Against the Stone Beasts by James Blish
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"Against the Stone Beasts" by James Blish is a science fiction novel written in the late 1940s. The narrative explores themes of time travel, alien civilizations, and a war against an unseen predatory force inhabiting the Earth itself. It beautifully weaves speculative elements with deep emotional and philosophical undercurrents, capturing the tension between human experiences and alien cultures. The story follows the protagonist, Andreson, who accidentally time-travels to a future where winged
beings called the Varese inhabit a civilization on Earth, now under siege by mysterious creatures known as the space-beasts. Through his interactions with Jina, a Varesian, and Atel, another winged being, Andreson learns about the war against these creatures that can move through solid matter. With the city under threat of annihilation and the characters facing tremendous odds, the plot navigates through themes of identity, survival, and the complex dynamics of interspecies relationships. The unfolding conflict leads to dramatic confrontations, revealing the fragility of existence and the illusion of separation between worlds, ultimately posing profound questions about belonging and the essence of life. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Blish, James, 1921-1975 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Donel |
| Title | Against the Stone Beasts |
| Series Title | Produced from Planet Stories Fall 1948 |
| Credits | Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 82.1 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Time travel -- Fiction |
| Subject | Adventure stories |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 64630 |
| Release Date | Feb 25, 2021 |
| Last Update | Oct 18, 2024 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 300 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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