Boris Vallejo

Before the dawn of history mankind was engaged in the study of dreaming. The wise man among the ancients was preeminently the interpreter of dreams. The ability to interpret successfully or plausibly was the quickest road to royal favor, as Joseph and Daniel found it to be; failure to give satisfaction in this respect led to banishment from court or death. When a scholar laboriously translates a cuneiform tablet dug up from a Babylonian mound where it has lain buried for five thousand years or more, the chances are that it will turn out either an astrological treatise or a dream book. If the former, we look upon it with some indulgence; if the latter with pure contempt. For we know that the study of the stars, though undertaken for selfish reasons and pursued in the spirit of charlatanry, led at length to physical science, while the study of dreams has proved as unprofitable as the dreaming of them. Out of astrology grew astronomy. Out of oneiromancy has grown - nothing.That at least was substantially true up to the beginning of the present century. Dream books in all languages continued to sell in cheap editions and the interpreters of dreams made a decent or, at any rate, a comfortable living out of the poorer classes. But the psychologist rarely paid attention to dreams except incidentally in his study of imagery, association and the speed of thought. But now a change has come over the spirit of the times. The subject of the significance of dreams, so long ignored, has suddenly become a matter of energetic study and of fiery controversy the world over.The cause of this revival of interest is the new point of view brought forward by Professor Bergson in the paper which is here made accessible to the English-reading public. This is the idea that we can explore the unconscious substratum of our mentality, the storehouse of our memories, by means of dreams, for these memories are by no means inert, but have, as it were, a life and purpose of their own, and strive to rise into consciousness whenever they get a chance, even into the semi-consciousness of a dream. To use Professor Bergson's striking metaphor, our memories are packed away under pressure like steam in a boiler and the dream is their escape valve.That this is more than a mere metaphor has been proved by Professor Freud and others of the Vienna school, who cure cases of hysteria by inducing the patient to give expression to the secret anxieties and emotions which, unknown to him, have been preying upon his mind. The clue to these disturbing thoughts is generally obtained in dreams or similar states of relaxed consciousness. According to the Freudians a dream always means something, but never what it appears to mean. It is symbolic and expresses desires or fears which we refuse ordinarily to admit to consciousness, either because they are painful or because they are repugnant to our moral nature. A watchman is stationed at the gate of consciousness to keep them back, but sometimes these unwelcome intruders slip past him in disguise.

Eaiou is a planet where catpeople live. They start getting ill and die. Humans are being infected too. Dr. Mc. Coy has his hands in his hair. Uhura has a friend who taught her some "forbidden songs". She tell Spock that the Eaiouans are not from the planet. They travelled to Eaiou many centuries ago. Spock and Uhura start using the songs to find the homeworld. Maybe there will be a cure there....

Reveals the creative worlds of the fantasy artists and shows the steps from conception to development, as well as illustrating techniques and painting styles, through color photographs of their work in progress.

First Book in the Mirage Trilogy A gay “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” Mirage is the story of two men on the primitive tribal planet Ki, the impulsive hunter Greeland and his younger partner Enkidu, who have been promised to each other in the ancient ways of the tiny planet for a lifetime. But a brutal murder and the events that unfold after it have made both of them seek asylum on Earth, the planet they will use in the bodies of two lovers, Alan Kostenbaum and Wright Smith, two men whose identities and souls Greeland and Enkidu will occupy and who will be sacrificed to their needs. Mirage combines relentless action, adventure, suspense, and political savvy—published in 1991, during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S., and all the paranoia and hostility around the spread of this “gay disease,” as so many homophobes called it—and the newly open and expressed romantic feelings among gay men. It is a precursor to many gay romantic novels that came after it, that deal with issues of gay fidelity and same-sex marriage, even though it is in the form of a gay science fiction novel. As Enkidu, the young man from the planet Ki learns in the body of Alan Kostenbaum: “As they said here on Earth, money made the world go round. But I knew that only love could change things.” In truth, Mirage is a deeper psychological novel than most science fiction, and its theme of four men occupying two bodies is beautifully realized with all the conflicts and romantic energy natural to this kind of tale. Whether you read Mirage for its exciting plot, or for its candor about gay sexuality or its warm romanticism, you will find that this book more than rewards your time with its intense beauty and mystery.

Presents detailed labeled drawings, with background text, of the various spacecraft in "Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace."