Reference Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror: [Hardcover]

Michael Burgess (Author), Lisa R. Bartle (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1563085488 | ISBN-13: 978-1563085482 | Publication Date: December 1, 2002 | Edition: 2

This revision of Burgess's critically acclaimed guide to reference works in the fascinating genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror thoroughly maps the territory of reference works, covering all major (and some minor) information sources published in the field starting in the 1950s and well into 2001. Annotations are lengthy, detailed, and evaluative, often comparing works to other similar titles. Approximately 160 of the 700 annotations are new to this edition; 50-100 others have been extensively revised. Fan publications, serials, periodicals with reference value and nongenre materials of interest to science fiction researchers are reviewed in addition to such standard tools as bibliographies, encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, and indexes. Major online resources and printed guides to the Internet have been added on a selective basis. The book also features core collection lists for academic, public, and personal research libraries. Aimed at librarians in academic and large public libraries.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Designed to "provide the librarian, researcher, and fan with a path through the labyrinthine maze of amateur and professional reference materials in the related fields of science fiction, fantasy, and horror," this volume updates one published in 1992. The book is divided into 32 sections (up from 29 in the first edition), including "Encyclopedias and Dictionaries," "Magazine and Anthology Indexes," "Subject Bibliographies," "Character Dictionaries and Author Cyclopedias," and "Film and Television Catalogs." Each section begins with a scope note explaining what is included and why. Complete bibliographic citations are followed by literate and readable annotations that vary from a brief note to three or four lengthy paragraphs. The annotations consist of description and succinct analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each item. As the authors point out in their introduction, 150 of the 705 entries are new to this edition, and many more have been revised.

One of the new sections, "Major On-Line Resources," is a particularly valuable examination of 20 Web sites, ranging from Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database ("Five stars for this extraordinarily useful site") to the Ultimate Science Fiction Web Site ("This hodge-podge site has clearly grown way beyond the control of its manager"). The final section, "Core Collections," lists titles that would be appropriate for the reference collections of academic, public, and personal libraries. The ambitious institutional collections are subdivided by size and type of library--for example, there are different lists for large city systems, medium-sized county and city libraries, and small public and county libraries (which would work for high-school libraries, too). Separate author, title, and subject indexes complete the work.

RBB called the first edition of Reference Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror "one of the best and most complete works to be published on the three popular genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror," and this is no less true of the second. Because the three genres that are covered have only increased in popularity, most public and academic libraries will want this title on their shelves. Libraries that bought the first edition will certainly want to update. REVWR
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Review

?Sometimes you come across a really useful book. This is one of those times. Regardless of whether you are a librarian in a small public library or in a research university, no matter whether you have been a scholar since the dawn of science fiction criticsm or just taking your first steps on the road of fantasy research, you will find something of use in the Reference Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. It provides guidance among the various kinds of reference volumes that are available to scholars of the fantastic....This is an excellent reference guide: comprehensive, easy to use, and clearly written by people with an in-depth knowledge of their subject. It is something any researcher of the fantastic will find useful, and it belongs in all libraries that intend to have reference section on sf, fantasy, or horror literature.?-Science Fiction Studies

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 598 pages
• Publisher: Libraries Unlimited; 2 edition (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563085488
• ISBN-13: 978-1563085482
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,200,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Reginald (who also writes as R. Reginald, Michael Burgess, and Boden Clarke), was born in Japan in the Year of the Rat, and lived in Turkey as a youth. He started writing as a child, and penned his first book during his senior year at college. He's since churned out more than 12 million words of professional fiction and nonfiction, including more than 120 published books and 13,000 short pieces. He's also edited over 1,500 books for half a dozen publishing lines. He currently serves as Editor of the Borgo Press Imprint of Wildside Press. You can find him at www.millefleurs.tv.