene most famous professional achievement is a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato chips (yes).

A TIMELESS NIGHTMARE

The Story

When a horrible time travel accident kills the world’s best scientists, the man who built the machine gets imprisoned in a giant pendulum for the rest of his life.

Who wrote it?

“The Pendulum” was written by Ray Bradbury and author Henry Hasse. This very short story was first published in Ray Bradbury’s Futuria Fantasia in the fall of 1939.

Read it for free in our special section: Fantastic Horizons

Wait, give me a taste first…

Sure thing:

The Pendulum, by Ray Bradbury.

Up and down, back and forth, up and down. First the quick flite skyward, gradually slowing, reaching the pinnacle of the curve, poising a moment, then flashing earthward again, faster and faster at a nauseating speed, reaching the bottom and hurtling aloft on the opposite side. Up and down. Back and forth. Up and down.

How long it had continued this way Layeville didn’t know. It might have been millions of years he’d spent sitting here in the massive glass pendulum watching the world tip one way and another, up and down, dizzily before his eyes until they ached. Since first they had locked him in the pendulum’s round glass head and set if swinging it had never stopped or changed.

Continuous, monotonous movements over and above the ground. So huge was this pendulum that it shadowed one hundred feet or more with every majestic sweep of its gleaming shape, dangling from the metal intestines of the shining machine overhead. It took three or four seconds for it to traverse the one hundred feet one way, three or four seconds to come back.

THE PRISONER OF TIME! That’s what they called him now! Now, fettered to the very machine he had planned and constructed. A pri—son—er—of—time! A—pris—on—er—of—Time! With every swing of the pendulum it echoed in his thoughts. For ever like this until he went insane. He tried to focus his eyes on the arching hotness of the earth as it swept past beneath him.

Ready? Find it free in: Fantastic Horizons