Print references
Saricks, J 2009, The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction (2nd edition), American Library Association, Chicago.
The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction's chapter on Science Fiction offers a range of strategies for dealing with potential readers’ advisory challenges for this readership. It includes a breakdown of authors to try, which helps introduce readers to various sub-genres without specifically enunciating them. Further elaboration of cross-pollination between genres takes place in a later section. The particular characteristics of SF such as mood, pacing, characterisation, setting and language are discussed. Also discussed are particular characteristics of SF readers and strategies for responding to individual reader tastes, particularly for library staff less familiar with the genre.
Advantages:
- The text includes some good advice on dealing with readers’ advisory challenges specific to this genre.
- There is a good explanation of the genre and its various components, such as the roles played by tone, setting, characterisation, and the significance of its appeal to the intellect of the reader.
- Some useful information is included regarding what science fiction fans desire from their reading.
- There is a section discussing significant authors in the genre.
Disadvantages:
- Rather than a straightforward listing and annotation of sub-genres, Saricks discusses cross-pollination of science fiction with other genres in the context of different authors.
- Although several authors and texts are mentioned during the discussion, a separate, extensive listing of recommended texts is not present.
- The text is possibly more focused on readers already reading, and familiar with, science fiction, so is more useful for advising them than for introducing new readers to the genre. This is not necessarily a disadvantage, then - rather, it is an observation on the specific focus of the resource and for whom it is most useful.
Herald, D ‘Chapter 10: science fiction’, in Herald, D &
Weigand, W 2005, Genreflecting: A Guide to Popular Reading Interests, 6th edition, Libraries, Unlimited,
Westport, CT.
The chapter begins with an essay by JoAnn Palmeri, who
discusses the origins of science fiction, as well as issues such as
difficulties surrounding formal definition of the genre, and how to effectively
advise readers, both those new to science fiction and those already conversant with the genre.
The remainder of the chapter has clear listings for various
sub-genres, including ‘classics’, science fiction adventure, space opera, militaristic,
time travel, and others. Each sub-genre or section begins with a brief
explanation or context for the sub-genre in question. Following the sub-genre sections are annotated
listings of anthologies, encyclopedias, review journals, associations,
conventions and awards. At the end of the chapter are a selection by the author
of recommended works, with annotations.
Advantages:
- Each sub-genre or category section begins with a brief explanation, setting the scene for what is to follow.
- There is an extensive section has an extensive listing of examples for each sub-genre, and many entries are annotated.
Disadvantages:
- While this text is quite useful for a brief introduction to various science fiction sub-genres and themes, for those seeking a resource for quick reference purposes it may prove possibly slightly problematic, as the given headings are not necessarily the ‘official’ names for the sub-genre; indeed, the author indicates as much when she notes that 'while some of the sub-genres...are well-established...other[s] are newer, seemingly less cohesive and more thematic’ (Herald, 2005, p. 323). This issue therefore is not an error of omission by the author, but a reflection of the complexities of the genre.
Torres-Roman, S 2010, Read On...Science Fiction: Reading Lists For Every Taste, Libraries Unlimited, Santa Barbara, California.
This text is part of the Read On series, which according to the foreword aims to ‘introduce...readers and those who work with them to new ways of looking at books, genres and reading interests’ (Trott, 2010, p. xi). The text is broken up into chapters: Story, Character, Setting, Mood and Language, so readers' advisory can be undertaken according to what each reader would like to focus on or has a preference for. Each category is divided into sub-sections, with works listed alphabetically by author. Within these sub-sections are the sub-genres themselves located, with a brief description of each before the listing of works. Each entry includes an indication if the work is part of a series (underlined for ease of discovery) and both ten- and thirteen- digit ISBNs. This is followed by an annotation of the work, giving a brief summary and background on the series if applicable.
Included is an appendix on ‘Interesting and important anthologies’, and an Author/Title/Series index.
Advantages:
- Various sub-genres are clearly delineated (within each category), with numerous examples given of each.
- Each work is usefully annotated, with a story blurb and often some background information on the text or author.
- The author/title/series index allows for easy access to all works by a particular author discussed within the text
Disadvantages:
- Due to the large number of sub-genres covered, only a small introduction is given to each by way of background. Also, ‘traditional’ labels for sub-genres may be difficult to interpret or locate. However, the breakup of the text into ‘categories’ (mood, setting, language etc.) functions as a useful starting point, and may be more useful to the readers being assisted than ‘officially titled’ sub-genres.
Andrews, S and Rennison, R 2006, 100 Must-Read Science Fiction Novels, A & C Black, London.
Part of the Bloomsbury Good Reading Guides series, this text seeks to present a list of ‘essential’ books, as opposed to a ‘best of’ - as such, it aims to serve as an entry point into the genre. Arranged alphabetically by author, each entry gives the author’s date of birth, publication date of the novel, followed by a story synopsis (minus spoilers!). A brief account of the author and the context of the novel concludes the annotation. Following each entry are ‘Read On’ suggestions for further reader consideration, in which works with similar themes are listed. Sidebars appear periodically throughout the text titled ‘Read on a Theme’, some of which serve as sub-genre groupings, although others list movie adaptations, female authors, or author collaborations. There are three lists at the end listing the winners of various awards, which could also function as a what-to-read reference. The index contains entries by title and author, while the introduction gives a rundown on the background and history of the genre.
Advantages:
- Good story synopses, and the background information regarding author and context are useful.
- The ‘Read On’ recommendations can help guide those looking for similar reading.
- While the ‘Read on a Theme’ sidebars are informative and potentially useful for gathering novels into categories, they are only partially useful for definitions and grouping(s) of sub-genres.
Web resources
In 'Keeping up with the fans: science fiction on the web', Becky Spratford notes:
‘One of the hardest things about helping Science Fiction readers is their dedication to the genre. They have their favorites and appear to know everything about them...So how do you even begin to get a handle on everything your Science Fiction readers are encountering?...The goal is to have a few “go to” resources which you can check regularly'.
(Spratford, 2012)
With that in mind, here is a selection of some of the resources the Web can offer, in addition to the above print references.
Science Fiction & Fantasy: A Genre With Many Faces by Amy Goldschlager and Avon Eos gives a good overview of the various sub-genres. Although the article is on both science fiction and fantasy, it does seek to explain the difference between the two.
Meanwhile, the Contents page of the parent site (SFsite.com) also has reading lists by author and topic, book reviews and author lists including information about them and their works, and interviews with authors.
Curated Science Fiction has lists of categories on its opening page which double as sub-genre headings. (The categories are: Hard Science Fiction, Space Opera, Culture & Mystery, Conflict, Alternate History and Anthologies.)The lists of ‘categories’ is only a half dozen, so some sub-genres will inevitably be subsumed into a larger category. For this reason the resource may be less useful for detailed sub-genre searching. Each book in a category includes a link for where to buy the book.
Based on NPR’s survey to find the top 100 science fiction and fantasy books, this is a flow chart, with yes/no/maybe answers, to help readers decide which direction they would like to go with their science fiction/fantasy. While quite detailed it is perhaps potentially confusing or off-putting for people, including perhaps those who don’t want to spend a lot of time reading a flow chart. Regardless, it is still interesting to check out; also, it has appeared on numerous sites, indicative of its popularity.
This Interactive Guide to NPR's List of Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books is a potentially less overwhelming step-by-step version of the same chart. Whichever book you end up at also has links to purchase (although apparently the only option is Amazon). Even though many options can be seen at once on the flow chart version, at least one of the authors of this genre guide actually spent a great deal more time playing with the step-by-step interactive version. This led to the proposition that the experience more closely resembles the readers’ advisory interview: ask a question at a time, then go on to the next step based on that.
Mainly for interest’s sake, here is an infographic of the history of science fiction (click here for a full-sized version), which could be either interesting or difficult to look at, depending on your perspective. Possibly not as potentially useful from a readers’ advisory perspective (too confusing, for one), but it does give a pictorial idea of the complexity of the genre. (Interestingly, it shows (for example) detective and western science fiction sub-genres disappearing through holes labelled ‘crime’ and ‘westerns’ – indicating bleed-through into other genres). Also, it looks really strange, like an amorphous whale, which was another reason somebody chose to include it.
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