It can sometimes be very time consuming, not to say frustrating, slogging round the shops looking for ink or toner for Canon printers (or any other printer for that matter). You know how it goes; the shop has ink or toner for just about every model except yours. Or they usually have your cartridge, but because you have a very popular model, the ink tends to sell out very quickly and there won’t be any new stock for another week.

Shop online for printer accessories

So you go to that little store a couple of miles away, but they happen to be closed for lunch – what now? Try the stationery superstore, it’s only a few miles away, but there are roadworks and a major diversion that adds a whole hour onto your journey. Surely it shouldn’t be this hard just to buy ink and toner for Canon printers? There’s a very simple solution. Go online to Toner24 where you’ll find an impressive selection of ink and toner for Canon printers. You’re sure to find the cartridge you need to fit your particular printer model. As well as taking the frustration out of the shopping experience, Toner24 will also make sure that you’re getting high quality ink at good value.

Choose the right ink or toner

Even though you think you’ve bought the correct toner for Canon printers, if you’re not careful, it’s too easy for the unwary shopper to be fobbed off with inferior ink. It may appear to be suitable for your printer, but it’s only when you come to print off that important assignment that you find out that cheap ink can result in substandard print quality. It’s not worth saving a few pennies if your printing job is patchy, streaky or covered in blots.

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From Harry Potter to Twilight

When it comes to topping the best sellers lists, the best of both British and American literature is based around the fantasy genre, with English author J.K Rowling (the Harry Potter series) and American author Stephanie Meyer (the Twilight series) in particular succeeding in bringing their words to the masses. Say what you like about the literary merit of these authors and their works – and, believe me; many have – there is no denying their popularity, and both the Harry Potter series and Twilight series, as well as being adapted into box office hits at the cinema, have also brushed all of their contemporaries aside in terms of sales. This taste for fantasy can also be found in the work of other well respected authors such as Terry Pratchett (the Discworld series), Philip Pullman (the His Dark Materials series) and Christopher Paolini (the Inheritance Cycle series).

From McCarthy to Hornby

However, away from the fantasy, there are also a number of contemporary authors who, in years to come, will without doubt also be considered “one of the greats.” For example, in terms of awards and consistency, there are few who can compare to American Cormac McCarthy. In addition to the recognition he received for his 2006 novel The Road (winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Believer Book Award and the James Tait Black Memorial prize), McCarthy has also earned acclaim for other works such as No Country For Old Men, and the play The Sunset Limited. Additionally, English author and screenwriter Nick Hornby is considered by many to be one of the most prolific novelists of the last twenty years, with novels such as High Fidelity, Fever Pitch and About a Boy being well received by the public and literary critics alike.

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Novels

Stephen Baxter’s first novel, Raft, published by UK publisher Voyager in 1991. In addition to following in the steps of his hero H.G Wells’ and Arthur C. Clarke in regards to discussing the concept of time travel, Raft also explores the idea of alternate universes and the potential death of the human race. These themes are further explored in Baxter’s novels Timelike Infinity (1992), Flux (1993), Ring (1993), Vacuum Diagrams (1997), Reality Dust (2000), Riding the Rock (2002), Mayflower II (2004) and Starfall (2009), which make up the author’s Xeelee Sequence series.

Popular Concepts

However, it is the concept of time travel that features most prominently in Stephen Baxter’s bibliography. The author’s recent collaboration with Arthur C. Clarke on the A Time Odyssey series in addition to his own Time’s Tapestry series further highlight Baxter’s interest in the field of time travel in fiction. In regards to the author’s latest series of novels, the Northland Trilogy, Baxter explores the concept of alternate universes, which is an idea that also features throughout his work. However, even in these cases, the alternate universes in each of the books are set in different time periods (the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age). In terms of writing technique, Baxter has always stated that he is not a fan of novels that end with cliff hangers and has repeatedly gone on record as saying that his books, especially in the case of the Xeelee Sequence, were intended to be read in any order.

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Of course, nowadays, space travel is a very real thing. Similarly, Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein wouldn’t have been half as mystifying had it been written in the 21st century, rather than the 19th. And while it is true that audiences nowadays aren’t as easily mesmerised as those who were yet to experience space travel and the microchip; science fiction as a genre is still as popular as ever.

Science Fiction of the 21st Century

Following an increase in popularity of the horror genre, both in film and in literature, science fiction works of the 21st century have mainly been focused on horror, also. The most notable work of science fiction in terms of sales and recognition is Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer prize winning The Road. Focusing the on the journey of a man and his son, The Road is set in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by zombie-like antagonists. This “zombie-based” narrative is a common feature in many science fiction novels of the 21st century, as is the “post-apocalyptic” landscape, with many contemporary authors countering the advancement of technology by showing a world in which technology and science has gone too far.

Sci-Fi Comedy

In addition to exploring strange new worlds and dealing with sinister robots or aliens, science fiction has also provided a firm platform for many humorous novels. English author Terry Pratchett, for example, has been writing and publishing his Discworld series now for almost 30 years with a great deal of success and adulation. Similarly, one of the most famous and highly regarded novels of any genre of the 20th century is Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which also included four successful sequels.

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The settings for such works of fiction often differ at least slightly from the reality we know. However, such novels usually still contain elements that are at least theoretically possible within scientifically established laws of nature.

Origins of Science Fiction as a Genre

Although it was once argued by many literary historians that the origins of science fiction as a genre could be found in mythological works of the Greeks and Egyptians, it is more widely accepted that these writings fall more into the “fantasy” genre. With this in mind, it is the belief of many contemporary historians that Lucian’s True History is the earliest example of the science fiction genre. Written during the 2nd century, the True History is the first recorded work of fiction that explores space travel.

Science Fiction as a popular Genre of Fiction

As a popular genre of literary fiction, science fiction didn’t really come to the fore until the 17th and 18th century, when works such as Voltaire’s Micromegas and Johannes Kepler’s Somium were published. It is no coincidence that these works were published during a time when the development of modern science really began to gather momentum. However, it was in the 19th century when the genre really made a name for itself, with authors such as Mary Shelly (Frankenstein) and Edgar Allen Poe combining the then popular “gothic fiction” with the science motifs. It was also in the 19th century that H.G Wells’ masterpiece The War of the Worlds was first published.

Science Fiction in the 20th century

When movies became a popular form of art, science fiction as a genre was made accessible to the main stream. With movie goers loving films set in the future or even in space, many notable authors picked up on the trend and science fiction became one of the most popular genres of fiction all across the world.

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