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Great Science-Fiction
& Fantasy Works

science-fiction & fantasy literature:
a critical list with discussions

Particular Science-Fiction & Fantasy Books

"'What is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'"

--Alice in Wonderland,
Lewis Carroll

Listed Science-Fiction & Fantasy Books, By Title

About This List

This books-by-title page is not, nor is it meant to be, a list of every good science-fiction and fantasy book: it is a list of the science-fiction and fantasy books that I know and like. Omission of a given book may mean I didn't think highly enough of it to include it or may simply mean that, even in over a half century of science-fiction and fantasy reading, I still haven't gotten to the book (as I say in several places on this site, that is especially likely to be true of books from the last decade or two, when annual science-fiction and fantasy title-publication totals have been staggering).

(I have now added a couple of other lists to try to minimize that gap: one is books yet unread here but by authors already in these lists, the other--working from what I hope to be reputable critical sources--books yet-unread here by authors not yet in these lists but recommended by those one-hopes reliable other sources.)

Each book title on the list below is a link to an editions-list page here for that book (showing all editions currently available new), and every author name is a link to a page here about that author. Those author pages each contain the same list of the author's books as do the books-by-author pages, plus a brief discussion of the author and of those books (warning: not all the discussions are in place yet, though all the pages--and book lists thereon--are). Those discussions are not profound analyses: they are meant to help you rank the authors and books on your personal "to-read" list.

Note also that this list includes some books that are not on the actual main science-fiction & fantasy authors/books list--those extras are other books mentioned here and there on this site, whether books of criticism, a few of another genre, or other odds and ends. Every book referenced on this site is collected in the list below.

About Buying Books Listed Here

(If you haven't already read this site's page about buying books from Amazon, you ought to right now.)

Detailed explanation of the individual-book-editions page format appears on the Buying New Books page of this site; although the pages look--and mostly are--self-explanatory, not everything is obvious, so please be sure you have read that explanation before looking over individual book-edition pages. Before I present the actual list, though, here are a few general observations about buying books from here.

First: I try very hard to manually cull from the edition lists any "ringers": abridged versions, Cliff's Notes, CD or cassette audio versions, coloring books, puzzles, calendars, and suchlike nonsense; but I cannot be assured that I have elided each possible offender. The risk of finding a ringer in the lists will be greatest for those few immensely popular "children's books" included, such as Alice in Wonderland, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Wizard of Oz, and a couple of like titles. If you detect any such things, do please e-mail me about them.

Second: I urge readers on both sides of the Atlantic to take a moment to read the page here about International Book-Buying; it discusses relative availabilities, prices, shipping costs, and more. An important point is that it may on occasion--owing to sometimes large price differentials between divisions--actually be cheaper to order a book from an Amazon across a border than from your "local" one.

Third: Note that I do not list editions that Amazon shows but marks as "Special Order" or "Hard to Obtain" or the like: in principle, every edition I list is available for immediate order and reasonably prompt shipment. In some cases, that was a judgement call: is four to six weeks really "reasonably prompt"? I use as my criterion whether or not Amazon has an "Add To Cart" button available for the work (which they normally do not for "Special Order" books). All in all, I did my best, and the editions-list pages present you with lead-time information from which you can make your own call.

(Note that some books not yet actually published can be "Pre Ordered"--check publication dates if in doubt about unfamiliar titles).

Fourth: Please understand that I do not control Amazon's prices--what you see on the all-editions page for any book is what was current when I got the data (I try to update those pages every day). But, since both price and availability can change suddenly, the "buy" button on my pages for any particular edition from a particular Amazon division actually takes you to an intermediate "summary" page for that edition from that division, on which up-to-the-instant data is shown, along with a true "buy it now" button--so always double-check the price and availability on that summary order page before clicking the "Add To Cart" button there.

Fifth: You owe it to yourself to be sure that you do not have stealth scumware running as a parasite on your computer (you almost surely would not know if you did); the Scumware! page here will tell you what it is and how to find tests for it and, if necessary, ways to eliminate it.

Now, The List:

(The listings are alphabetical by title, except that titles beginning with The, A, or An are listed by the next word in the title.)

If you haven't already been, you could now go to complete lists of the recommended authors by clicking on the words below. As I say elsewhere, it's just a bare list, and not really the best place to go for author information--that would be the master list of all authors and the books by each that are listed here. But if you want the bare list first, here it is:

The Authors

• the U.S.A.
• Canada
• the U.K.
• Germany
• France
• Japan

• Notices
   important information from your host about these forums
  
• Introductions
   where you can tell us who you are
  
• Authors and Their Books
   for discussing authors currently listed on this site
  
• Author Suggestions
   for discussing authors not listed here, main list or "possibles"
  
• Other Media
   speculative fiction other than books
  
• About This Site
   pats, pans, and queries
  
• Everything Else
   just keep it clean and non-commercial
  

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