Annotated
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Bibliography
Annotated
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Bibliography
This annotated bibliography contains research sources for speculative fiction (fantasy, horror, and science fiction).
I. Anthologies
II. Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
A. Arthurian & Medieval
B. Fantasy & Horror
C. Science Fiction
III. Mythology & Folklore
IV. Paranormal/Cryptozoology/UFO
I. Anthologies
Fantastic
Worlds: Myths, Tales, and Stories. Ed. Eric S. Rabkin. New York: oxford
university Press, 1979.
Rabkin, Professor of English and Associate Dean at the University of Michigan at San Harbor, chronicles the long and rich history of fantasy genre in this anthology. The sections divide the tales into sub-genres: ""Myth," "Folktale," "Fairy Tale," "Fantasy," "Horror Fiction," "Ghost Stories," "Heroic Fantasy," "Modern Fantasy," and even a sampling of science fiction. It contains many stories but lacks the author biographies provided in the editor's book chronicling science fiction (see entry for Science Fiction: An Historical Anthology). It does include a good annotated bibliography, however, and has detailed sections concerning analyzing fantasy, fantasy's narrative structure, analysis of fantasy audiences, the sources of fantasy, and the necessity of the fantastic. An anthology that provides good information about the genre and its history.
Malory,
Sir Thomas. King Author and His Knights (Selected Tales). Ed. Eugene
Vinover. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
The Arthurian legends are a staple of fantasy literature, and perhaps the best known version of these tales come from Sir Thomas Malory. Eugene Vinover presents selected legends as told by Malory. It is interesting to note how certain characters and stories vary in Malory's rendition and those of other authors, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth and the author of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The characters of Arthur, Gawain, and Mordred are quite different characters in different versions. Malory's Gawain, for example, is a far different character shown in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight": Malory's Gawain is a knave more concerned for his personal gain and is rather cowardly, while the later Gawain is the incarnation of the ideal knight. Some of the stories in this anthology includes "The Knight of the Cart," "The Holy Grail,' "Balin, or The Knight with the Two swords," and "The Death of Arthur" chronicling the demise of the mighty king of the Britons.
The
Romance of Arthur: An Anthology of Medieval Texts in Translation. Ed.
James J. Wilhelm. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1994.
This is an excellent anthology of Arthurian legends other than the Malory versions. It has in-depth discussion of each story prior to presenting the tale A wide range of authors and stories are provided, including an in-depth account of Geoffrey at Monmuth's History of Briton and an aliteritive Morte d'Arthur. The characters are as varied as is the authors: there is the national hero Arthur as described by Geoffrey to be contrasted against the rather whiny and cowardly Arthur of "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell." Of course, there is a telling of "The Knight of the Cart" and "Sir Gawain and he Green Knight." This book makes a superb companion to The New Arthurian Encyclopedia (see entry under Dictionaries & Encyclopedias ).
Science
Fiction: An Historical Anthology. Ed. Eric S. Rabkin. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1983.
An anthology that presents the history of the genre of science fiction. It is categorized by era: "The Emergence of modern Science (1657-1752)," "The Nineteenth Century (1816-1908)," "Early Twentieth Century (1899-1937)", "The Golden Years (1940-1965)", and "The Modern Period (1966-1971)." Rabkin chronicles the advancements in science fiction literature from its earliest beginning, for example Cyrano de Bergerac's Other Worlds, to the classics of the early 1970s like "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" by Ursula K. le Quinn, and everything in between such as Shelley's Frankenstein and Harlan Ellison's horrific "I Have No Mouth and I must Scream." Provides biographical information on each author and examines each era in the time period.
Weird
Tales: The Magazine That Never Dies. Ed. Marvin Kaye. Garden City, NY:
Doubleday Books & Music Clubs, Inc., 1988.
Weird Tales was the first magazine of fantasy and horror literature and for many years was the main source of the genre. It was (more or less) the magazine that launched a thousand pulps dealing with fantasy and science fiction such as Amazing Stories. It was the magazine that also launched many authors and renown characters and cycles. Among them are H. P. Lovecraft and his Cluthu mythos and Robert E. Howard and Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane, and various others. Weird Tales is the most anthologized magazine currently in history, something that must eat away at those snobs who feel that genre literature has no place alongside mainstream fiction. This anthology provides stories from each year of the magazine's original run, along with author career information and the history of The Unique Magazine. It also has notes for each story. A great book.
II. Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
A. Arthurian & Medieval
B. Fantasy & Horror
Barlowe,
Wayne Douglas. Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy. New York: HarperPrism,
1996.
This is the companion to the classic Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. It is arranged in the same manner: selected characters form works of the fantasy genre are presented with descriptions of the world setting the character comes from, the physical characteristics of the character or creature, and a brief history of the character. This information is accompanied by the fantastic color art of Barlowe depicting what the character looks like based on the information from the literature. This is a wonderful resource book. The only recommendation I would offer is that I wish Barlowe would do additional volumes because there simply is not enough space in one volume to cover the wide range of fantasy characters not covered in the first addition. A few presented in this book are the Golem, Grendel, and the Caterpillar of Wonderland.
The
Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Eds. John Clute and John Grant. New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1997.
While The Encyclopedia of Fantasy covers a wide range of fantasy literature and related subjects such as author biographies, terminology, history of fantasy, fantasy games, and folklore and mythology, it is not as impressive or as accurate as the editors' The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, a fact that the editors admit themselves. One example of inaccuracy in this book is that a book written by author Robert Asprin is wrongly accredited to Lynn Abbey; another mistake is made with the title of a Charles di Lint novel. These mistakes will hopefully be corrected in the second edition. Another thing that struck me as odd was the bizarre inclusion of such topics as "Pornographic Fantasy Movies"; why was this garbage included and other more relevant material omitted? This book may be a starting point for research, but beware that it is not a wholly accurate reference source and it would be wise to double check any questionable information presented within it. Not on the same level as the editors' excellent Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction (see entry for The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Forth Edition).
Masello,
Robert. Fallen Angels and Spirits of the Dark. New York Perigee Books,
1994.
This is an encyclopedia of devils, demons, and assorted other supernatural creatures. Although a small book in size, it coins a goldmine of information concerning damned spirits, lycanthropes, and fairies (to a lesser extent). It presents the geography of Hell as it has been envisioned over the years by various seers, prophets, and poets; the hierarchy of Hell, listing the various demons in their rank under Satan; a brief history of the devils and creatures, such as the gremlin, a nasty goblin-like creature that came into existence only during the Twentieth century; and other information, including my personal favorite, the interrogation questions from the witch trials: "How long have you been a witch? . . . .Why does the devil give you blows in the night? . . . What vermin have you created and what do you make these creatures out of and how do you do it?" (Fine examples of innocent until proven guilty, huh?). This is a fine source of information about what these devils and creatures are, how they became this way, what powers they posses and--thankfully!--how to protect yourself from their evildoings.
Monsters
of Myth & Legend, Vols. I-III. Mayfair Games, early 1990s.
Role-Aids Fantasy Role-P;aying Game sourcebooks that provide descriptions of mythical and legendary dieties, monsters, and characters from various traditions, along with the original tales in which they appear. Vol. I covers Australian, Chinese, Greek, Irish Celtic, Norse, and North American Indian; Vol. II: African, Central and South American Indian, Eskimo, Japanese, and Mid-Eastern; Vol. III: Egyptian, Finnish, Indian, Oceanic, Persian, Roman, Slavic, Teutonic, and Tibetan.
Snider,
Richard and David L. Arneson. Book of Creatures and Treasure. Adventures
In Fantasy. Adventures Unlimited, 1979.
This is actually a sourcebook for the long out of print and obscure fantasy role-playing game Adventures In Fantasy. While this book is rare and is intended for fantasy gaming, it is a wonderful compendium of fantastic creatures. It covers all the better known monsters of myth and lore, including the classical Greek hydra, the European dragon, and the Slavic version of the vampire; it also presents accurate information on lesser-known beings from various nationalities. Among these are the Arabic Ifreet (a giant Islamic demon kin to the djinn), the tigbanua of the Philippines (a ghoulish demon whose natural enemy is the cat), and the Armenian Al ( a terrible monster armed with large shears and delights in harming children). Information about the physical attributes is given along with lore about the nature and supernatural powers associated with it. If the biographical information isn't enough to indicate if the being is friendly or harmful to mankind, the alignment used by the game system indicates evil (Chaotic) from good (Lawful). This book makes a good research source for fantasy literature because it relies upon the actual mythologies and folklore of various cultures, as opposed to Wizards of the Coast's popular AD&D role-playing sourcebooks, which also includes a lot of creatures that were invented specifically for the game and are not traditional mythos creatures.
C. Science Fiction
Barlowe,
Wayne Douglas, Ian Summers, and Beth Meacham. Barlowe's Guide to
Extraterrestrials. New York: Workman Publishing, 1987.
This is the second printing of the 1979 classic. Selected characters from various science fiction tales are presented with the fantastic art of Barlowe depicting what the character or creature would look like based on the description presented in the literature . Along with the beautiful art is text giving descriptions of physical characteristics of the character and the habitat in which the character or creature is encountered. Of course, the source from which the character comes is also provided. Some of the creatures presented are The Thing from "Who Goes There?", Vegan from Heinlein's Have Spacesuit Will Travel, and Stanislaw Lem's Solaris from the novel of the same name. Highest recommendations.
The
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Eds. John Clute and
Peter Nicholls. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.
More than 4,300 entries on everything in the field of science fiction: literature, authors, toys, comic books, games (board and role-playing), history, conventions, terminology, and themes. It gives short biographical information for key authors of science fiction and even a few fantasy writers, such as Robert E. Howard, and horror writers, Peter Straub, for example. The author biographies are accompanied with extensive bibliographies of the author's work. This is, in my opinion, the finest encyclopedia dealing with genre fiction. There are a few very minor inaccuracies, but considering the enormous scope and range of this tome, a few small oversights are bound to occur. Overall, the articles are well written, accurate, and for fans and professionals a staple in science fiction studies. It is a book of higher quality than its companion book The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (see entry for The Encyclopedia of Fantasy), which proves to be less accurate and less inclusive as The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Highest recommendations for those researching a subject in the genre or serious readers of speculative fiction.
The
Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Ed. George Mann. New
York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2001.
This encyclopedia is divided into the categories of "Yhe History and Origins of Science Fiction"; "Science Fiction on the Page," covering major authors (biographies and bibliographies) and noteworthy magazines; "Science Fiction on the Screen," covering majot films and television series; "Terms, Themes, and Devices in Science Fiction"; and, "Societies and Awards."
The
Sci-Fi Channel Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction. Eds. Roger Fulton
and John Betancourt. New York: Warner Books, 1997.
Episode summaries and information on science fiction, fantasy, and horror television series through 1997.
Stableford,
Brian. The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places. New York: Wonderland
Press, 1999.
A reference book of legendary science fiction worlds, the works they appear in, and their amazing denizens.
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