Baird Searles (1934–1993)

I have an absurd amount of affection for this little book. I first purchased a copy in the early-mid-1990s, before I had Internet access, and it was (and still is) an enormously helpful resource. I recently left my old copy out when I was looking up information on an author in it and my cat got ahold of it and tore it to shreds; I immediately got on Amazon Marketplace and purchased another copy. It will probably have a space on my bookshelf for as long as I have one.

The one problem with this guide--and admittedly it's a big one--is that it was published in 1979 (and given how long it takes to put out a book, probably the cut off is somewhat earlier). You won't find Orson Scott Card here. Or William Gibson. Or Douglas Adams, Dan Simmons, Lois McMaster Bujold, John Scalzi. You will though on the "Seven Parsec Bookshelf" find many seminal writers in the genre that many a list neglect. Not just H.G. Wells and Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs but such show more writers as Olaf Stapeldon and E. E. Smith. I certainly found many a writer to love through this book. So although I might be reluctant to recommend it to someone looking for a guide to science fiction, it's keeping it's place on my shelves. show less

Yes, this is dated. It was published in 1982, so you won't find JK Rowling's Harry Potter series or Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga or George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice cycle or Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series or Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series or Terry Pratchett's Discworld series or Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy or Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books or Christopher Paolini's Inheritance cycle or books by Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson, Mercedes Lackey, Louise show more McMaster Bujold, Jacqueline Carey or Naomi Novik.

Whew. Yeah, a lot not there because since the 70s the fantasy genre exploded. The other side of the coin is that a lot of the books recommended and listed in this book are going to be out of print. So would I recommend this to someone wanting a guide to fantasy today? Probably not. But it's staying in my library (with lost cover and taped and falling apart) because it was worth its cover price alone for the "Seven-League Shelf" of must-reads. Some even of those such as Jane Gaskell's Atlan Saga, H. Rider Haggard's She books and C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry stories might be hard to find. But oh, so much good here and it's this book that pointed me to them. Loses a star only because it badly needs updating. show less

Invaluable, but now sadly dated, guide to the field. It's still tremendously useful for material published through 1980, and the lack of an updated edition covering the last quarter-century of SF literature is scandalous.