It used to be said that you should ask that all responses be e-mailed back to you, then post the correct answer to the net. These days, no one does that, and people seem to enjoy the discussion that often follows. Nevertheless, at least check if someone else has responded before you post a bare-bones reply.

And do put a useful subject line on your posting. For example, "Subject: ID req: telepathic dog story" is more likely to get people who know the answer to respond than "Subject: story request". These days "YASID" is often used as a keyword ("Yet Another Story ID"), as in "YASID: Telepathic Dog".

Five of the most common requested stories are:

This has been anthologized many, many times. Some recent publications in which the story may be found include Bradbury's collection CLASSIC STORIES VOLUME 1 (Bantam 1990, 1995) and THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN AND OTHER STORIES (Avon 1997). It can also be found in Asimov & Greenberg's anthology THE GREAT SF STORIES: 14 (DAW 1986), which is often available in the sf section of used book stores.

2. Spoilers

In case you missed it above: Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a book is ruined if they know certain things about it, especially when those things are surprise endings or mysteries. On the other hand, they also want to know whether or not a book is worth reading, or they may be following a particular thread of conversation where such information may be revealed. The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in your header, or in the text of your posting. You can also put a ctl-L character in the first column for your readers who are using rn. Some people think that spoiler warnings are not necessary. We don't understand why, and do not want to discuss it. Use your best judgment.

3. "What books or stories are about X?"

SciFan has a lot of themed bibliographies at http://www.scifan.com/themes/. There are also several other lists published of works in specific sub-genres:



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A. Cyberpunk

Laura Burchard defined cyberpunk as "a subgenre of SF which (usually) combines high technology ("cyber") with an alienated, often criminal, subculture ("punk"). Some people consider cyberpunk to be a Literary Movement; others consider it a marketing gimmick. Arguing about which it is is pointless and not encouraged in this newsgroup." There is a news group called alt.cyberpunk which is the best place to discuss cyberpunk.

The latest bibliography can probably best be found through Google.



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B. Steampunk

Steampunk in analogous to cyberpunk, and refers to SF stories set in the 19th Century and involving technology of that era.

SciFan has one at http://www.scifan.com/themes/themes.asp?TH_themeid=89.



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C. Alternate Histories

"Uchronia," a large and searchable bibliography of alternate history stories is maintained by Robert Schmunk and is available on the Web at http://www.uchronia.net.

CAVEAT: Flat text copies of the bibliography may be found at various science fiction archives around the net. However, they are archived Usenet postings and none will be dated more recently than March 1997.



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D. Transformation Stories

SciFan has one at http://www.scifan.com/themes/themes.asp?TH_themeid=98



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E. Gender Issues

Here are a few sources:



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F. King Arthur and Robin Hood

Arthurian and Robin Hood FAQs posted to rec.arts.books and news.answers.



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G. Jewish SF

S. H. Silver has a list of Jewish SF stories at http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/jewishsf.html. He also has Pluto in SF, First Contact, debut stories & novels, Baseball in SF, and Chicago in SF bibliographies.



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H. Mormon SF

A long, but not exhaustive, annotated list, with links to other materials, may be found at http://www.adherents.com/lit/sf_lds.html.

Also try http://www.mormonsf.org/.



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I. Christian SF

There is information at the Christian Fandom website at http://www.christian-fandom.org/sf or http://www.christian-fandom.org/sf/books.html.



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J. Only non-human characters

Suggestions so far include:



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K. Post-apocalypse

See http://www.empty-world.com.

(There also used to be a bibliography and links at http://www.reed.edu/~karl/postapoc/, but it is no longer there. There is an archive of it at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.reed.edu/~karl/postapoc/. but if anyone has a new pointer, please let me know.)



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L. SF Set in Ireland

There is a checklist at http://explorers.whyte.com/irsf.htm.



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M. Other

As with requests for plots, titles, or authors, ask that all replies be e-mailed to you and that you will summarize (set the Followup-to to "poster" to encourage e-mail response). Note that a summary is not just concatenating all the replies together and posting the resulting file. Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information, and write a short summary.

4. "What books have been written by author X?" "What books are in series Y?"

See http://www.isfdb.org.

5. List of the Hugo, Nebula, or World Fantasy Award winners

Lists of award winners, including Hugo Awards, Nebula Awards, and many others, can be found at Laurie Mann's http://www.dpsinfo.com/awardweb/.

There are also lists at http://www.locusmag.com.

6. "Does anyone want to talk about X?"

If nobody seems to be discussing what you want to talk about, post a (polite) message opening the discussion. Don't just say, "Does anyone want to talk about X" or "I really like X" however; try to have something interesting to say about the topic to get discussion going.

Don't be angry or upset if no one responds. It may be that X is just a personal taste of your own, or quite obscure. Or it may be that X was discussed to death a few weeks ago, just before you came into the group. (If this is the case, you'll probably know, though, because some rude fool will probably flame you for "Bringing that up *AGAIN*!!!" Ignore them.)

7. What is science fiction?

This subject has been hashed out endlessly, and if you really want to see all the definitions proposed (or at least a very substantial subset), they have been collected by Neyir Cenk Gokce at http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html. The only definition that seems to work is Damon Knight's: "Science Fiction is what we point at when we say it." Unless you have something really new and amazing, don't start this topic. [Provided by Evelyn Leeper and Taki Kogoma.]

[If you think you have something new and amazing, try applying it to the following cases:

As for the origin of the term itself, according to Sam Moskowitz in EXPLORERS OF THE INFINITE: SHAPERS OF SCIENCE FICTION (page 240): "The first issue of SCIENCE WONDER STORIES was dated June 1929. ... Most important, [Hugo Gernsback] coined, in his editorial in the first SCIENCE WONDER STORIES, the term 'science fiction,' which was to become the permanent name of the genre, completely eclipsing 'scientifiction.'"



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7a. Are techno-thrillers science fiction?

I would say yes, but undoubtedly this will also be hashed out at great length and with great frequency.

8. What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy?

See question #7.

This also has been done to death. Virtually every answer you give will fail to clearly indicate which category a large number of books belong to. Familiar books mentioned that test the boundary conditions include Anne McCaffrey's "Dragon" series, Piers Anthony's "Apprentice Adept" series, STAR WARS, and anything that uses FTL. The most concise definition I've heard was given by John Clute in a radio broadcast 22 March 1997: " "Science fiction: the model is that it is a kind of story which argues from this world a kind of possible outcome. It's possibly an improbable outcome, but it is arguable. Fantasy essentially, as I have been seeing it, is a series of stories, self-coherent stories (a term we use, kind of a bad neologism to describe stories which as [it] were understand themselves as stories; they're told stories), that are set in worlds that are technically impossible, that we can't argue. We may believe in them, but we can't argue them."

A more complete listing of the borderline cases includes:

(Often someone suggests that fantasy and science fiction can be easily divided and this list is brought up, the original poster responds by saying they haven't read any of these so they can't say which category they go in. This is not likely to convince people that such a division is possible. :-) )

Of course, you can also check out Jerry Oltion's essay on this in the March 1997 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION.



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8a. Isn't magical realism just another name for fantasy?

This is regularly hashed out; see http://www.leepers.us/evelyn/reviews/magreal.htm for a summary of the discussion, a list of books, possible definitions, and more.



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8b. Why are fantasy works nominated for Hugo Awards?

Constitution of the World Science Fiction Society

Article II -- Hugo Awards

Section 2.2: Categories.

2.2.1: Best Novel. A science fiction OR FANTASY story of forty thousand (40,000) words or more appearing for the first time during the previous calendar year. ... [caps mine]

9. The SF-LOVERS Digest

The SF-LOVERS Digest is a service for those who cannot read the rec.arts.sf newsgroups directly. It is a compilation of the articles posted to sf.misc, sf.announce, sf.fandom, sf.movies, sf.tv, sf.written and sf.reviews which is sent out periodically via e-mail. However, it is currently suspended.

10. Star Trek/Babylon-5/Dr. Who

There are hierarchies of newsgroups for these topics. Articles about them, including books about them, should be posted there.

Do not post flames about people violating this guideline. Use e-mail to request they follow it. It's likely that this person is reading rec.arts.sf.written via the SF-LOVERS Digest and has no access to netnews or rec.arts.startrek. If so, that person will not see your flame because discussions of what's appropriate in the newsgroup are not included in the SF-LOVERS digest.

11. Common abbreviations

12. Various questions about multiple editions, long-awaited books,etc.

Note: It usually takes about one year from the time a manuscript is turned in until the book actually hits the stores.



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A. What's this I hear about two different editions of THE STATE OF THE ART by Iain M. Banks?

"The State of the Art" is a longish novella, set in Iain M. Banks' popular 'Culture' universe. It was first published in a slim volume entitled "The State of the Art," in 1989 by Mark V. Ziesing, an American small press, ISBN 0-929480-06-6. In 1991, Orbit (a UK publisher) brought out a volume also entitled "The State of the Art." This contains the aforementioned novella, plus seven short stories, one of which ("A Gift from the Culture") is also set in the "Culture" universe. ISBN 0-356-19669-0. It has had both hardback and paperback editions in the UK but has not (AFAIK) been published in the US. [Provided by Mike Scott.]

[See also question #19F.]



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B. The sequel to Steven R. Boyett's ARCHITECT OF SLEEP

The full story of this is at http://www.steveboy.com



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C. The next book in David Brin's Uplift series

Brin currently has no Uplift books scheduled. The last ones published were the Sooners trilogy, BRIGHTNESS REEF, INFINITY'S SHORE, and HEAVEN'S REACH.

Also, in David Brin's novel, SUNDIVER, he make frequent mention of a previous episode involving Jacob Demwa saving the Vanilla Needle and his first wife falling to her death in the process. The details are sufficient that many suspect that this story was actually written. As far as anyone knows, if it has been written, it has not been published.



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D. The next books from Steven Brust

The last Dragaera book was a Vlad book titled DZUR. The next is JHEGAALA, first draft completed. [01/08]

See http://skzbrust.livejournal.com/ for the latest updates.



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E. The next book in Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series and the last book in his Homecoming series

The sixth book, called THE CRYSTAL CITY, was published in November 2003 by Tor. There will be one more book after this, according to Card. The final novel is rumored to be titled ALVIN MAKER, but Card often changes titles up to the last minute. Card's website does not, however, list this as a work in progress.

Also, EARTHFALL and EARTHBORN (books four and five in the Homecoming series) are out. This completes that series.



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F. The next book in Glen Cook's Black Company series

All of the four new Black Company books (collectively known as "Glittering Stone") are out: BLEAK SEASONS was published in 1996, SHE IS THE DARKNESS was published in September 1997, WATER SLEEPS was published in March 1999, and SOLDIERS LIVE was published in June 2000, all from Tor. Paperback publication was a year after hardback.

Barring a change of plan by Cook, the Black Company series is now complete.



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G. The next book in P. C. Hodgell's God Stalk series

Meisha Merlin has published DARK OF THE GODS (containing GOD STALK, DARK OF THE MOON, and "Bones"), SEEKER'S MASK, as well as her short story collection, BLOOD AND IVORY: A TAPESTRY.

TO RIDE A RATHORN covers the first half of Jame's year at Tentir, and was published Aug 2006

As of May 2007, Meisha Merlin Publications will cease operation.



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H. Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana ending

"How exactly is the meeting with the riselka at the end of Guy Gavriel Kay's TIGANA supposed to apply to the three characters who meet her and is there anything in the book which offers suggestions or is it just supposed to leave readers guessing?"

The collective opinion of rec.arts.sf.written is that it is meant to leave the book deliberately open-ended, there being no indications in the book itself, beyond the obvious balance of probabilities.

From an interview with Kay by Andrew Adams:

Q: The end of Tigana with three men seeing a riselka suggests to some a hook for a sequel, to others merely an indication that "life goes on...". Do you have any plans to return to the Palm?

GGK: The second theory is entirely correct. To put it another way, I wanted the sense that this whole very long story is NOT the whole story of these peoples' lives. No sequel was planned or hinted at. I think most thoughtful readers picked up on the point, but there have been an awful lot who have been waiting for the next volume. This depresses me, actually.

And "Riselka" is indeed spelt "riselka," despite many creative attempts towards alternative spellings. It presumably comes from the Slavonic "rusalka" -- a female water spirit.

[Provided by Mike Arnatov.]



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I. The next book in S. M. Stirling's Draka series

DRAKON is now out from Baen. A prequel to the whole series, LAUGHTER OF THE GUNS, is currently in limbo, as well as UNTO US A CHILD, a sequel to DRAKON. An anthology of Draka stories by other authors, DRAKAS!, was published by Baen in November 2000.

There are interesting notes about why there will probably be no more Draka books at http://leighkimmel.freeservers.com/reading/drakasequels.html There's also a post by Stirling to shwi in Feb 2001 saying "In the unfortunately unlikely-to-be-finished sequel to DRAKON, titled UNTO US A CHILD, a little more is revealed of drakensis reproductive habits."



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J. The sequel to David R. Palmer's THRESHOLD

The blurb on the book to the contrary notwithstanding, it doesn't exist.

[Provided by "Ahasuerus the Wandering Jew"]



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K. George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire"

"A Song of Ice and Fire" currently consists of four novels and a two novellas. The novels carry the story; in both publication and chronological order they are:

In addition, there are two shorter works which are part of the same setting. "Blood of the Dragon" was originally published in magazine form and is now available in the collection QUARTET. It is essentially Danyrys story from A GAME OF THRONES. "The Hedge Knight" was originally published in LEGENDS, edited by Robert Silberberg. It is placed well before A GAME OF THRONES and has no character overlap.



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L. The next book in Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden Universe

See http://www.korval.com/liad.htm for full current information.



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M. The next book in Catherine Asaro's "Skolian Web" series

The Skolian books can for the most part be read in any order. However, a chronological timeline does exist. The list below gives the books in that order, as recommended by the author. All books are available from Tor.

The series can be thought of as a large jig-saw puzzle that makes an overall, overarching picture, but where each piece of the puzzle is a picture complete within itself. Some of the pieces are completely independent pictures; others can be seen more clearly in the context of the surrounding pieces.

PRIMARY INVERSION (1995) Stand alone SKYFALL (2003) Stand alone THE RADIANT SEAS (1999) Sequel to PRIMARY INVERSION THE LAST HAWK (1998) Stand alone THE QUANTUM ROSE (2000) Stand alone ASCENDANT SUN (2001) Sequel to RADIANT SEAS and THE LAST HAWK SPHERICAL HARMONIC (2002) Sequel to THE RADIANT SEAS and ASCENDANT SUN THE MOON'S SHADOW (2003) It involves the events of the earlier books. TRIAD (2004) This will appear probably at the end of 2004. It is a big epic and may be divided into two books. Chronologically, it come in the period of time between SKYFALL and PRIMARY INVERSION. Stand alone. CATCH THE LIGHTNING (1996). Stand alone

Other Skolian Empire stories:

"Stained Glass Heart" in the anthology IRRESISTIBLE FORCES (February, 2004).

"Walk in Silence" in the April 2003 Analog.

"Ave de Paso" in the anthology REDSHIFT, edited by Al Sarrantino.

"A Roll of the Dice" in the July/August 2000 Analog.

"Aurora in Four Voices" in the December 1998 Analog.

"Soul of Light" in the anthologies SEXTOPIA and also EROTIC FANTASTIC, THE BEST OF CIRCLET PRESS 10992-2002, edited by Cecelia Tan.

"Light and Shadow" in Analog (1994).



Please note, some of Skolia books contain sexually intimate scenes (in particular Ascendant Sun, CTL, and "Soul of Light")

The Skolian Empire books and the Ruby Dynasty books are the same. For more information, see the Asaro Books web site at http://www.sff.net/people/asaro/.



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N. The next book from Ken MacLeod (and reading order)

THE CASSINI DIVISION, THE STONE CANAL, THE SKY ROAD, and THE STAR FRACTION (collectively called "The Fall Revolution"), and COSMONAUT KEEP, DARK LIGHT, and ENGINE CITY (collectively called "Engines of Light") are all available in both the UK and the US.

The first series of books were first published in the UK in the following order: THE STAR FRACTION, THE STONE CANAL, THE CASSINI DIVISION, THE SKY ROAD.

See 19D for reading order for these books.

NEWTON'S WAKE, LEARNING THE WORLD (previously called THE NEW INTELLIGENCE) and THE EXECUTION CHANNEL are completely independent of either series. His next book is THE NIGHT SESSIONS. [01/08]



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O. The fourth book of Alexei Panshin's Anthony Villers series

Three books were published in the Anthony Villers series: STAR WELL, THE THURB REVOLUTION, and MASQUE WORLD. A fourth book was promised at the end of the third book and was to be titled, THE UNIVERSAL PANTOGRAPH. It was never published.

Someone writes, "Panshin recently asserted on rasfw that the planned story arc encompasses *seven* novels; see Message-ID: <46efce92$0$22182$cd3e3bf6@news.enter.net>:

"The long holdup has apparently been reasonable advances to live on while writing them, not an unreasonable requirement in a professional writer. The unreasonable part is on the part of American or even world publishing that has never seen fit to come to terms in the matter; what's wrong with these people, anyway?"

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P. The next Merlin book from Nikolai Tolstoy

Though there was promised a sequel to Tolstoy's book, Tolstoy lost a libel case (long story having to do with what some British officers did and didn't do in 1945) a few years ago and is legally bankrupt, and whatever money he might be able to make writing books would go to the folks who won the case. It is unlikely, therefore, that he will spend the effort.

[Provided by "Ahasuerus the Wandering Jew".]



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Q. [deleted]



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R. The third book in Paul Edwin Zimmer's The Dark Border series

"There is no third book. Despite the somewhat cliffhanger ending, it is, and has always been intended to be, a duology."

A GATHERING OF HEROES is set in the same world, but does not form a trilogy with the first two. There is also INGULF THE MAD, published by Ace in 1989.



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S. The third book in Meredith Pierce's Darkangel trilogy

This was in fact published, as THE PEARL OF THE SOUL OF THE WORLD by Joy Street Books, a division of Little, Brown & Co.

Harcourt Brace/Magic Carpet re-published all three books as mass market paperbacks: THE DARKANGEL and A GATHERING OF GARGOYLES in 1998 and THE PEARL OF THE SOUL OF THE WORLD in April or May 1999. There was also an omnibus from "Guild America Books" of the three closer to the date of the original hardcover publications.



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T. The fifth book in the Chtorr series

This is currently called A METHOD FOR MADNESS. While Gerrold has some of this written, other projects are occupying much of his time, and no release date has been set."

[Provided by Brendon Towle.]



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U. The next book in Vernor Vinge's Slow Zone series and the annotated FIRE UPON THE DEEP

A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY was published in February 1999 by Tor/ St. Martin's Press.

The annotated A FIRE UPON THE DEEP is now available from fictionwise.com in "secure mobipocket format" only for $12.95. See http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook2742.htm for details. It is also available from peanutpress.com in "Palm Digital Media" format for $12.95. See http://www.peanutpress.com/book.cgi/0312703694.

There are no copies of the CD-ROM available except on the resale market. [01/07]

The annotated edition is also available from peanutpress.com at http://www.peanutpress.com/book.cgi/0312703694

13. Clarke's Laws

Clarke's Law, later Clarke's First Law, can be found in the essay "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination", in the collection "Profiles of the Future", 1962, revised 1973, Harper & Row, paperback by Popular Library, ISBN 0-445-04061-0. It reads:

[1] When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

Perhaps the adjective "elderly" requires definition. In physics, mathematics, and astronautics it means over thirty; in the other disciplines, senile decay is sometimes postponed to the forties. There are, of course, glorious exceptions; but as every researcher just out of college knows, scientists of over fifty are good for nothing but board meetings, and should at all costs be kept out of the laboratory!

Isaac Asimov added a further comment with Asimov's Corollary to Clarke's Law, which he expounded in an essay logically titled "Asimov's Corollary". This appeared in the February 1977 issue of F&SF, and can be found in the collection "Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright", 1978, Doubleday; no ISBN on my copy. Asimov's Corollary reads:

[1AC] When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion -- the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right.

So much for Clarke's First Law. A few pages later on, in the final paragraph of the same essay, Clarke writes:

[2] But the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

To this he attaches a footnote:

The French edition of [presumably, the first edition of] this book rather surprised me by calling this Clarke's Second Law. (See page [number] for the First, which is now rather well- known.) I accept the label, and have also formulated a Third:

[3]Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly decided to stop there.

[Provided by Mark Brader.]

14. SF themes in music

A list of songs which have science fictional themes is maintained by Rich Kulawiec. This list is posted to news.answers periodically. If you can not find it there, e-mail Rich at rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu. Alternate e-mail addresses for Rich are rsk@ecn.purdue.edu or pur-ee!rsk. [Provide3d by Rich Kulawiec [rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu].]

15. Oldest Living SF Authors

The major ones over the age of eighty-five are:

Martin Gardner, 21 OCT 1914

Ernest Hill, 1915

Herman Wouk, 27 MAY 1915

Jack Vance, 28 AUG 1916

Mary Stewart, 17 SEP 1916

Rex Gordon, 25 FEB 1917

Martin Greenberg, 1918

Philip Jose Farmer, 26 JAN 1918

David Kyle, 14 FEB 1919

E. C. Tubb, 15 OCT 1919

Frederik Pohl, 26 NOV 1919

Ray Bradbury, 22 AUG 1920

Edward Wellen, 1919

Douglas R. Mason, 26 SEP 1919

John Boyd, 03 OCT 1919

Doris Lessing, 22 OCT 1919

William Tenn, 09 MAY 1920

Richard Adams, 09 MAY 1920

Mordecai Roshwald, 26 MAY 1921

Patricia Wrightson, 19 JUN 1921

Christopher Anvil, 1922

Hank Searls, 1922

John Christopher, 12 FEB 1923

Lan Wright, 1923

James E. Gunn, 12 JUL 1923

A more complete list can be found at http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/oldest.cgi.

Also worthy of mention are Frank Belknap Long, who died in 1994 at the age of 90; E. Hoffman Price, who also died in 1988, also at the age of 90, and had published novels at 81, 82, 84, 85, 88, and 89; and Naomi Mitchison, who died in 1999 at the age of 101 (1 November 1897 - 11 January 1999).

Gary Couzens suggests Geoffrey Dearmer (21 March 1893-18 August 1996), best known as a WWI poet, as the oldest SF author ever.

Note: Do not post that X is dead unless you have heard this from a reputable source, such as a daily newspaper, or a reputable fan or author. Postings in other groups on the Net, and statements from friends such as, "Isn't X dead?" are not reputable sources!

16. Authors by Ethnicity

(These are listings for the ethnicities anyone has asked about/collected that I know of. See also question #3G/H/I for Jewish, Mormon, and Christian SF.)



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A. Black SF authors

The question used to be "Are there any black SF authors?" Now it's more like, "What black SF authors are there?"

The four most prominent are probably Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler, Steven Barnes, and Nalo Hopkinson.

Others are Mary Aldridge, D. Christine Benders ("Hollow Bones"), LeVar Burton, James Nelson Coleman (SEEKER FROM THE STARS and THE NULL-FREQUENCY IMPULSER), Tananarive Due (THE BETWEEN), Nancy Farmer (THE EYE, THE EAR, AND THE ARM; young adult), John M. Faucette (AGE OF RUIN, CROWN OF INFINITY), Eric James Fullilove (THE STRANGER, CIRCLE OF ONE), Jewelle Gomez (THE GILDA STORIES, vampire epic), Virginia Hamilton ("The Justice Cycle" trilogy and young adult fantasies), A. M. Lightner (DAY OF THE DRONES; mostly young adult novels), Jesse Miller, Frieda Murray, Nichelle Nichols (SATURN'S CHILD), Ishmael Reed, Jewell Parker Rhodes (VOODOO DREAMS, a novel about Marie Laveau), Charles R. Saunders (IMARO and THE QUEST FOR CUSH), and Nisi Shawl (short stories).

Toni Morrison writes what is certainly fantasy, though she is not often thought of as an SF ("speculative fiction") writer. Walter Mosley is primarily known for mysteries, but he has written one SF novel, BLUE LIGHT, and a collection of loosely related near-future science fiction stories, FUTUREWORLD.

Butler and Hamilton have both won MacArthur Grants and are the only two SF writers to have done so (so far).

Dennis Lien notes: "The FAQ list refers to 'Black SF Authors' as opposed to specifically 'African-American,' so it may be worth noting that Charles Saunders is, more strictly, Afro-Canadian (US-born but for a long time now a Canadian citizen, I believe)." Nalo Hopkinson is also Afro-Canadian or Afro-Caribbean.

Some other Black (but not African-American) SF authors: West Indian authors Julian Jay Savarin (the Lemmus time trilogy) and Edgar Mittelholzer (MY BONES AND MY FLUTE), and above all the recently-deceased Yoruba writer Amos Tutuola (THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD AND HIS DEAD PALM-WINE TAPSTER IN THE DEADS' TOWN; MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS; and others). It has been noted that both Alexander Pushkin and Alexander Dumas pere were black (by current standards) and wrote fantasy.

(There is a bibliography of the work of "people of color in the field of speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism, and fantastical literature of any type)" at http://www.netgsi.com/~fcowboy/intro.html. Its definition of "people of color" may not agree with yours.)



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B. Asian/Asian-American SF authors

Are there any Asian/Asian-American SF authors?

Well, there are tons of them writing in Japanese (and other languages), but I'll stick to just the ones available in English; this list also includes Anglo-Asian authors:

Kobo Abe, Brenda Clough, Ted Chiang, Tony Chiu, Amitav Ghosh, Karen Harbaugh, Sakyo Komatsu, Eric Kotani (Yoji Kondo), Haruki Murakami, Somtow Sucharitkul/S. P. Somtow, Hiroe Suga, George Takei, William F. Wu.

Linda Nagata is not Asian.



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C. Arab-American SF authors

Are there any Arab-American SF authors?

Currently the only one I know of is Jamil Nasir.

17. Good SF bookstores in town Z and ordering by mail/Web Evelyn C. Leeper (eleeper@optonline.net) maintains several lists of bookstores in various North American, European, African, and Asian cities at http://www.leepers.us/evelyn/bookshops/bookshop.htm. These lists are *not* SF specific, but extensive commentary makes it pretty easy to sort those stores out from the rest. Stores that are known to ship worldwide by mail are so noted. There are also always amazon.com, borders.com, and barnesandnoble.com. http://www.bookshop.co.uk, http://www.amazon.co.uk, http://www.amazon.de, http://www.indigo.ca, and http://www.bookworm.com.au are possibilities for British, German, Canadian, and Australian books. For used books, try: http://www.bookfinder.com/ http://www.abebooks.com/ http://www.alibris.com/ http://www.powells.com/ http://www.addall.com/ Powells is both new and used. It also turns up in several of the multi-dealer searches listed above. And in answer to a specific frequently asked question: There is no SF specialty bookstore in New York City.



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17A. Are chain bookstores (particularly superstores) evil? Yes, if you live in an area which had several large, well-stocked independent bookstores that went out of business when a chain opened a megastore there. No, if you live in an area that had no bookstores (or only a mall bookstore) before the chain opened a megastore there. Which is a fancy way of saying your mileage may vary, and this topic is unlikely to be resolved by discussion here.

18. What is Johnny Rico's ethnic group in STARSHIP TROOPERS?

From page 205 of the 1968 Berkeley edition (end of Chapter XIII):

I said, "There ought to be one named _Magsaysay_." Bennie said, "What?" "Ramon Magsaysay," I explained. "Great man, great soldier -- probably be chief of psychological warfare if he was alive today. "Didn't you study any history?" "Well," admitted Bennie, "I learned that Simo'n Bolivar built the Pyramids, licked the Armada, and made the first trip to the Moon." "You left out marrying Cleopatra," I said. "Oh, that. Yup. Well, I guess every country has its own version of history." "I'm sure of it." I added something to myself and Bennie said, "What did you say?" "Sorry, Bernardo. Just an old saying in my own language. I suppose you could translate it, more or less, as `Home is where the heart is.'" "But what language was it?" "Tagalog. My native language." "Don't they talk Standard English where you come from?" "Oh, certainly. For business and school and so forth. We just talk the old speech around home a little. Traditions, you know." "Yeah, I know. My folks chatter in Espan~ol the same way. But where do you--" The speaker started playing "Meadowland"; Bennie broke into a grin. "Got a date with a ship! Watch yourself, fellow! See you."

There is no room at all left for misinterpretation. Johnny Rico is a Filipino; Tagalog is a Philippine language, Ramon Magsaysay was a hero of the Philippine resistance, and many Filipinos have Spanish names.

[Provided by Eric Raymond.]

19. In what order should I read:

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A. Lois McMaster Bujold's "Vorkosigan" series?

Opinion seems to be divided to reading them in order of the internal chronology (to avoid spoilers) or in order of publication. In either case, MIRROR DANCE, MEMORY, and KOMARR should be read last or the reader will likely miss some important connections. And I recommend reading SHARDS OF HONOR first in either case. The more recent editions of the Baen paperbacks have an internal chronology in the back of each book.

By order of publication, the books in the series are SHARDS OF HONOR (1986), THE WARRIOR'S APPRENTICE (1986), ETHAN OF ATHOS (1986), FALLING FREE (1988), BORDERS OF INFINITY (1989), BROTHERS IN ARMS (1989), THE VOR GAME (1990), BARRAYAR (1991), MIRROR DANCE (1994), CETAGANDA (1996), MEMORY (1996), KOMARR (1998), A CIVIL CAMPAIGN (1999), and DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY. FALLING FREE and ETHAN OF ATHOS are basically independent of the other storylines. Bujold's other books, THE SPIRIT RING, THE CURSE OF CHALION, and PALADIN OF SOULS (Oct 2003) are fantasies not set in the same universe.

By internal chronology (my recommendation), the order is FALLING FREE (peripheral), SHARDS OF HONOR, BARRAYAR, THE WARRIOR'S APPRENTICE, the short story "The Mountains of Mourning" in BORDERS OF INFINITY, THE VOR GAME, CETAGANDA, ETHAN OF ATHOS (peripheral), the short story "Labyrinth" in BORDERS Of INFINITY, the short story "Borders of Infinity" in BORDERS OF INFINITY, BROTHERS IN ARMS, MIRROR DANCE, MEMORY, KOMARR, ... A CIVIL CAMPAIGN, [and DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY].

[People have sent many variations to this, based on which books they think are stronger or weaker. I will not include all the arguments here.]

Her fantasy novels, SPIRIT RING, CURSE OF CHALION, and PALADIN OF SOULS are not related to the "Vorkosigan" books. The latter two are related to each other

[Provided by Peter L. Edman, Robert A. Woodward, and others.]

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B. Steven Brust's "Dragaeran" series?

The Vlad Taltos novels can be read in published order or in chronological order. Mileage varies on which is preferable.

The published order is:

JHEREG (a Vlad Taltos novel) YENDI (a Vlad Taltos novel) BROKEDOWN PALACE (An independant Dragaera novel) TECKLA (a Vlad Taltos novel) TALTOS (a Vlad Taltos novel) PHOENIX (a Vlad Taltos novel) AYTHRA (a Vlad Taltos novel) ORCA (a Vlad Taltos novel) THE PHOENIX GUARDS (A Khaavren novel) FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER (A Khaavren novel) DRAGON (a Vlad Taltos novel) ISSOLA (a Vlad Taltos novel) PATHS OF THE DEAD (A Khaavren novel) THE LORD OF CASTLE BLACK (A Khaavren novel) SETHRA LAVODE (A Khaavren novel) DZUR (a Vlad Taltos novel)

The chronological order is:

TALTOS YENDI DRAGON (but see below) JHEREG TECKLA PHOENIX ATHYRA ORCA ISSOLA DZUR

According to some, TALTOS, YENDI, DRAGON, and JHEREG are more stand-alone than the others. However, DRAGON comes both before and after YENDI in internal chronology (mostly before) and contains spoilers for YENDI. BROKEDOWN PALACE contains almost no spoilers for anything.

The Khaavren novels are:

THE PHOENIX GUARDS FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER

and take place before the Vlad books. (The forthcoming third (which is a trilogy), THE VISCOUNT OF ADRILANKHA, will bring the chronology up to Vlad's time.)

BROKEDOWN PALACE is effectively a stand-alone, though Brust has said definitively that BROKEDOWN PALACE is a Dragaera novel; internal clues place it at the year of Vlad's birth. The resulting chronological order is:

THE PHOENIX GUARDS (A Khaavren novel) FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER (A Khaavren novel) PATHS OF THE DEAD (A Khaavren novel) THE LORD OF CASTLE BLACK (A Khaavren novel) SETHRA LAVODE (A Khaavren novel) BROKEDOWN PALACE (An independant Dragaera novel)

Some have taken to called the Khaavren novels, "Paarfi's Romances", since Khaavren isn't as central a character in the "Viscount" books.

An excellent Dragaeran timeline maintained by Alexx Kay at http://www.panix.com/~alexx/dragtime.html. In addition, a very useful and detailed Dragaeran site is Mark Mandel's at http://www.cracksandshards.com. And Steve maintains a weblog at http://dreamcafe.com/weblog.cgi.

[Originally provided by Kate Nepveu, with additions and changes by various.] [01/07]



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C. Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series?

There are two answers here, a short one, and a longer one which also includes opinions on the quality of the books.

From J. Hunter Johnson :

As with other series, the Asimov books can be read in published order or in chronological order. First-time readers should probably read the books in published order to avoid some of the spoilers present.

The chronological order of the novels by Asimov or approved by his estate are:

The Caves of Steel (1954) The Naked Sun (1957) The Robots of Dawn (1983) Robots and Empire (1985) Caliban (1993) Inferno (1994) Utopia (1996) The Stars, Like Dust (1951) The Currents of Space (1952) Pebble in the Sky (1950) Prelude to Foundation (1988) Forward the Foundation (1993) Foundation's Fear (1997, takes place after the first chapter of Forward the Foundation) Foundation and Chaos (1998) Foundation's Triumph (1999, takes place after the first chapter of Foundation) Foundation (1951) Foundation and Empire (1952) Second Foundation (1953) Foundation's Edge (1982) Foundation and Earth (1986)

A full chronology including short stories and unapproved novels can be found at http://www.clark.net/pub/edseiler/WWW/insane_list.html.

From Richard Harter [note this includes critical comments as well as a description of the series]:

In his youth Isaac Asimov constructed three distinct major fictional universes, each thematically separate, the far future Foundation trilogy, the near future series of short stories about positronic robots, and an intermediate series about the conflict between Earthers and Spacers, the latter being potentially in the same universe as his earlier robot novels.

Much later, after a successful career as an author of non-fiction expository works on a wide variety of subjects, he wrote a sequel to the Foundation trilogy, "Foundation's Edge". Not content with this he embarked on a series of novels to tie his various universes together. Since his death the composite universe has been extended by authorized novels by David Brin and Greg Bear.

The time line for Isaac Asimov's composite universe: (The later works are marked with stars.)

EARLY (IN THE NEAR FUTURE) The End of Eternity [1] I, Robot The Rest of the Robots EARTH AND THE SPACERS The Caves of Steel The Naked Sun * Robots of Dawn * Robots and Empire EXPANSION The Stars Like Dust [2] TRANTOR, PRE-UNIFICATION The Currents of Space Pebble In The Sky FOUNDATION * Prelude to Foundation * Forward the Foundation Foundation Foundation & Empire Second Foundation * Foundation's Edge * Foundation & Earth

The theme of the original Foundation trilogy (a series of short stories and novellas packaged in three volumes)is the unfolding of a grand planned history, the Seldon plan, the threat of the plan being destroyed, and the plan being saved. The trilogy has its faults. Asimov was quite young at the time: His appreciation of the variety of human behaviour was limited and many of the details of his universe were quite naive in conception. The quality of his prose is subject to debate. The stories were somewhat dryly intellectual in conception. None-the-less there is a grandness of conception and intriguing puzzles. They also have one of his few great characters, the Mule. The real hero, however, of the trilogy is the Seldon plan itself. The Foundation stories are a triumph of science fiction as the literature of the idea as hero.

In his early years he wrote two excellent novels, THE CAVES OF STEEL and THE NAKED SUN, both sparse. They carried the robots of I, ROBOT into a future of spacers vs Earth, the spacers having a mixed human/robot culture spread across many worlds and Earth a city based culture with a fear of robots. Earth is technologically backwards and its residents are psychologically restricted to their caves of steel. (The spacers vs Earth theme is an elaboration of an earlier novella, Mother Earth.) Both are detective stories in an SF setting. Both rely on two strong characters, the human detective, Lije Bailey and the human appearing robot, Daneel. A thesis of the novels is that the future of humanity lies in a C/Fe culture, i.e., in the equal partnership of human and robot.

FOUNDATION'S EDGE was written many years later. His early novels was sparse; FE is the first of a series of bloated novels. In my opinion it is the first step in his disowning the Foundation trilogy. The entire basis of the character of the Mule is destroyed. The Seldon plan is disowned as being ultimately worthless and a cheap-jack psionic mysticism is offered in its place.

Having returned to the worlds of his youth, Asimov determined to unite his two grand universes. There are no robots in the Foundation universe so it was necessary to eliminate them. He did this in two more bloated novels, THE ROBOTS OF DAWN and EMPIRE AND ROBOTS. In these he disowns the thesis of the C/Fe culture. The spacers are discounted as not being viable; Daneel, on the other hand, is promoted into a mind-controlling demi-god. He followed these two with a third bloated novel, FOUNDATION and EARTH, a sequel to FOUNDATION'S EDGE in which it is ultimately revealed that Daneel is the master mind behind human history.

This was, for the nonce, the capstone of his of his campaign to disown the work of his youth by rewriting the juice out of it. The value of the Seldon plan had been discounted; the Mule had been emasculated; Daneel had been destroyed by deification; and the C/Fe thesis had been discarded. He wasn't done.

PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION and the sequel FORWARD THE FOUNDATION are set on Trantor; nominally they are about how Hari Seldon brings about the Seldon plan. Both are farragos of implausible melodrama. Concealed within them however is the final discounting - the revelation that the Seldon plan was never feasible in the first place. [3] The Bear, Brin, et al novels are a continuation of the melodrama. In the words of bard, they are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

[1] THE END OF ETERNITY is not part of the series but it implicitly references it.

[2] THE STARS LIKE DUST is an early work; it isn't quite consistent with his later works but is consistent with the earlier novels. It features a radioactive Earth whose radioactivity is due to a nuclear war.

[3] In SECOND FOUNDATION the original plan was somewhat makeshift, a "best we can do" at the time job. The one sour note is the idea advanced in SECOND FOUNDATION that the Second Foundation was to be the ruling class.

There is a fundamental problem with the psychohistory concept; the psychohistorians become the rulers and they, too, are human. Michael Flynn makes it all clear in IN THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND. Asimov didn't come to terms with the issue in the Foundation trilogy; later on, in FOUNDATION'S EDGE he confronted it but his solution was icky.

[Provided by Richard Harter. There may be an updated version at http://www.tiac.net/users/cri/asimov.html.]

And finally (well, nothing is final here!), Donald Kingsbury has written an unauthorized Foundation novel, PSYCHOHISTORICAL CRISIS, of which David Langford says, "[It] follows on from the original trilogy after a long time-gap and takes issue with Asimov's assumptions about ruling classes and the need for secrecy. Although the names have almost all been changed -- Seldon is just 'the Founder' and the Mule becomes 'Cloun-the-Stubborn' -- it's a lot more in the spirit of the original trio than later Asimov add-ons (which Kingsbury ignores)."

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D. Ken MacLeod's Books?

THE CASSINI DIVISION, THE STONE CANAL, THE SKY ROAD, and THE STAR FRACTION (collectively called "The Fall Revolution") were first published in the UK in the following order: THE STAR FRACTION, THE STONE CANAL, THE CASSINI DIVISION, THE SKY ROAD.

By internal chronology, the ordering is loosely:

THE STONE CANAL, set starting in the 1970s, and also in the far future.

THE STAR FRACTION, set in the 2040s in the UK

THE CASSINI DIVISION, set some time after the future part of THE STONE CANAL

THE SKY ROAD is an alternate future, which Rich Horton describes thusly: "The earlier parts ... of THE STONE CANAL and all of THE STAR FRACTION are set in a common past to both THE SKY ROAD and to THE CASSINI DIVISION, but one of the events in THE STONE CANAL goes a different way in THE SKY ROAD." Therefore, it is not consistent with THE CASSINI DIVISION. It is also set in two time periods, 2059 and several centuries in the future.

According to some, THE STONE CANAL is the best introduction to the series, as it stands on its own the best and gives some of the background for relationships that are important in THE CASSINI DIVISION and THE SKY ROAD. Others say to start with THE CASSINI DIVISION, which gets going faster, and also stands on it own. MacLeod discusses the ordering in the introduction to the US paperback of THE STAR FRACTION.

COSMONAUT KEEP, DARK LIGHT, and ENGINE CITY (collectively called "Engines of Light") are all available in both the UK and the US. The order of reading the "Engines of Light" books is the same as the order of publication: COSMONAUT KEEP, DARK LIGHT, and ENGINE CITY. They are definitely a trilogy.



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E. Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" books?

From Kate Nepveu:

The Discworld novels consist of four sub-series and several stand-alone books. The sub-series feature the same character(s); while it is enjoyable to read these in order and see the characters evolve, it's not strictly necessary. (The lone exception to this rule is THE LIGHT FANTASTIC, which is a "traditional" sequel.) They are listed in order below, with the distinguishing character(s) of their sub-series noted.

(U.K.) publication order and chronological order are effectively the same for the sub-series; history on the Discworld is a funny thing--see THIEF OF TIME for more information--so no representations about order across books is offered. At any rate, you won't encounter spoilers if you read the books in this order.

1. THE COLOUR OF MAGIC [Rincewind] 2. THE LIGHT FANTASTIC [Rincewind] 3. EQUAL RITES [Lancre Witches] 4. MORT [Death] 5. SOURCERY [Rincewind] 6. WYRD SISTERS [Lancre Witches] 7. PYRAMIDS [stand-alone] 8. GUARDS! GUARDS! [City Watch] 9. ERIC [Rincewind] 10. MOVING PICTURES [stand-alone] 11. REAPER MAN [Death] 12. WITCHES ABROAD [Lancre Witches] 13. SMALL GODS [History Monks] 14. LORDS AND LADIES [Lancre Witches] 15. MEN AT ARMS [City Watch] 16. SOUL MUSIC [Death/Susan] 17. INTERESTING TIMES [Rincewind] 18. MASKERADE [Lancre Witches] 19. FEET OF CLAY [City Watch] 20. HOGFATHER [Death/Susan] 21. JINGO [City Watch] 22. THE LAST CONTINENT [Rincewind] 23. CARPE JUGULUM [Lancre Witches] 24. THE FIFTH ELEPHANT [City Watch] 25. THE TRUTH [stand-alone *] 26. THIEF OF TIME [History Monks: Death/Susan] 27. THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS [stand-alone YA] 28. THE LAST HERO [Rincewind] (coffee-table book) 29. NIGHT WATCH [City Watch; History Monks] 30. THE WEE FREE MEN [stand-alone YA with Lancre Witches links] 31. MONSTROUS REGIMENT [stand-alone *] 32. A HAT FULL OF SKY [Lancre witches, YA] 33. GOING POSTAL [stand-alone *] 34. THUD! [City Watch] 35. WINTERSMITH [Lancre witches, YA] [...]

* THE TRUTH and GOING POSTAL are set in Ankh-Morpork, which is the City of the City Watch, so readers will encounter familiar characters, but the focus is on a new character.

* MONSTROUS REGIMENT centres on new characters in the unfamiliar country Borogravia, with visiting Ankh-Morpork newshounds (from THE TRUTH) and City Watch members in minor roles.

Mileage varies on where to start reading for two reasons. First, the Discworld novels evolve and improve over time, and there can be disagreement over when the books become "good enough" to recommend to a first-time reader. Second, people may have strong opinions regarding a particular sub-series (the Rincewind books are perhaps the most frequent point of disagreement, as they are notably lighter than the others). Thus, the best all-purpose guideline is probably to just pick one from around the middle of this list and try it. (For whatever it's worth, I have had very good luck with recommending SMALL GODS to start.)

David Langford adds, "'Ridcully's Wizards'--the Unseen University faculty as it finally stabilized in MOVING PICTURES--have their own story strands in MOVING PICTURES, REAPER MAN, LORDS AND LADIES (admittedly minor), SOUL MUSIC, INTERESTING TIMES (framing only), HOGFATHER, and THE LAST CONTINENT."

Laurabelle Melton suggests:

There is a suggested Discworld reading order at http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~gidnsuzi/readord.html.

There are also links to others at http://www.ie.lspace.org/books/reading-order- guides/index.html.

[Note that Pratchett has also written some non-Discworld novels, which frequently are packaged looking like Discworld novels--Kirby covers, etc.). STRATA is somewhat proto-Discworld; THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN is completely separate.]

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F. Iain M. Banks's "Culture" books?

From Andrea Leistra and others:

[See also Question 12A.]

There are generally two recommended reading orders for Banks. None of the Culture books are directly connected, so in terms of spoilers it makes little difference, and generally most of the debate tends to be over which book should be read first.

The publication order is one that is often recommended:

CONSIDER PHLEBAS PLAYER OF GAMES USE OF WEAPONS "The State of the Art" (see Question 12A) EXCESSION INVERSIONS LOOK TO WINDWARD

"A Gift from the Culture" can be read after any book other than CONSIDER PHLEBAS

[LOOK TO WINDWARD uses as its jumping-off point the 200th(?) anniversary of some events of the war in CONSIDER PHLEBAS, but is not a direct sequel.]

This is frequently recommended, at least to the extent of "Read CONSIDER PHLEBAS first," because there are low-level spoilers for CONSIDER PHLEBAS in the other books, to the extent that you know more about the Culture than you otherwise would.

This is the order in which I read the books. I wasn't terribly impressed by CONSIDER PHLEBAS, and generally recommend the other order myself.

The other recommended order just reverses the first two, and reverts to publication order thereafter; this is because PLAYER OF GAMES is, in the opinions of those who recommend this order, a better book, and it certainly gives the best general picture of the normal, internal life in the Culture.

If you start with one of those two you probably will be fine. UoW is not generally recommended (although some people here will probably argue with that) because it needs some background. EXCESSION relies to even a greater extent on knowing about Culture Minds, though there are some people here who started with that without problems.

As for what the Culture is: well, keep in mind that although there are no plot spoilers here it will alter the impact of CONSIDER PHLEBAS advocated by the "read-CONSIDER PHLEBAS-first" faction.

[However, I have rot-13'ed it.]

Gur Phygher vf n hgbcvn, bs gur yrsg-yvoregnevna inevrgl (ab tbireazrag, ohg ab zbarl rvgure) juvpu vf jul zbfg bs gur fgbevrf gnxr cynpr nebhaq gur rqtrf; erfbheprf ner nohaqnag rabhtu gung crbcyr qb fghss orpnhfr gurl jnag gb be gb trg erfcrpg (be gb trg vaivgrq gb gur tbbq cnegvrf) engure guna sbe zbarl. (Sbe vafgnapr, Thetru va _Cynlre bs Tnzrf_ fcraqf uvf yvsr, jryy, cynlvat tnzrf.) Gur arne-bzavcbgrag Zvaqf eha fghss, juvpu vf jul guvf nyy jbexf. Fbzr crbcyr urer fnl uhznaf va gur Phygher ner rffragvnyyl crgf; V qba'g nterr jvgu guvf, naq gur Phygher uhznaf pregnvayl qba'g nterr, be gurl qba'g pner. (Gur Zvaqf qba'g pner nobhg jung uhznaf qb, pregnvayl.) Zbfg uhznaf va gur Phygher yvir ba irel ynetr fuvcf jvgu ragregnvavat anzrf (juvpu ner pbagebyyrq ol Zvaqf, naq juvpu tb jurer gurl jnag) be ba Beovgnyf (yvxr zvavngher Evatjbeyqf, ohg beovgvat gur cevznel engure guna pragrerq ba vg).

There is more than you would ever want to know at http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm, which is Banks's "A Few Notes on the Culture".

20. Science Fiction Book Club

About once a year someone asks about the SFBC and the resulting discussion inevitably goes like this:

A: I love it. I get hard cover books for about half the bookstore price. Plus they have these omnibus editions of various series so you can pick up several books in one volume. The binding may not be up to regular hardcover standards, but it's still better than paperback.

B: Yeah, but I keep losing the monthly cards and end up buying or having to send back books that I don't want.

C: You should do like I did. I called them up and got on the "Preferred Member Plan". On this plan I only get books when I send back the card.

D: But the selections for joining are no good.

E. The best thing to do, for anybody who wants to join, is to find someone who is already a member, and fill out the "sign up a friend" form that members get. Then you get to pick your books from the current club flier, which has a much better selection and includes descriptions. And your friend gets a free book (or is it two?).

21. Recent Obituaries [discontinued]

[Up-to-date information is best found in the obituary columns in LOCUS or major newspapers.]

22. SF ENCYCLOPEDIA et al

P Nielsen Hayden says:

I think we're all going to be confused about this forever. In a wan attempt to straighten out what's what:

The original ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION edited by Peter Nicholls (1979) had pictures. [In the US, this volume was titled THE SCIENCE FICTION ENCYCLOPEDIA. -Joe Bernstein]

The completely revised ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls (1993) has no pictures. [It has the same name in Britain and the United States.]

[John Pomeranz says that the trade paperback edition of this has additional text and corrects some errors. There is also THE FANTASY ENCYCLOPEDIA, a companion volume first published in 1997.]

[Dave Langford adds, "The 1995 Grolier CD-ROM edition of the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION has pictures, audio clips, Quicktime movies of authors, etc., in addition to the entire text of the 1993 edition of the ENCYCLOPEDIA, plus text updates amounting to about 50, 000 words, including some new entries. Corrections which appeared as an appendix in the paperback ENCYCLOPEDIA are incorporated into the main text. The 1998 Focus Multimedia reissue of this CD-ROM is identical in content." A special reader is also available with additional features; see http://www.ansible.co.uk/sfview/.]

The SCIENCE FICTION: THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA by John Clute (1995) has tons of pictures, but is a completely separate work not based on the ENCYCLOPEDIA. (I bet Clute was less than wild about the publishers' insistence on giving this volume a name that will forever lead to it being confused with the actual ENCYCLOPEDIA.)

THE VISUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION is a 1977 work by Brian Ash.

All of the above works are worthwhile. The ENCYCLOPEDIA is a serious reference work; the VISUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA is a fun coffee-table book.

[end of Nielsen Hayden's comments]

Langford's ESF CD-ROM viewer software adds a heap of further corrections, entries and partial entries lost in Grolier errors, and later death dates.

I would add that there are also:

Donald H. Tuck's 1974-1982 three-volume set, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. No illustrations.

Robert Holdstock's 1978 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION. Illustrations.

James E. Gunn's 1975 ALTERNATE WORLDS: THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION. Illustrations. (Okay, so it doesn't use the word "encyclopedia" and is more a "serious coffee-table book," but it seems pertinent to mention it here.)

James E. Gunn's 1988 NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION. Illustrations.

David Pringle's ULTIMATE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION: THE DEFINITIVE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE

Since this was written, even more have appeared. The latest (as I write) is George Mann's MAMMOTH ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION.

23. What is the difference between "mass-market" and "trade" paperbacks? Why do some books come out in trade paperback instead of the more affordable mass-market format? What about A, B, and C format in Britain?

What is the difference between trade paperback and mass market: the channels of distribution. Trade paperbacks do not piggyback on the ID system of periodical distribution.

("ID distribution" is book publishing jargon for "that part of the periodical-distribution industry that puts cheap paperback books into non-bookstore outlets, like the wire racks at grocery stores." It has nothing to do with bookstores.)

How does size relate: It doesn't. The reason that a number of trade paperbacks are oversized is that they are manufactured from the actual sheets printed for the hardcover edition, but bound in paper wrappers.

Does being strippable make a difference: Yes. All mass market books are strippable. Any book that is distributed through both mass market and direct channels is strippable. [Strippable means that the retailer needs to return only the cover for full credit; the rest of the book is destroyed.]

Books that are distributed -only- though trade channels, be they hardcover or soft cover, are usually sold on the basis of whole copy returns.

[Provided by Beth Meacham and Patrick Nielsen Hayden.]

As for why (more expensive) trade paperbacks instead of (cheaper) mass market paperbacks:

To publish a mass-market paperback successfully, you need to sell 10,000 copies of a 25,000 run to succeed--*and* you need to do this in a six- to eight-week period. Trade paperbacks can sell fewer, but even more to the point, they don't have a time limit, since they are not stripped by bookstores after six weeks. [culled from panels at Boskone and elsewhere]

Or as Michael Kube-McDowell explained it:

The floor condition for successful mass market publishing is roughly analogous to being able to fill a particular 50,000-seat stadium for a football game on a particular Sunday afternoon.

The floor condition for successful trade publication is roughly analogous to being able to attract 10,000 visitors to a new museum of textile arts in the first six months it's open.

You can't have successful mass market publishing if people are wandering into the stadium a few at a time from Saturday morning to six weeks from Thursday, all expecting to see the same game--even if the total eventually is enough to have filled the stadium.

What you get in that case is a 50,000-seat stadium that's mostly empty (returns), which doesn't do much for either the team or the owner.

[Thanks to MK-M.]

And on the British side:

"A format" is the same as a US mass market size. "B format" is bigger, sort of like an Orb book. "C format" is yuppieback, excuse me, trade paperback, the size of a hardback but with a soft cover. Any of these may be trade, same definition here as there, but "C format" always are.

[The above was provided by Jo Walton.]

And now some additional commentary from me:

In the United States we have three basic "formats" for books: hardback, trade paperback, and mass-market paperback.

Hardbacks (a.k.a. hardcovers) have stiff board covers under some covering, often with an additional dust jacket. This covering used to be cloth, so these are supposed listed as "Cloth" in ads and such. They cost US$20 and up (give or take). The size varies, but most novels are about 16cm by 20cm (6in by 8in) by whatever thickness the length requires. Coffee-table books are even larger ones, usually with lots of artwork and designed to be put on coffee tables (or perhaps made into them).

Trade paperbacks have very thick paper covers, and paper similar to hardcovers (actually often better, since they don't usually have the ragged edges one sees these days on hardbacks). They are usually about the same size as hardbacks, sightly shorter because the binding is done differently, and without the added thickness of the covers. They cost in the US$10 to US$25 range (generally novels are in the lower part of that range, non-fiction in the upper). One feature several people have mentioned is that in general they have the larger font of the hardback, making them easier to read. There are also some trade paperbacks that look exactly like mass-market paperbacks, but usually with better quality paper/covers. You can tell they are trade paperbacks because the copyright page will have a notice that they are not strippable.

Mass-market paperbacks have very thick paper covers, but cheaper paper et al than trade paperbacks. They are usually about 10cm by 18cm (4in by 7in) by whatever thickness, but there are also "large-trim" mass-market paperbacks that are the same size as the standard trade paperback. They are usually in the US$5 to US$9 range, but the large-trim ones cost more. They are "strippable"--that is, bookstores can rip off the front cover and return just that for full credit. They are supposed to destroy the rest--not all do, and so some publishers have/still do(?) require that they return the cover and the first ten pages. In general the quality is poorer than trade paperbacks, with glue that may give over after a few years, etc. Nowadays most, if not all, mass-market paperbacks have a notice on the copyright page that if you are buying a coverless copy, it is stolen property.

Konrad Gaertner adds:

And recently, publishers have started putting a triangle on the cover next to the bar code, with an "S" inside if the book is strippable, empty otherwise. This way people (esp. bookstore clerks) don't have to look at the copyright page to determine the format. I've even seen hardcovers (with and without dust jackets) with the empty triangle.

And a new wrinkle: according to Elaine Y. Fisher:

A "turtleback" is one of those paperback-turned-hardbacks that one often sees in libraries, usually with the paperback color cover laminated onto the front. One is now seeing this term on used-book websites. [It turns out that "Turtleback" is the name of one of the three companies that do this sort of rebinding; the other two are Permabound and Bound-to-Stay-Bound.]

24. What do the letters "PJF" after Steven Brust's name mean?

PJF = Pre-Joycean Fellowship

The name is modelled on that of an artist's group named the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. A number of writers have appended it including Brust, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Jane Yolen, Pamela Dean and Neil Gaiman (this is not an exhaustive list). Many, but not all of them are members of Minneapolis Fantasy Writer's Group, the Scribblies.

In the words of Pamela Dean, here is roughly what the PJF is trying to do:

"... we are trying to undo the separation of the so-called popular values and traits in literature (which probably include straight- forward narration) and the so-called literary values and traits (which probably include stream-of-consciousness writing). We don't always succeed; we don't always try; we don't feel that writers doing other things are evil. But we are trying to reunite, in our work, the popular and the literary. Every one of us has a different definition of those terms and a different notion of how what we are trying to do should be accomplished."

Will Shetterly adds:

"Good FAQ, but, uh, what's this Minnesota Fantasy Writer's Group? The Scribblies are either just the Scribblies, or they're the Interstate Writer's Workshop (which isn't true anymore since all the current members are in Minnesota, but that was our excuse for calling ourselves the Scribblies)."

And later:

"I keep fighting the impulse to discuss this semi-seriously. I think I've lost. Unfortunately, I wrote a couple of messages which I discarded and a couple which I posted, and I can't remember what was in which. So here's the very latest attempt at the full history of the PJF:

I may be wrong, but I believe the name was my invention. It was primarily a joke inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. A number of us were fond of talking about how frustrating it is that bookstores, academics, and readers have a tendency to divide stories into the categories of fiction and literature, or story and art, or fun and serious work. We like the stuff that does both, like (everyone's favorite, especially Pamela Dean's) Shakespeare, who includes fart jokes for the rich and powerful and poetry for the people (and vice versa, of course). We tended to think this tendency to contentedly divide writing into two camps blossomed after Joyce, whose work has a great deal for the educated reader, but can be rather frustrating for the ignorant one. Keep in mind that when I either created or agreed to the title of PJF, I did that as someone who likes Joyce's writing a great deal (I haven't tried FINNEGANS WAKE, and am in no hurry to do so). In retrospect, it might've been better to use James than Joyce, or it might've been better to accept the label of "post-modern," which describes our intentions as well as any label. But also keep in mind that this was never meant to be a serious movement; it was an excuse for a few friends to get together and argue about books. We only succeeded in having one meeting at a bar, where we had fun but didn't really talk about books much, and then it would've all been forgotten if Steve hadn't decided to put "PJF" after his name on one of his books, just as some of the PRB did when signing their paintings. So it's an accidentally serious group that's still primarily a joke."

25. Is Megan Lindholm writing under a pseudonym?

Yes; she has recently been writing as Robin Hobb.

[Provided by Sharon Kim Goetz.]

26. Who is William Ashbless?

Who is William Ashbless? Both Tim Powers (THE ANUBIS GATES) and James Blaylock (THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN) have him in their books. Is this the same character?

William Ashbless was a penname that Powers and Blaylock used to publish cowritten poetry in college. When they both needed a name for a poet character in their books, they independently used the same name. After this had been pointed out to them by their editor, they got together and added details to make it look it was the same guy.

27. Kilgore Trout

Kilgore Trout is a fictitious SF author that appears in several books by Kurt Vonnegut. VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL by Kilgore Trout was written by Philip Jose Farmer.

There are no other books by Kilgore Trout. After Venus was published, many people thought that Vonnegut had written it. Vonnegut did not care for this and refused Farmer permission to write any more.

28. Pronunciation of Cherryh

C. J. Cherryh's original last name was Cherry. The terminal H is silent. The H was added because her first editor thought that Cherry sounded too much like a romance writer. Her brother, artist David Cherry, retains the original spelling.

29. Stephen Jay Gould and Steven Gould

These are two different people. Stephen Jay Gould was the well-known Harvard paleontologist and author of several non-fiction books about evolution. Steven Gould is the author of JUMPER, WILDSIDE, and other SF novels and stories.

30. Sturgeon's Law

"Sturgeon's Law" is "Ninety percent of everything is crap." It comes from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once said, "Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That's because 90% of everything is crud." Scholars disagree on what word Sturgeon originally used. In its first appearance in print it was "crud," but someone present remembers that in the speech it was "crap." See http://glinda.lrsm.upenn.edu/~weeks/misc/faq.html for more details.

31. What is the Thor Power Tools decision and how did it affect publishing?

Kevin O'Donnell has provided a very clear explanation, available at http://www.sfwa.org/bulletin/articles/thor.htm.

Contrary to what you may have heard, this has nothing to do with inventory taxes. It has to do with claiming a loss on inventory that is expected to become obsolete before it can be sold. This loss reduces the manufacturer's *income* tax. The IRS ruled that the manufacturer can't claim the loss on the overstock until the market value actually falls below the manufacturing cost.

They want to claim the loss as soon as possible, because a dollar now is worth more than a dollar in the future (because it can be invested in the mean time). Not to mention the cost of warehousing goods that you don't expect to sell. If the product is currently selling at a profit, the only way to claim the loss on the overstock is to scrap it.

[Thanks to Ron Bean for this summary.)

32. What is the best science fiction magazine to subscribe to?

The three most widely distributed [fiction] magazines are ANALOG, ASIMOV'S, and F&SF. They concentrate (roughly speaking) on "hard SF", character-driven SF/fantasy, and literary SF/fantasy. Your best bet is to try a couple of issues of each and see which you like.

There are also several other magazines not as visible. Someone said that REALMS OF FANTASY has the highest circulation of any SF fiction magazine, but I have yet to confirm this. INTERZONE focuses on British science fiction (not surprising, as it comes from Britain). THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE is another, newer British magazine. AUREALIS and EIDOLON are Australian.

33. How much do authors get in royalties?

Beginners sometimes get 6% on paperbacks, going up to 8% after a certain threshold figure has been reached (often betweeen 100,000 and 150,000 copies sold).

Established writers, and beginners with tough agents, get 8% on paperbacks, going up to 10% after the threshold has been reached.

On trade paperbacks, 7.5% is the standard starting place.

On hardcovers, most authors get 10% on the first X number of copies; 12.5% on the next Y number of copies, and 15% after that. For hardcovers the values of both X and Y are often 5,000 copies.

So, for a typical hardcover priced at US$23.95, the author will get somewhere between $2.40 and $3.60 on the copy you buy, depending on how many have already sold. For a typical paperback priced at US$6.99, the author will get 52.5 cents.

[Provided by Robert J Sawyer.]

Paperbacks normally pay the author 6% to 10% of cover price; hardcovers pay 10% to 15%. Writers in obscure genres will sometimes take as little as 4%, and tie-in writers split the royalties with the owner of the original property, so that a Star Trek writer gets, say, 2.5%, while Paramount gets 7.5%. (I'm not sure of those numbers.) Some tie-ins pay the actual writer as little as 1%, or even just a flat fee.

Additional note: Book prices get divvied up on a percentage basis. Normally the retailer gets 50%, the distributor 10%, the publisher 40% -- though there's lots of variation on that.

[Provided by Lawrence Watt-Evans.]

34. Who said:

-----

A. "He's a chimp! She's the Pope! They're cops!"

Michael Cassutt.



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B. "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12."

Peter Graham.



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C. "War God of Israel/The Thing with Three Souls"

Terry Carr, saying, "If Don Wollheim had published the Bible [as an Ace Double], it would be ...."



-----

D. "Science fiction should get out of the classroom and back in the gutter where it belongs!"

Dena Benatan Brown



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E. "Life is like a simile."

Terry Carr.



-----

F. The Eight Deadly Words

The Eight Deadly Words are, "I don't *care* *WHAT* happens to these people!"

Dorothy J Heydt. She explains, "It was myself who coined them, and the occasion was getting to about Chapter Two, Volume Two, of THE WHEEL OF TIME, and shutting the book and giving the whole set (three or four books at that time, I believe) to my niece, who had a long train trip ahead of her."

According to Justin Bacon, "The first time Dorothy Heydt used the words "I don't care what happens to these people" was, according to Google Groups, in 1991. It was in reference to THE COPPER CROWN. The first time these were referred to as the Eight Deadly Words was in 1993, when she was discussing THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY."

35. Would the windmills in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books work?

Or more specifically, in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books, can the windmills contribute anything to warming up the planet?

No. Not even a very small amount as claimed later on in the series. According to RED MARS, the windmills convert one form of energy into another--no conservation of energy violation occurs. The problem is that they are irrelevant to the process of this conversion, which happens quite efficiently because of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, windmills or no windmills. That's what the growth of entropy is all about. While the actual, secret purpose of the mills was quite different, it is not credible that their official purpose should not be exposed as a fraud almost immediately.

[Provided by Mike Arnautov.]

36. What's the world's shortest science fiction story?

Traditionally, the answer has been Fredric Brown's "Knock": "The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door...." This appeared in the december 1948 issue of THRILLING WONDER STORIES.

But there is a reference in an article by Anthony Burgess that cited, "That morning the sun rose in the west." However, I suspect he just composed that himself, and never published it as a separate story. ("Anthony Burgess on the Short Story," in Les Cahiers de la nouvelle "Journal of the Short Story in English, janvier 1984, pp. 31-47. Universite d'Angers, http://buweb.univ-angers.fr/EXTRANET/AnthonyBURGESS/ShortStory.html.)

And Forry Ackerman claims he wrote the shortest one ever, titled "Cosmic Report Card: Earth" consisting of the single letter "F". (In the United States, grading is by letter: A, B, C, D, and F. Don't ask me why E is skipped, though Jeremy Meyers suggests it is because it would be too easy for students to alter an "F" to look like an "E".) See http://www.jophan.org/mimosa/m16/ackerman.htm for details; it appeared in the June 1973 issue of VERTEX.)

37. What are the books that come up again and again in rec.arts.sf.written?

Here are the high runners (numbers in brackets represent an estimate of the number of mentions in rec.arts.sf.written in the last six months of 1999).

Iain M. Banks's "Culture" novels [4584]

Steven Brust's "Vlad Taltos" series [584]

Lois McMaster Bujold's "Miles Vorkosigan" stories (see #19A) [3275]

Orson Scott Card's "Ender" series [1918]

Robert A. Heinlein's novels and stories, especially STARSHIP TROOPERS [3203]

Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" [8172]

Ursula K. LeGuin's "Earthsea" books and THE DISPOSSESSED [1880]

Ken MacLeod's novels (see #12N) [1068]

Ayn Rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED [996]

Neal Stephenson's CRYPTONOMICON [2131]

J. R. R. Tolkien's HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS [1016]

Vernor Vinge's "Singularity" and "Slow Zone" novels [1004]

David Weber's "Honor Harrington" novels [263]

38. What are good SF books for children/young adults?

The best list I've found is at http://www.lasfs.org/lasfs/about/projects/booklist/intro.html. It includes science fiction and fantasy.

Note that the question predates J. K. Rowling and the "Harry Potter" books, which is what made me add it, but this still helps with, "My kids have read all the 'Harry Potter' books; what next?"

39. Spelling

Here are the correct spelling of some commonly misspelled names:

Samuel R. Delany

Gandhi

Robert A. Heinlein

Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Edgar Allan Poe

J. R. R. Tolkien

In the Acknowledgments for REMAKING HISTORY and REMAKING HISTORY AND OTHER STORIES (published by Tor), it says, "'A History of the Twentieth Century, With Illustrations' was originally published in IASFM, copyright (c) 1991. The story has been revised for this edition."

Thanks to Rich Horton, who actually found these differences:

Book version, pages 83-84 (the bracketed part is missing from the magazine version, page 155):

... To the locals, he realized, the Orkneys were the center of the world. He bought a guidebook and drove north, [up the east coast of Mainland to the Broch of Gurness, a ruined fort and village that had been occupied from the time of Christ to the Norse era. The broch itself was a round stone tower about twenty feet tall. Its wall was at least ten feet thick, and was made of flat slabs, stacked so carefully that you couldn't have stuck a dime in the cracks. The walls in the surrounding village were much thinner; if attacked, the villagers would have retired into the broch. Frank nodded at the explanatory sentence in the guidebook, reminded that the twentieth century had had no monopoly on atrocities. Some had happened right here, no doubt. Unless the broch had functioned as a deterrent. Gurness overlooked a narrow channel between Mainland and the smaller island of Rousnay. Looking out at the channel, Frank noticed white ripples in its blue water; waves and foam were pouring past. It was a tidal race, apparently, and at the moment the entire contents of the channel were rushing north, as fast as any river he had ever seen.] Following suggestions in the guidebook, he drove across the island, to the neolithic site of Brodgar, Stenness, and Maes Howe. Brodgar and Stenness were two rings of standing stones; Maes Howe was a nearby chambered tomb. ...

Also, the book version, page 62-63, lists the advance for the book as a hundred thousand pounds, while the magazine verion, page 139, lists it as eighty thousand pounds.

41. Novel, novella, novelette, short story--what is the difference?

The WSFS defines the categories for the Hugos as:

Novel: more than 40,000 words

Novella: 17,500 - 40,000 words

Novelette: 7,500 - 17,500 words

Short Story: less than 7,500 words

At a panel at L.A.con IV on the differences in different forms, Silverberg said that Edgar Allan Poe said that the essence of the short story is that one thing happens. A novel, on the other hand, has a confrontation, which leads to a new plot direction, which leads to a new confrontation, and so on. A novella, Silverberg continued, is a short novel (less than 30,000 words). It has room for the sub-plots and the richly developed ideas of a novel, but not enough to sustain a novel. Silverberg also said that the novelette is an artificial creation of editors; the novelette and the novella are variant terms for something between a short story and a novel, he said.