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Lunatic Fables: Two Thousand Years of Voyaging to the Moon

Ludovico Ariosto

3.3/5 ( ratings)

We have always been able to look at the moon, but not to touch it; and so it has been left to our imaginations to tell us what it might be like to travel there. Until 20 July 1969, that is, when Neil Armstrong took his giant leap for mankind. On that day, reality rudely displaced imagination, and innumerable stories, myths and dreams about the moon were abruptly rendered obsolete.

This anthology sets out to recover the fantasy moon, bizarre and gorgeous, divine and satirical, to which the Apollo programme put an end, through extracts of imagined voyages stretching back over thousands of years. Our protagonists travel by means of waterspouts, dreams, flying chariots, balloons, rockets, antigravity and an enormous cannon; the moons at which they arrive are at war with the sun, filled with the world's forgotten treasures or riddled with caves. And they are inhabited by a dizzying range of creatures, ranging from benevolent giants to huge amphibious beasts—and hives full of intelligent insects.

Commentary by literary critic and science fiction writer Professor Adam Roberts, and former New Scientist editor Sumit Paul-Choudhury investigates the diverse underlying themes of these stories - from Johannes Kepler's hard science fiction to Edgar Allan Poe's tall tales, and from Bishop Godwin's theological musings to Jules Verne's hard-headed engineers. But there's one thing all the stories in this collection share: a passion for the imagined moon, and a penchant for ripping yarns. We hope you enjoy these lunatic fables!

Pages: 209

Format: Kindle Edition

Lunatic Fables: Two Thousand Years of Voyaging to the Moon

Ludovico Ariosto

3.3/5 ( ratings)

We have always been able to look at the moon, but not to touch it; and so it has been left to our imaginations to tell us what it might be like to travel there. Until 20 July 1969, that is, when Neil Armstrong took his giant leap for mankind. On that day, reality rudely displaced imagination, and innumerable stories, myths and dreams about the moon were abruptly rendered obsolete.

This anthology sets out to recover the fantasy moon, bizarre and gorgeous, divine and satirical, to which the Apollo programme put an end, through extracts of imagined voyages stretching back over thousands of years. Our protagonists travel by means of waterspouts, dreams, flying chariots, balloons, rockets, antigravity and an enormous cannon; the moons at which they arrive are at war with the sun, filled with the world's forgotten treasures or riddled with caves. And they are inhabited by a dizzying range of creatures, ranging from benevolent giants to huge amphibious beasts—and hives full of intelligent insects.

Commentary by literary critic and science fiction writer Professor Adam Roberts, and former New Scientist editor Sumit Paul-Choudhury investigates the diverse underlying themes of these stories - from Johannes Kepler's hard science fiction to Edgar Allan Poe's tall tales, and from Bishop Godwin's theological musings to Jules Verne's hard-headed engineers. But there's one thing all the stories in this collection share: a passion for the imagined moon, and a penchant for ripping yarns. We hope you enjoy these lunatic fables!

Pages: 209

Format: Kindle Edition

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