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Books : Science Fiction & Fantasy : Authors, A-Z : S : Stableford, Brian
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A prolific SF author for over 30 years, Brian Stableford is also an erudite genre critic and author or co-author of many related reference books. The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places is a slightly tongue-in-cheek project that makes good use of his vast knowledge by dealing with SF's imagined cities, worlds and constructions bigger than worlds in the deadpan manner of The Penguin Encyclopedia of Places. The nearly 700 short essays cover a wide range from classics like Burroughs's Barsoom (Mars), Clarke's eternal city Diaspar and Asimov's imperial world Trantor, through Herbert's desert planet Dune and Niven's artifical Ringworld, to modern creations like Cherryh's Cyteen, Wolfe's Whorl and Robert Charles Wilson's Darwinia. It's an unashamedly literary encyclopedia: no entries for Tattooine or the Death Star, thank goodness. Stableford includes moments of quiet fun for aficionados, as when the Trantor article complains that the biased Encyclopedia Galactica--an early feature of Asimov's Foundation sequence--omits important aspects of this world which were actually added in much later sequels. The Dictionary may be largely inscrutable to readers unfamiliar with SF, but it's endlessly and enjoyably dippable-into for those who know their way around these imaginary geographies and can appreciate Stableford's sometimes wry assessments ... plus useful implied recommendations. --David Langford
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