{"product_id":"2940157599935","title":"Umbrellas up the Mountain","description":"Eight imaginative tales of nonstandard speculative fiction: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIs there something in humanity's future that will cause his extinction? Does the art produced by a single man matter? Can one face his own end with courage and purpose? What is it that can provide a new sentient species with true freedom? When might advancement break the spirit of man? Can utopia be something other than what one first perceives? What physical shape might a visiting extraterrestrial possess? What is mankind's next great leap?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe eight stories in more detail:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Last Frog \u003cbr\u003eA tale of a biologist who believes not only that man is alone in the universe but that humankind's future may also be without hope... To his surprise, he learns otherwise.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Old as Stars\u003cbr\u003eA tale of a young man who turns from science to art and is troubled with his choice until he has an unusual encounter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMelody in a Bottle\u003cbr\u003eA tale of a balloonist who has an encounter with something otherworldly and then ultimately with life itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUmbrellas up the Mountain\u003cbr\u003eA tale of a man whose journey up a mountain in Japan presents him with love and mystery, culminating in an unimagined awareness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Fall of Man\u003cbr\u003eA utopian tale of a man in the far-distant future who finds himself feeling a deep sense of unease after learning of the death of one of his fellow citizens.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Isle of Pan\u003cbr\u003eA tale of an idealistic man searching for a utopia on Earth and finding what he believes to be one, only to later discover that things are often not as they might first appear.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBimanous Quadrupedal Hexapods \u003cbr\u003eA tale about a paleontologist who is shown something from the deep past that provides an answer to a philosophical question that has been haunting him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOutgoing Tide\u003cbr\u003eA quasi-utopian tale of a man who finds a unique fossil fish, encounters the love of his life, and finds himself faced with a mystery involving the interconnectedness of life, the colonization of the sea, and the future of humankind.","brand":"Zinovii Art Studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47076620370160,"sku":"2940157599935","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940157599935_p0.jpg?v=1764099085","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940157599935","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}