Showing results for "Opera" in Literature & Fiction

The Floating Opera and The End of the Road are John Barth's first two novels. Both concern strange, consuming love triangles and the destructive effect of an overactive intellect on human emotions. Separately they give two very different views of a universal human drama.

From a problematic meeting with an alien princess to a horde of space tourists on a holiday from hell, life on the cruiser is never less than eventful. Indecisive Captain Taylor is faced with disaster when another of the fleet’s spaceships, The Indestructible III, suddenly explodes; relentlessly nice Communications Officer Karen embarks on a forbidden romance with ship’s engineer Stuart; and medical scientist Clive 55 causes chaos when he is arrested for murdering his 136 clones, and experiments with dark matter to catastrophic effect.

The United Earth Fleet has established its home base on the terraformed island of Kauai, where humankind is starting over. But when an act of sabotage threatens their existence, Captain Bartholomew Quasar and his intrepid crew must return to space to hunt down the saboteur. Unbeknownst to them, rifts have opened between parallel worlds, and our heroes are flung into a dangerous reality where they encounter alternate versions of themselves as well as new friends and foes along the way.

You think you’re struggling to find your place in the universe? Consider poor old Colin Douglass, a terminally ill insurance agent who awakens from centuries in cryogenic freeze to find Earth is a devastated wasteland. Now, he’s being pursued by a homicidal interstellar tourist board, and calculating insurance dividends is as outdated as making stone axes. Sci-fi-hating technophobe Colin seeks a cure for his illness in this strange new galaxy where toilets talk back, and door handles are a long-forgotten relic.

Having journeyed through time in order to restore peace to the galaxy, Cal Carver and Space Team are a little dismayed to find out they may have inadvertently made things even worse...whoops.

While Kelly struggles to come up with a research project to apply for sabbatical, the role-playing craze reaches Union Station, and the Open University offers a for-credit LARP. Dorothy finally finishes her wedding dress with a technical flourish, and Jeeves plots to recoup his costs.

The Stryx offer EarthCent help in reaching out to the wide-spread human communities, but as usual, it comes with a catch or two. Kelly see an opportunity to increase her book hoard, just as publishing on Union Station begins to take off and Donna's daughters enter a friendly competition. But who will publish the most expensive book of all?

A new species has jumped into the Sol system for a quick look, leading the Stryx to assign humans to the greeting mission. Dorothy and Kevin leave on a trading mission in his new ship, bringing the dog, and Samuel and Vivian start at the Open University.

Over half of Earth's population has left the planet, mainly as contract workers for aliens, and the homeworld is losing relevance to the emigrants. The EarthCent president takes on the task of making sure that humanity isn't permanently stuck in a rut of low-skilled labor. Can the ambassador put aside her new-found obsession with the Galactic Free Press crossword puzzle and help save the day?

On the other side of the galaxy, the Cayl Empire has decided to wind down operations and the Stryx are planning to pick up the pieces. Kelly is tapped to host an open house event on Union Station to tempt the aliens into joining up, but does anybody other than the Stryx actually want the merger to take place?

Five years after the events of Date Night on Union Station, Kelly has settled into married life and her job as the EarthCent ambassador. The only fly in the ointment is that most of the aliens on Union Station refuse to talk to her. But a mysterious new game is sweeping the galaxy, changing the balance of power between species and bringing game-savvy humans front-and-center.

Kelly Frank is EarthCent's top diplomat on Union Station, but her job description has always been a bit vague. The pay is horrible and she's in hock up to her ears for her furniture, which is likely to end up in a corridor because she's behind on rent for her room. Sometimes she has to wonder if the career she has put ahead of her personal life for 15 years is worth it.

The first carnival to take place on Union Station since humanity joined the galactic community is coming, and the ambassadors of the different species are all entered in the election to become Carnival King or Queen. It's not a job that Kelly wants, and, fortunately for her, the humans get a late start at electioneering.

Two years after the events of Alien Night on Union Station, Kelly faces new challenges as the EarthCent Ambassador. The growing acceptance of humans by their alien neighbors plus a measure of her own personal fame (or infamy) is resulting in too much work for an embassy with only two full-time staffers. Friends and family must wonder if the stress is finally getting to Kelly when she starts acting even more peculiar than usual.

Alfredo García Torrecilla era un hombre gris condenado a una vida gris, un profesor de Historia deprimido y deprimente cuya existencia entera no había sido más que un continuo ir de fracaso en fracaso. Todo cambió el día en que descubrió que un mundo secreto se escondía entre las líneas de la realidad, un mundo repleto de portentos y locura, de casas encantadas, de tecnología extraña, de dragones parlantes y de magia... Todo cambió el día en que descubrió que Elvis Presley seguía vivo.

In questo racconto di Cechov, l’assillante ansia di sdebitarsi da parte di una madre e del suo unico figlio nei confronti del loro benefattore, il dottor Koscelkòv, fa sì che quest’ultimo si trovi a dover accettare un dono per lui ingombrante: un candelabro di bronzo antico, scabroso nelle decorazioni, di cui cercherà invano di disfarsi. ..

That is Fanner Marston’s mantra—his reason for being—and while he knows a little about the first and a lot about the second, he may well be on the verge of learning everything there is to know about the third. Power. He may, in fact, be about to uncover the key to gaining absolute control over the entire universe. The only problem is, Fanner is certifiably insane.... His starship has crash-landed, and he’s the sole survivor, which doesn’t matter to him.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The Empire State Building has vanished into thin air! Gone, too, are Grant’s Tomb and Grand Central Station, and all hell is breaking loose in New York City! What’s the story? One grizzled old newspaper reporter known simply as Pop - a role made for Walter Matthau - is on top of it...and better stay there, because his livelihood is on the line. If Pop fails to get to the bottom of the vanishing landmarks, his job will disappear as well - and land in the hands of the newspaper publisher’s son-in-law.

Firsten Guide is a tough, wise-cracking rebel leader who’s light years ahead of his time - and about to lead his crew into a battle that’s Beyond All Weapons. He and his fellow colonizers of Mars have faced a brutal crackdown engineered by Earth’s tyrannical government. But the resourceful Firsten has developed an extraordinary new fuel that enables him and his hardy band to escape into space - and time.