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Pre-order: publishing September 2026
Introduction by David Mitchell
Foreword by Theo Downes-Le Guin
In Language of the Night, Ursula K. Le Guin reflects on genre and the ethical work of writing, championing the imagination as a vital instrument of freedom. Illuminating the making of major works such as A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness, Le Guin argues for science fiction and fantasy as literary modes that sustain philosophical, political and emotional inquiry.
This wide-ranging collection considers artistic responsibility, the uses of myth, the craft of storytelling, and the role of the writer as teacher and public intellectual. It charts Le Guin’s emergence as one of the defining literary voices of the twentieth century, while also considering what she calls the ‘journey of self-knowledge’ – a psychic and moral journey into the unconscious, whose perils and rewards are best expressed through the symbolic language of dreams, fantasy and fairy tales.
Paperback Original
Publication date: 10 September 2026
ISBN: 978-1-0682409-5-9
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Pre-order: publishing September 2026
With an afterword by Marcus du Sautoy
In this refusal of futurity, Ursula K. Le Guin offers a counter-imaginary of place. She takes a non-linear journey through the stories we tell about progress and history, showing a way out of forward-oriented colonial modernity and its doctrine of technological utopias. Drawing upon Taoist philosophy and Indigenous storytelling, she advocates for anti-heroic alternatives to myths of endless growth.
Through Le Guin's characteristically playful prose, A Non-Euclidean View of California as a Cold Place to Be shows that how we write is inseparable from how we imagine worlds, revealing the possibilities of living differently here and now.
Imprint: Spiral HouseSeries: Portals
Paperback Original
Publication date: 10 September 2026
ISBN: 978-1-9193180-1-1
