Cordwainer Smith

Chef-d'œuvre mythique et singulier de la science-fiction, le cycle des Seigneurs de l'Instrumentalité compose au fil de ses tableaux une légende des siècles futurs, empreinte de poésie et d'une profonde humanité. Une vision inoubliable de notre avenir, d'une ambition comparable au Fondation d'Isaac Asimov ou à L'Histoire du futur de Robert Heinlein, complétée au tome IV de Concordance, essai inédit d'Anthony Lewis, nominé au prix Hugo 2000, qui analyse tous les personnages, lieux et éléments apparaissant dans cette gigantesque histoire du futur.

Este libro es la crónica de esa impostura centrada en la época en la que un grupo del partido socialista, creyéndose depositario de valores generacionales, se hizo con el poder en torno a Zapatero, perdiendole el respeto a las palabras, a los numeros y a los hechos y ensayando una politica incierta e imprevisible, en la creencia de su superioridad moral y en la idea de que el pasado puede ser modificado en funcion de sus necesidades de presente. Es, asimismo, la cronica de su fracaso, el relato de una decepcion.La socialdemocracia es un espacio privilegiado para la exhibicion de los sentimientos, fenomeno que ha tenido especial relevancia en la España de Zapatero. Nunca como en estos siete años se ha sustituido en la politica la accion de los gobernantes por la declaracion de sus buenas intenciones, la etica de la responsabilidad por el enunciado de las convicciones, los hechos por las palabras y la realidad por la invocacion del ideal.Lagrimas socialdemocratas es la cronica de una impostacion sentimental. No deben confundirse con las de cocodrilo, sino, en todo caso, con las perlas cultivadas. Para obtener unas buenas lagrimas socialdemocratas se mete una arenilla en un ojo progresista y se deja que la anatomia haga su tarea. Las lagrimas seran tan artificiosas como las perlas cultivadas.

El planeta Gema, el planeta Tormenta, el planeta Arena... Uno de estos tres mundos maravillosos oculta el secreto que Casher O´Neil busca desvelar. Casher había recorrido la galaxia habitada en busca de justicia, en busca del secreto cósmico que le permitiría retornar a su propio mundo y expulsar a sus usurpadores. Pero en esta búsqueda encontró mucho más de lo que ambicionaba, pues entre las estrellas había cosas más maravillosas de las que él soñara. Una epopeya fascinante.

En la Era del Redescubrimiento del Hombre, Casher O''Neill debe liberar al planeta Mizzer de un dictador sanguinario. Impulsado por una sed de justicia - o tal vez de venganza-, O''Neill busca las armas necesarias para expulsar al usurpador e inicia un recorrido por tres planetas: el de las Gemas, el de las Tormentas y el de Arena, en los que no solo encuentra un arma, sino tambien un secreto que la humanidad habia olvidado.

Nostrilia es un planeta muy distante de la Tierra. Produce la droga llamada ''stroon'' que prolonga el vigor juvenil. No se puede sintetizar, y su control es causa de conflictos interminables. Los dueños de Norstrilia defienden sus fincas con los Pequeños Gatitos de la Madre Hitton. Todo ocurre en el primer siglo del Redescubrimiento del Hombre, quince mil años despues de que las bombas arrasaran la Vieja Tierra.

Sorprendente e irrepetible historia del futuro que maravilla por su poesía, sus personajes y su riqueza temática. Está escrita como una serie de baladas, contadas con el distanciamiento y el estilo de un narrador que relata hechos antiguos, de los que se da por supuesto que existe, al mismo tiempo, un cierto conocimiento generico y tambien la suficiente curiosidad por los detalles.

En un universo futurista conviven seres humanos con otras especies fruto de la ingeniería genética. Dicho universo lo gobiernan los señores de la instrumentalidad, una clase social despótica que en ocasiones, sin embargo, se comporta con benevolencia. La dama muerta de Clown Town reune siete relatos en torno a ese mundo creado por Smith, dominado por las complejas y sutiles relaciones emotivo-telepaticas, entre el hombre y el animal.

Welcome to Old North Australia, or Norstrilia, the only planet that has "stroon," a substance that indefinitely delays aging in humans. Stroon is cultivated from huge, deformed sheep farmed by the wealthiest estate owners to ever exist in all of humanitys existence.Rod McBan is the last of one of the oldest and most honorable families on Norstrilia. But he himself has shortcomings that would normally have led to his death under the strict laws governing population control on a planet where immortality is cheap and imperfect citizens are ruthlessly "culled" to make way for more productive members of society.But even McBans vaunted stature in the society is not enough to save him from the basest of human emotions-jealousy- as the enmity of a former friend forces him to escape to Earth, where McBans unprecedented fortune quickly makes him a magnet for all manner of crooks and revolutionaries.

"No one ever wrote like Smith, with his special blend of intense myth-making and rich invention!"Publishers WeeklyCordwainer Smith was one of the original visionaries to think of humanity in terms of thousands of years in the future, spread out across the universe. This brilliant collection, often cited as the first of its kind, explores fundamental questions about ourselves and our treatment of the universe (and other beings) around us and ultimately what it means to be human.In Scanners Live in Vain we meet Martel, a human altered to be part machinea scannerto be able withstand the trauma space travel has on the body. Despite the stigma placed on him and his kind, he is able to regrasp his humanity to save another.In The Dead Lady of Clown Town we get to know the underpeopleanimals genetically altered to exist in human form, to better serve their human ownersand meet DJoan, a dog-woman who will make readers question who is more human: the animals who simply want to be recognized as having the same right to life, or the people who created them to be inferior.In The Ballad of Lost Cmell the notion of love being the most important equalizer there isas first raised in The Dead Lady of Clown Townis put into action when an underperson, Cmell, falls in love with Lord Jestocost. Who is to say her love for him is not as valid as any true-born human? She might be of cat descent, but she is all woman!And in A Planet Named Shayol it is an underperson of bull descent, and beings so mutilated and deformed from their original human condition to be now considered demons of a hellish land, who retain and display the most humanity when Mankind commits the most inhumane action of all.

Welcome to the strangest, most distinctive future ever imagined by a science fiction writer. An interstellar empire ruled by the mysterious Lords of the Instrumentality, whose access to the drug stroon, from the planet Norstrilia, confers on them virtual immortality. A world in which wealthy and leisured humanity is served by the underpeople, genetically engineered animals turned into the semblance of people. A world in which the great ships which sail between the stars are eventually supplanted by the mysterious, instantaneous technique of planoforming. A world of wonder and myth, and extraordinary imagination.

Fourteen classic Smith stories, set in his star-spanning future universe of scanners, planoforming ships and the Underpeople.Here is the account of the strange origin of the Vomact family and its role in founding the Instrumentality, of how one mans love broke the secret of Space-Three, of what happens to people too long between the stars - even of a shape-changing Martian with a passion for gadgets - in a collection that presents some of the strongest work of an unforgettable writer.

The Gem Planet, the Storm Planet, the Sand Planet . . . one of these three marvel worlds held the secret Casher ONeill sought. Casher had wandered the inhabited galaxy seeking justice, seeking the cosmic power that would enable him to return to his home world and overthrow its usurper. But in the search he found much more than he had sought, for there were things more incredible among the stars than he had dreamed of.

Illustrator: Hunter

Psychological warfare and propaganda have been used extensively in warfare since the earliest times. This book explores the functions, limitations, types, and history of psychological warfare through 1953. It was written by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, a US Army officer, a noted East Asia scholar, and an expert in psychological warfare, also known by the pseudonym Cordwainer Smith as a science fiction author. Linebarger had extensive experience with the practice and implementation of psychological warfare techniques in the field through his work with the Office of War Information, the Operation Planning and Intelligence Board, and the CIA.

When his ultra-logical computer tells him that to survive he must become the richest man in the universe, Rod McBan the hundred and fifty-first thought he had a good plan. A telepathic cripple, rejected by many of his people, owner of the Station of Doom, the safety of wealth would keep him safe. In one crowded, unbelievable night he achieved the impossible, became the richest boy in the galaxy.But Rod McBan will soon discover that money brings trouble. A galaxy of people and other beings - out to rob him, use him or kill him!