Great Science-Fiction
& Fantasy Works

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

All Books Not in the Main Science-Fiction & Fantasy Lists

"Her eyes went to the books, which, like the other rumored objects, were accurately present."

--Days of Grass,
Tanith Lee

The chief function of this site is to list good science-fiction and fantasy authors, and the good science-fiction and fantasy books that those authors have written. All those authors and all those books are gathered up in numerous meticulous lists easily accessible from virtually any page of this site.

But here and there, between this and that, various other books have been mentioned (and links to detail pages on them provided). Such occasional mentions and links are scattered pretty widely about this site, and a return visitor seeking a dimly remembered particular mention might have a tough time finding it again. I have thus, for convenience, gathered all the odds and ends up and repeated them on this one page.

Non-Fiction

Science-Fiction and Fantasy Criticism, Commentary, Biography, Etc.

General

These are cited in the Apologia (Part 1).

• Ursula K. Le Guin: The Language of the Night
• Brian W. Aldiss: Trillion Year Spree
• George MacDonald: A Dish of Orts
• Fantasists on Fantasy (collection of essays)
• Joseph Campbell: Hero With a Thousand Faces

About Particular Authors

These are cited in the pages proper to the author or authors in question (this list will expand as the more detailed author reviews unfold.)

• L. Frank Baum
  • The Annotated Wizard of Oz annotated by Michael Patrick Hearn (includes, of course, The Wizard, but is also very much a book about Baum himself and his times).
  
  
• James Branch Cabell
  • James Branch Cabell: The Dream and the Reality by Desmond Tarrant
  
  
• Lewis Carroll
  • The Raven and the Writing Desk by Francis Huxley
  • Inventing Wonderland by Jackie Wullschläger
  
  
• Lord Dunsany
  • Lord Dunsany, Master of the Anglo-Irish Imagination by S. T. Joshi
  
  
• Mervyn Peake
  • Vast Alchemies by G. Peter Winnington
  • The Voice of the Heart: the working of Mervyn Peake's imagination by G. Peter Winnington
  • Mervyn Peake: the man and his art, edited by G. Peter Winnington
  • My Eyes Mint Gold by Malcolm Yorke
  • A World Away: A Memoir of Mervyn Peake by Maeve Peake
  • Mervyn Peake: A Personal Memoir by Gordon Smith
  
  
• J. R. T. Tolkien
  • The Histories of Middle-Earth, annotated by Christopher Tolkien
    • Unfinished Tales
    • The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1
    • The Book of Lost Tales, Part 2
    • The Lays of Beleriand
    • The Shaping of Middle-Earth: The Quenta, the Ambarkanta and the Annals
    • The Lost Road and Other Writings
    • The Return of the Shadow
    • The Treason of Isengard
    • The War of the Ring
    • Sauron Defeated: The End of the Third Age
    • Morgoth's Ring: The Later Silmarillion, Part One
    • The War of the Jewels: The Later Silmarillion, Part Two
    • The Peoples of Middle-Earth
    • The History of Middle-Earth, Index
  • J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter
  • The Inklings by Humphrey Carpenter
  • The Letters of J. R. R.Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien
  • Master of Middle-earth by Paul Kocher
  • Tolkien and The Silmarillion by Clyde Kilby
  • A Question of Time: J. R. R. Tolkien's Road to Faërie by Verlyn Flieger
  • The Road to Middle Earth by Tom Shippey
  • J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey
  • Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World by Verlyn Flieger
  • Tolkien: A Critical Assessment by Brian Rosebury
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Mythology of Power by Jane Chance
  • The Hobbit: A Journey into Maturity by William Green
  • J. R. R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances, an essay collection edited by George Clark and Daniel Timmons
  • A Reader's Companion to The Lord of the Rings by Wayne G. Hammond and Christna Scull
  
  
• Kenneth Grahame
  • Inventing Wonderland by Jackie Wullschläger
  
  
• Tanith Lee
  • The Hidden Library of Tanith Lee: Themes and Subtexts from Dionysos to the Immortal Gene by Mavis Haut
  
  

Science-Fiction and Fantasy Art Books

• The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Fiction Art Techniques

• Fantasy Art Masters: The Best Fantasy and Science Fiction Artists Show How They Work

• More Fantasy Art Masters: The Best Fantasy and Science Fiction Artists Show How They Work

• The Spectrum science-fiction and fantasy art series:

  • Spectrum 1
  • Spectrum 2
  • Spectrum 3
  • Spectrum 4
  • Spectrum 5
  • Spectrum 6
  • Spectrum 7
  • Spectrum 8
  • Spectrum 9
  • Spectrum 10
  • Spectrum 11
  • Spectrum 12
  • Spectrum 13

• The Chesley Awards

The English Language

These are cited on the first of the pages here on the English language.

• Grammar
  
  • George O. Curme: English Grammar
  
  
• Usage
  
  • H. W. Fowler, Modern English Usage
  • Theodore Bernstein, The Careful Writer
  • Wilson Follett, Modern American Usage
  • Bryan Garner, A Dictionary of Modern American Usage
  
  
• Diction
  
  • Webster's New World College Dictionary - the official dictionary of the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and most major journalism enterprises.
  
  
• Style
  
  • The usual standard for American usages is The Chicago Manual of Style, but even in the U.S., there are alternative manuals. (Those writing for publication should obtain and abide by the manual used by their publisher.)
  
  
• Other Useful Works
  
  • Strunk & White, The Elements of Style
  • Eric Partridge, Usage and Abusage
  • Margaret Nicholson, A Dictionary of American-English Usage
  • Harcourt, Brace (publishers), Harbrace College Handbook
  • Sir Ernest Gowers, The Complete Plain Words
  • Jacques Barzun, Simple & Direct
  • Herbert Read, English Prose Style
  
  
• Peripherally Related
  
  • James Branch Cabell: Straws and Prayer-Books
  
  

Miscellaneous

• Bored of the Rings, a lampoon, by Henry Beard and Douglas Kenney
• The Fall of Rome aka Alaric: The Day the World Ended by R. A. Lafferty

"Books on the Borderland" of Science Fiction and Fantasy

These works of fiction are cited in a section of the obiter dicta page.

• Auster, Paul
  • # Timbuktu
  • The New York Trilogy (three-book omnibus)
  
  
• Bradbury, Ray
  • Dandelion Wine
  • Death is a Lonely Business
  • Green Shadows, White Whale
  • A Graveyard For Lunatics
  
  
• Calvino, Italo
  • If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
  • Mr. Palomar
  • Marcovaldo
  
  
• Chesterton, G. K.
  • Manalive
  • The Napoleon of Notting Hill
  • The Club of Queer Trades
  • Tales of the Long Bow
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much
  • The Return of Dox Quixote
  • The Flying Inn
  
  
• Connell, Evan S.
  • The Alchymist's Journal
  
  
• Eco, Umberto
  • The Name of the Rose
  • The Island of the Day Before
  • Baudolino
  
  
• Helprin, Mark
  • Memoir From Antproof Case
  
  
• Hudson, W. H.
  • Green Mansions
    [by report: not yet read here]
  
  
• Le Guin, Ursula K.
  • Malafrena
  • Orsinian Tales *
  
  
• Lightman, Alan
  • Good Benito
  
  
• Nesbit, E.
  • The Railway Children
    [One might also include her series about the Bastable children.]
  
  
• Nooteboom, Cess
  • In the Dutch Mountains
  • The Following Story
  
  
• Nye, Robert
  • Falstaff
  
  
• Seare, Nicholas
  • 1339 or So
  
  
• Wilhelm, Kate
  • Somerset Dreams *
  
  
• Wolfe, Gene
  • Pandora by Holly Hollander
  
  

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