Castaway Tales

“Castaway Tales is an important anatomy of a tradition of which we have all been long aware … but which we have not before seen explored in such a provocative and insightful manner.”—Gary K. Wolfe, Science Fiction Studies

“[T]he book’s value lies in the detailed analysis of poetry and fiction that parodies, inverts, or otherwise reworks various tropes that he contends hearken back … thoughtfully examining a host of mostly 20th- and 21st-century primary sources that have received only minimal critical coverage.”—D.C. Maus, Choice

"This is a wonderful book, which in effect identifies a genre of fiction that has always been there straddling several other genres, and is now here revealed by Palmer in all its glory. His analysis is insightful and entertaining."

—Kim Stanley Robinson, New York Times best-selling author of Aurora and 2312

"Intelligent and inventive, Castaway Tales delivers superb readings of familiar texts and contemporary variants. The castaway myth is still fresh and Palmer's study is impressive in its historical breadth and literary range."

—John Rieder, author of Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction