Antes de alcanzar fama mundial con la saga Canción de Hielo y Fuego, George R. R. Martin publicó cuentos y novelas de fantasía, terror y ciencia ficción. Con extraordinarias dotes narrativas y una capacidad magistral para crear mundos y personajes, se ha ganado el respeto de los lectores y la ovación de los jurados de prestigiosos premios literarios.

Este segundo volumen recopila lo mejor de la ciencia ficción de George R. R. Martin, presentando relatos con escenarios futuristas y misiones espaciales extremas, sirviendo como el telón de fondo perfecto para extraterrestres que enfrentan situaciones profundamente humanas.

Entre los clásicos destacados se encuentra la novela corta «Viajeros de la noche», que envuelve a la tripulación de una nave en una atmósfera inquietante, comandada por un misterioso viajero en una expedición para descubrir a los volcryn, una mítica raza de nómadas interestelares que nadie ha visto jamás.

The Idiot, a novel by Elif Batuman, is a portrait of the artist as a young woman, exploring the themes of self-discovery and inventing oneself. Set in the year 1995, when email was a new phenomenon, we follow Selin, the daughter of Turkish immigrants, as she begins her freshman year at Harvard. Without any preconceived plans, she enrolls in classes on unfamiliar subjects, forges a friendship with the charismatic and worldly Serbian classmate Svetlana, and, almost by chance, starts corresponding with Ivan, a Hungarian mathematics student.

Despite their limited face-to-face interactions, Selin and Ivan develop a complex relationship through their email exchanges, with each message adding new and mysterious layers to the act of writing. As the school year concludes, Ivan departs for Budapest, and Selin embarks on a teaching assignment in the Hungarian countryside, a position arranged by one of Ivan's friends. Her journey also includes a two-week sojourn in Paris with Svetlana.

Unlike the typical narratives of American college students abroad, Selin's experiences in Europe lead her on an introspective journey. She confronts the bewildering and exhilarating turmoil of first love and comes to an important realization: she is destined to become a writer. The Idiot is a candid reflection on the complexities of becoming an adult, filled with exquisite emotional and intellectual sensitivity, mordant wit, and a writing style that captures the unpredictable nature of memory itself.