Wish List

Ursula K LeGuin (1929- )

	Very Far Away from Anywhere Else (1976) Harcourt [republished in 2004] One of LeGuin's non-SF novels. Owen is seventeen and smart. He knows what he wants to do with his life. But then he meets Natalie and he realizes he doesn't know anything much at all. A slender, realistic story of a young man's coming of age.
	The Word for World is Forest (1976) Tor Books [will be republished in March 2006] Set in the Hainish universe.

Sherman Alexie (1966- )

I predict that Alexie will be the first native american writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature (29/11/05)

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993)

This is Sherman Alexie's first short story collection, which I understand has recently been re-released. The stories are all set in the Spokane reservation where the author grew up, and are very autobiographical.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1942- )

Cautionary Tales (1978)

--Everything That Begins with an "M," 1972. (Generation, 1972.)
--Frog Pond, 1971. (Galaxy, March, 1971.)
--Un Bel Di, 1973. (Two Views of Wonder, 1973.)
--Lammas Night, 1976. (Sleight of Crime, 1976.)
--Into My Own, 1975. (Planet #1 Tomorrow Today, 1975.)
--Disturb Not My Slumbering Fair, 1978.
--The Meaning of the Word, 1973. (If, #166, July-August, 1973.)
--The Generalissimo's Butterfly, 1977. (Dark Sins, Dark Dreams, 1977.)
--Allies, 1977. (Chrysalis, 1977.)
--Dead in Irons, 1976. (Faster Than Light, 1976.)
--Swan Song, 1978.
--The Fellini Beggar, 1975. (Beyond Time, 1975.)
--An Indulgence, 1978.

False Dawn (1978)

[in print, Babbage Press UK 2001, ISBN: 1930235100]

It is the turn of the 21st century. War, disease and pollution have made the Earth nearly unfit for human habitation. In America, food is scarce, and what food reamins is quickly confiscated by the Pirates -- a murderous band of raiders determined to save themselves and to destroy the last stronghold of civilized human beings -- the mutant population.

Martin Esslin (1918-2002)

Brecht, A Choice of Evils: A Critical Study of the Man, His Work and His Opinions (Modern Theatre Profiles) (1959)

Methuen, 4th Rev Ed (1984) 315 pages.

Brecht's influence on the theatre may well be as powerful as Kafka's influence on the novel and this study of Brecht's life and work was unanimously well received when first published just after the writer's death in 1959. This book portrays the paradox of a man whose work was admired on the Western side of the Iron Curtain despite ideological differences whilst in the East his artistic output was criticised but his communist ideas were welcomed. This authoritative text has stood the test of time.

Peter Brook

The Man Who: A Theatrical Research (Methuen Drama)

41 pages (Methuen)

Using Oliver Sacks' neurological study "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" as its inspirartion, "The Man Who" offers a series of doctor/patient scenarios that examine our attempts to understand the workings of the brain. In turn, these case studies become Brook's starting point in his search for a new theatre form.

Seymour M. Hersh

Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House (1983)

The war in Vietnam, the secret bombing of Cambodia, the crisis in Korea, the SALT talks, the Mideast, Cuba, China, the Berlin settlement... Hersh displays the ruthlessness of the Nixon White House and how Henry Kissinger would sacrifice everything to implement a dark policy that cost thousands of lives. The Watergate case definitely saved the US from becoming an american version of the third reich.

Stanislaw Lem

	A Perfect Vacuum (1971) Northwestern University Press; Reprint edition (1999) A collection of perfect yet imaginary reviews of nonexistent books. With insidious wit, the author beguiles us with a parade of delightful, disarmingly familiar inventions.
	Imaginary Magnitude (1981) Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch (1984) Whereas with "A Perfect Vacuum" Lem wrote reviews of fictional books, here he writes introductions to different fictional books.

Karel Capek

Plays: Vol 1

R.U.R., The Insect Play, The Makropulos Case, The White Plague

Methuen Publishing Ltd

Capek's play R.U.R. brought the word "Robot" into the English language. The idea of a robot being a mechanism, with electricity and motors and beeping noises was dreamed up later by other authors; Capek's robots are biological entities; they are human-shaped. The analogy to a menial underclass might be one of Capek's intended implicatons.