Contributions by Richard Bodek, Claire P. Curtis, Joseph Kelly, Simon Lewis, Steve Mentz, J. Brent Morris, Peter Sands, Edward Shore, and James O'Neil Spady Commonly, the word maroon refers to someone cast away on an island. One becomes marooned, usually, through a storm at sea or by a captain as a method of punishment. But the term originally denoted escaped slaves. Though being marooned came to be associated mostly with white European castaways, the etymology invites comparison between true maroons (escaped slaves establishing new lives in the wilderness) and people who were marooned (through maritime disaster). This volume brings together literary scholars with historians, encompassing both literal maroons such as in Brazil and South Carolina as well as metaphoric scenarios in time-travel novels and postapocalyptic narratives. Included are examples from The Tempest; Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy; A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court; and Octavia Butler’s Kindred. Both runaways and castaways formed new societies in the wilderness. But true maroons, escaped slaves, were not cast away; they chose to fly towards the uncertainties of the wild in pursuit of freedom. In effect, this volume gives these maroons proper credit, at the very heart of American history.

Multiple Hugo Award winner Vernor Vinge takes readers on a fifty-million-year trip to a future where humanity's fate will be decided in a dangerous game of high-tech survival. In this taut thriller, a Hugo finalist for Best Novel, nobody knows why there are only three hundred humans left alive on the Earth fifty million years from now. Opinion is fiercely divided on whether to settle in and plant the seed of mankind anew, or to continue using high-energy stasis fields, or "bobbles," in venturing into the future. When somebody is murdered, it's obvious someone has a secret he or she is willing to kill to preserve.The murder intensifies the rift between the two factions, threatening the survival of the human race. It's up to 21st century detective Wil Brierson, the only cop left in the world, to find the culprit, a diabolical fiend whose lust for power could cause the utter extinction of man. Filled with excitement and adventure, Vinge's tense SF puzzler will satisfy readers with its sense of wonder and engaging characters, one of whom is a murderer with a unique modus operandi. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

”Marooned in his unresolved past, the nervous person cannot set a course for the future.”Robert Von Reichmann MD.Peter Federson's life was littered with divorces, lost jobs, and failure in college, which led to a miserable tour of Vietnam, and a checkered life in the 21st century. One day Pete realized that it was his own doing.”Please God, let me start over again!”24-hours later, fate threw Pete backward forty years. Now he has the chance to earn a passing grade for the 20th century and promotion to the 21st.'But a dark shadow follows him through the decades and sabotages his efforts, so Spring 1971 threatens to be a morbid echo of itself.58-year-old Peter Federson married the wrong girl and rejected his true love. He flunked out of college, which led to a failed army enlistment, failed jobs, and failed relationships. One day, Pete took a handful of pills and washed them down with vodka in his trashy trailer in suburban Chicago.In a haze, Peter took a train to Carbondale, Illinois, and passed out at Southern Illinois University, where he awakened in 1971.Peter Federson is in college again.Now Pete can marry his true love, Catherine, pass algebra—the course that got him thrown out of college the first time and finally earn his degree.But a malevolent algebra instructor tries to flunk him, his wife-to-be won't let him go, a riot shakes the campus, and something within Pete doesn't want to change.SIU's colors are maroon and white, and the Saluki is its mascot, but maroon has a more sinister meaning in this story, for Peter Federson is marooned in 1971—a Saluki Marooned.

These essays explore both literal and metaphorical crossings of the globe, addressing the cultural significance of maps, paintings, travel writing, tourist manuals, cultural identities, island gardens, and other topics in order to lend insight to our perception of global culture during the long 18th century.