A mediocre science fiction reference that pales in comparison to the vastly superior and much more mammoth John Clute and Peter Nichols Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ( )

This one is a fantastic resource for all SF lovers. It gives a wide range of information about authors and movies, and also about various SF themes, societies, awards and recipients. An excellent reference book into which one can dip at will. The only possible flaw is that it gives glowing reviews to each book and film it tackles, so a pinch of salt is recommended.

I have been using this a basic resource to catch up on my SF reading (especially the classics) and viewing for the past three years. ( )

I am reading this book from cover to cover right now, without being able to stop. It's not even a work of fiction, and I am doing it as a real page-turner. And that is saying something about the quality of reviews.
This type of book is useful for me, because, apart from reading the first Dune Trilogy by Frank Herbert, and a couple of Heinlein books, and some Ray Bradbury, I am a science fiction neophyte. I need lots of help to find out who all of the authors are. Or, I could just actually get some actual novels and stories and read them
I think my first plan after reading this book is to go back to the Dune Trilogy, about 35 years after reading it the first time.
But for the time being, this is a great great book to read. I wonder if there is an updated version to read from after 2001.

http://www.nicholaswhyte.info/sf/mann.htm

This book weighs in at 612 pages, and is split into 7 sections as follows:

(1) a 26-page essay on "The History and Origins of Science Fiction" (why not "The Origins and History" I wonder). Not especially exciting.

(2) 300 pages, amost half the book, on "Science Fiction on the Page", in fact around 100 articles on individual authors and the best-known magazines. The selection is tilted towards the UK; no entry for Connie Willis, Mike Resnick, Charles Sheffield or indeed L Sprague de Camp, but full coverage for Eugene Byrne, Roger Levy, Justina Robson and Stephen Palmer. Not exhaustively researched, for instance Neal Stephenson's first book was not Zodiac but The Big U. One nice innovation is that reading lists of similar writers are given at the end of each author's entry.

(3) 130 pages on "Science Fiction on the Screen"; 100 classic sf films (or films based on classic sf books) and 20 classic sf TV series. No entry, not even a cross-reference, for The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy which is covered in the Douglas Adams entry in the previous section.

(4) 40 pages on "Terms, Themes and Devices in Science Fiction". Rather difficult to get into because it's stuck in the middle of the book without any clear signposting. Same rather pedestrian style as the introduction - eg "Gender issues in SF are not frequently raised but are of great importance."

(5) 15 pages on "Societies and Awards" which also includes four websites, Made in Canada, scifi.com, SF Crowsnest and SF Site. The listing of Hugo and Nebula awards includes a Nebula for "The Cost of Doing Business" by M Night Shyamalan, which will come as news to Leslie What, and a Hugo for "Bear Discovers Fire", a new twist to that story.

(Leslie What sent me an email in November 2001 saying, "yes, it did come as news and I have to say I'm amazed that a Hollywood guy would bother writing short stories for so little money." ;-) )

(6) An "Appendix" which is an alphabetical list of almost 70 pages of sf stories listed alphabetically by title, giving the author(s) in each case.
(7) A short "Index" which lists only the main article referring to each author and doesn't bother with those tedious cross-references.

This could have been a much more usable book if the whole lot had been merged into a single alphabetical run à la Clute & Nicholls. I don't think it could have been a better one, unfortunately. It rather looks as if it was thrown together to help Ottakars (the UK book chain for whom the author works) shift some of their less well selling lines. I'd recommend that anyone going for a decent encyclopedia of sf buy the Clute and Nicholls CD with the Ansible viewer by Dave Langford.

I bought this at my local English-language bookshop because I am a bit of a completist. To be honest, it's the only reason I can imagine anyone wanting to buy this book. Incidentally it claims to have been first published in the US by St Martin's in 1999 - this doesn't seem consistent with the information inside, including the October 2000 date for the author's foreword, and I can't find any record of it on-line. ( )