Showing results by author "Robert Butler" in All Categories

★★★★★ "An interesting take on humanities future!" - Reader Review ___ A fresh take on science fiction and a glimpse at humanity through the eyes of an alien who doesn't know what 'family' is, until he finds one! "Humans are the only known intelligent species to actively create 'Found Families' in the form of parents, children, siblings, and more. If a human starts spending more time with you and initiating physical contact, they have probably adopted you." These were the words that caught my ears when attending the most prestigious university in my quadrant as a minor in alien ...

Just when I thought I was safe from deportation, I wasn't. Earth wasn't looking to get rid of me. My homeworld wasn't trying to pull me back. But of course there is no force on Earth or Dlamias that is quite like the power of angry academics on the loneliest planet. The center of learning and the symbol of a peace and unity that was more fragile than anyone wanted to admit...and I... their student, had proved myself a disruptive element, shaking the table on which a delicate house of cards sat that might tumble at any moment. I had to prove my worth, the value of my work, and that adding a ...

You can't get too comfortable in this Universe, not anywhere, really. Every time you do, it has a way of shaking things up. In this volume, I, Bailey Walker, student of humanity, alien entrepreneur, and... who am I kidding? Sometimes thoroughly confused idiot, do my best to relay the events of an extraordinary time in the lives of I and my humans. Fauve Walker got the worst kind of attention, along with the rest of her family. She and they got the attention of the Earth First Movement, radicalized humans who sought to purge the world of all nonhumans, aspiring warmongers, aspiring gods, ...

Robert Olen Butler's lyrical and poignant collection of stories about the aftermath of the Vietnam War and its impact on the Vietnamese was acclaimed by critics across the nation and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. This edition includes two subsequently published stories - "Salem" and "Missing" - that brilliantly complete the collection's narrative journey with a return to the jungles of Vietnam.

Having settled in to living together... and learning of the horrific truth, Raziel and Lialah are confronted with a new and unexpected challenge... but they are not without means. Their magic has grown, their disguises are flawless... nearly. And they are ready for the challenge of a human school, Albaer's living hell, and they're all in it together.

Robert Olen Butler, author of Perfume River, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, and A Small Hotel, teaches graduate fiction at Florida State University—his version of literary boot camp. In From Where You Dream, Butler reimagines the process of writing as emotional rather than intellectual and tells writers how to achieve the dream space necessary for composing honest, inspired fiction.

Time marches on, life continues, the world spins, the uncaring Universe never noticed when one little dot stopped moving, nor one young girl got older, one family was wounded, or one confused and struggling alien tried to make sense of everything going on around him. I wish I could say all of my time on Earth was easy, a joyful time filled with light and games and happiness. But the reason all of those times where life was marvelous shone so brightly is precisely because there was shadow too. Some darker than others, I admit. It's been a year since our time in Chi'cagoa Rea, and we were ...

The story continues as I, we, all of us, strive to find a solution to the problems which plague Chi'cagoa Rea and the unfortunate demihumans who live here. Bonny Red, myself, my sister, Rebecca... all of us do our best, but sometimes good ideas can come from unexpected sources, and are all the more galling because they should have been expected. Fauve has an idea, an idea so crazy, so dangerous, so absurd, that it might just work. And because of what we learn, I a long buried truth of human nature comes to light, and it illuminates a buried truth of my own home world's distant past. In the ...

Throw a rock into the water and you know there will be ripples. But in deep water you have no idea where the rock will land, and you don't know how many ripples your ill considered throw will make, nor what effect they will have. My actions in starting an interspecies fighting tournament has had unforeseen outcomes, and the export of human culture, as well as human diplomatic efforts, has only made things more chaotic. Add to that some disappearances, lost colonies, missing ships, and some very nervous prey evolved civilizations, and you have a recipe for disaster. And so, once more into ...

Join the last vestiges of Humanity and their alien allies (the reptilian Thrynn, the insectoid Velox, and the plant-based Elowan) as they attempt to carve out their own territory in a sector of space filled with wondrous opportunity and deadly threats. Brave explorers seek out new worlds to colonize while merchants cruise from starport to starport, their holds laden with exotic goods. Not all in this futuristic setting have noble intent. For every prospector and trader attempting to make a difference, a dozen pirates, smugglers, and mobsters engage in all manner of criminal enterprise.

Carcosa is a fictional land that first appeared in Bierce’s 1886 story “An Inhabitant of Carcosa” (included in this collection), and later is appeared Robert W. Chambers’s The King in Yellow. It has since been used by many other fantasy and horror writers and poets. This collection explores Carcosa and other fictional cities found in nineteenth-century poetry and short stories. The works of these classic and innovative writers are given new life, and a new generation of listeners will have the chance to voyage to Carcosa … and beyond.

Varus the Elder Lich wanted nothing more than to spend eternity writing novels. He cared nothing for the fame or money, and never cared much about the total lack of company in his country cottage. He had his characters and that was plenty. Was, plenty. Until a chance interruption to his work brings some unexpected company into his unlife. It would take all his patience, all his wisdom, and more than a little of his sense of humor, to learn that sometimes being interrupted... Isn't so bad.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler tells a magical and humorous contemporary fable that captures the state of humanity at the cusp of a new millennium - as seen through the uniquely sensitive perspective of an empathetic extraterrestrial. An audible.com audio exclusive!

A must-listen collection of four bibliomysteries by bestselling and award-winning authors

Robert Quinlan is a 70-year-old historian, teaching at Florida State University, where his wife Darla is also tenured. Their marriage, forged in the fervor of anti-Vietnam War protests, now bears the fractures of time, both personal and historical, with the couple trapped in an existence of morning coffee and solitary jogging and separate offices. For Robert and Darla, the cracks remain under the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert's own family are more apparent: he has almost no relationship with his brother Jimmy.

Welcome to "The Convocation Unscripted," a free-wheeling conversation between Diana Butler Bass, Kristin Du Mez, Robert P. Jones, and Jemar Tisby. We are each scholars (three historians and one sociologist) who write about religion and its intersection with culture, history, and politics in America. We also each take our own Christian faith seriously and are deeply concerned about the future of both democracy and Christianity in the U.S. Most importantly, over the years, we’ve found ourselves to be not just fellow travelers but friends. This is the video/podcast component of our unique ...

Now it comes down to it. I am coming to my final years, perhaps even my final days. Within these pages is the the last record I have the mental strength to add my reflections to. The ninth edition of the eighth publication of a study that spanned decades and reshaped the galaxy as I, and we, all knew it. I wish I could say I had all the answers, but I didn't then and I don't now. Perhaps you can succeed where I failed, and find them. If nothing else, these are a glimpse, one final glimpse, into lives well lived, and I hope you cherish them as I have, whether you have the lifespan of a human...

What can anyone say about meeting a sibling you've forgotten that you even have? What do you say when they come to you for help? I didn't have any idea, that's for sure. Bau's arrival so soon after my recent victory in securing a long term stay on Earth, was nothing if not disruptive. Or so I thought at the time, but I had no idea how right I really was, 'disruptive' did not begin to cover it. Chaotic? Mad? Dangerous? All seemed better words. Bau's plea for help was not for her, but for 'her humans'. The surviving remnants of the people who once lived in Chicago, a forgotten people who ...

In a world with no cities, where elves, dwarves, humans, demons, and all others, live in small settled villages or as wandering tribes, the first city to rise is to them what Gods are to ants. Spreading like a flood, only rumors carried by wanderers survive to warn those who are not yet swept away by nightmare, but in a world where nothing ever changes, who would believe it? Who? Until it was too late, nobody. Nobody but the survivors, and Sadrahan is a survivor. The lone adult to escape along with his newborn daughter, it falls to him to build a new life and a new home, one that nobody can...

The turn of the 20th century saw radical developments in all art forms and particularly in poetry. The first volume of this series features the work of nine significant poets whose careers cover the period from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.