Ursula K Le Guin

"From acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin, and with an introduction by Karen Joy Fowler, a collection of thoughts--always adroit, often acerbic--on aging, belief, the state of literature, and the state of the nation. Ursula K. Le Guin has taken readers to imaginary worlds for decades. Now she's in the last great frontier of life, old age, and exploring new literary territory: the blog, a forum where her voice -- sharp, witty, as compassionate as it...

A human emissary sent to the world of Winter to bring it into a galactic civilization must find a way to bridge the gulf between his outlook and that of the natives, who can change gender at will.

Arha's isolated existence as high priestess in the tombs of Atuan is jarred by a thief who seeks a special treasure. When young Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, everything is taken away--home, family, possessions, even her name. For she is now Arha, the Eaten One, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan. While she is learning her way through the dark labyrinth, a young wizard, Ged, comes to steal the...

Earthling Sutty has been living a solitary, well-protected life in Dovza City on the planet Aka as an official Observer for the interstellar Ekumen. Insisting on all citizens being pure "producer-consumers," the tightly controlled capitalist government of Aka--the Corporation--is systematically destroying all vestiges of the ancient ways: "The Time of Cleansing" is the chilling term used to describe this era. Books are burned, the old language and...

For more than a half century, Ursula K. Le Guin's visionary science fiction has expanded boundaries and ambitions of the genre, bringing new literary aspiration to bold explorations of sexuality and gender, race and power, and the meaning of freedom. This volume, the first in a deluxe two-volume edition of her brilliant Hainish novels and stories, gathers five books, including her masterworks The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and The Dispossessed (1974),...

The story of two communities of outcasts from Earth living on another planet. In Victoria on a former prison colony, two exiled groups--the farmers of Shantih and the City dwellers--live in apparent harmony. All is not as it seems, however. While the peace-loving farmers labor endlessly to provide food for the City, the City Bosses rule the Shantih with an iron fist. When a group of farmers decide to from a new settlement further away, the Bosses...

In the magical world of Earthsea, the Amulet of Peace has ensured harmony between humans and dragons for centuries. But when the Amulet is broken and a piece of it disappears, it's up to a neophyte wizard to restore balance and stop a nefarious king from conquering Earthsea's islands.

The very best North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990 Includes Index.