Date: 18 Dec 88 21:28:23 PST (Sunday) Subject: Author Lists: Bibliographic Sources From: JWenn To: SF-LOVERS%rutgers:EDU A number of people have written and asked what references I've used for my Author Lists. So here is a list of my most used references, from most useful to least used: R. Reginald - "SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY LITERATURE" (2 Volumes) [1979] This is my core reference. It covers 15,884 SF books from 1700 to 1974 (plus about 2000 retitlings). In addition it covers 1443 biographies of SF&F people. The book entries have title, alternate title, series and information on first publication (year, publisher, etc.). This is exceptionally accurate and complete. The only problem is that it's quickly becoming dated. A update has been promised in "Forthcoming Books In Print" for several years now (covering 1975 - 1986, 2 Volumes, 1988, $140.00, 600 pages), but I'll believe it when I see it. (Please release it soon!) Curtis C. Smith, Ed. - "TWENTIETH-CENTURY SCIENCE-FICTION WRITERS (2nd edition)" [1986]. This covers the works of 615 SF writers, lists all their works until 1985 (including non-SF fiction and non-fiction in a separate categories) and has an essay on the author. Unfortunately, this book isn't as useful as it could be (although it is better than the first edition). There are several entries that are sloppy or incorrect (large publishers are generally OK, but small press books are often wrong). In addition it has an incomprehensible system for putting a book in the SF list or the Other list (hard SF == SF, Mystery/Western/Romance == Other, Fantasy == Other [but not always, often different books in the same fantasy series are split between the categories!!]). This is really annoying for authors who write a mixture of genre & non-genre works. It does have a useful listing of all uncollected (in an single author collection) short stories [Randall Garrett has nearly 200 uncollected stories listed!] I generally only use this for the 1974-1985 gap, and can only use it if it's one of the 615 people listed. (and can ignore it when Reginald's releases his update). Charles N. Brown & William Contento - "SCIENCE FICTION IN PRINT: 1985" [1986], "SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, & HORROR: 1986" [1987], (plus volumes covering 1987, 1988 & 1984). This yearly reference contains: (1) A listing of all books published that year (basically a concatenation of the "Books Received" section from Locus, see below), (2) A listing of stories published in SF magazines, new anthologies and new collections (it doesn't give the contents of reprinted anthologies or collections), (3) Misc info (year in review, awards, deaths, recommended reading, and the like). The book list and story list are given in several formats: by author, by title, items originally published this year, by subject (books) and by contents (books). The 1986 version is much more readable than the 1985 (in format, organization and typeface). Volumes covering 1989 is being worked on. LOCUS Magazine - "Books Received" section. [I own a nearly complete run from December 1979]. The lists all the books received by Locus from various publishers. This is both good and bad. The good news is that it doesn't have bogus listings (the bane of the bibliographer). The bad news is that genuine books that they didn't happen to get are left out. It's like a theorem from math I've tried hard to forget: you can never get an exact listing of all functions satisfying X. Either you ignore some functions that fit, or you include some functions that don't fit. So do you want accuracy or completeness? L. W. Currey - "SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY AUTHORS - A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FIRST PRINTINGS OF THEIR FICTION" [1979] What it says: A listing of the the first editions of all fiction written by 217 authors. It's useful if you need some means of identifying a first edition, but it's use is limited because it lists all fiction without regard to genre. It is extremely accurate and complete. I use it mainly as a check on Smith. Donald Tuck - "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY (3 Volumes)" [1974, 1978, 1982]. This lists all SF published (or reprinted) between 1945 and 1968. It's real problem is that it's so out of date. It's quite accurate (but not 100%). The real use is that it REALLY covers all books published between 1945 and 1968. It lists all the editions of a book, it lists the contents (stories, etc. in the book) and lists series. I use this when the relationship between older books isn't clear (e.g. "Are the stories in XXX a proper subset of stories in YYY?") William Contento - "INDEX TO SCIENCE FICTION ANTHOLOGIES AND COLLECTIONS" [1978] & "INDEX TO SCIENCE FICTION ANTHOLOGIES AND COLLECTIONS: 1977 - 1983" [1984]. What is says: a listing of the contents of all SF anthologies & single author collections, all the way up to 1983. The Brown & Contento volumes cover more recent books. The first has about 2000 books & the second an additional 1000. While it is weak in hard-to-find, very old, obscure, british, or small-press books; it is quite useful and complete for standard titles. It's interesting to see how many times "Nightfall", "The Cold Equations", "Microcosmic God" or "A Martian Odyssey" have been collected [23, 21, 10 and 14 times respectively]. Also useful when the relationship between books isn't clear (e.g. "Are the stories in XXX a proper subset of stories in YYY?"). Various - "CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS". I don't own these works, but I use them at my local Public Library as an addition source. There have been 127 volumes of the original series & 27 volumes of the new series published so far (with about 2 more volumes published in each series every year). Each volume covers a couple hundred authors from all fields of literature & journalism. It gives an listing of the author's work (generally directly from the author) plus a little bit about the author. Major articles can contain several pages of essays or interviews. It's reasonably accurate (even if it does omit some obscure books) and makes a good secondary source to compare to my my preliminary lists. One thing to note is that I almost *NEVER* pay any attention to "BOOKS IN PRINT". It is far too unreliable to use as a serious reference work. (It contains many bogus books, primarily ones planned by the publisher but never actually published). You need a completely different set of references for short stories published in magazines (none of which I own, and most of which are out of print). Sorry to all the short story lovers out there. /John arpa: JWenn.ESAE@Xerox.com shareandenjoyshareandenjoyspendyourlifewithaplasticboyorgirlbyyourside-ly