ABSTRACT – COWIE, JONATHON & CHESTER, TONY ESSENTIAL SF

COWIE, JONATHON & CHESTER, TONY ESSENTIAL SF – A CONCISE GUIDE. 2005 Porcupine Books.

Encyclopaedic A to Z guide to all things science fiction, from Cyberpunk, to Space Opera. The book tries to cover too much for its short pocket-portability size, taking in books, films, TV, comics, conventions and obscure awards ceremonies. If it had stuck to books or films it might have covered wider ground but it inevitably omits as much as it includes. There are useful biographical summaries of the lives of major authors, and plot summaries of classic SF books and films. There are a few obscure references, such as the English Eagle Awards for SF. Sadly, while there is a list of every author to be the guest of honour at a Worldcon SF convention; no such list exists for UK Eastercon, which the authors criticise as cold and elitist at times. A list of the winners of Hugo and Nebula awards) the veritable Oscars of the SF world) would have been much more useful. This is a useful book for anyone looking for recommended reading within a wide genre and it will inevitably spark much argument in fandom as to what should have been included or left out. I am glad to see A Canticle For Liebowitz by Frank M. Miller included, but the omission of Olaf Stapleton’s Last And First Men is astonishing. Obscure but interesting films like Colossus – The Forbin Project take up valuable room here, the book is useful but far from essential or definitive. Traditional authors like H. G. Wells are covered along with moderns like Iain M. Banks, while fantasy authors are not included. There are exception to this, such as J. K. Rowling who won an SF award for The Goblet Of Fire novel, and provoked some controversy among hard SF fans as to whether or not she should have been short-listed for such recognition. www.concatanation.org

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