Fantasy and Science Fiction

Special Issue: Foundation 60 (Spring 1994). Science Fiction Research: The State of the Art.

Special Issue: Genders: 18 (Winter 1993). Cyberpunk.

Auerbach, Nina, and U. C. Knoepflmacher, eds. Forbidden Journeys: Fairy Tales and Fantasies by Victorian Women Writers. Chicago/London: U of Chicago P, 1992. $27.50. Review Michael Patrick Hearn, "Collecting Tales," Teaching and Learning Literature 3.1 (March/April 1994): 37-38. Favorable essay review, Anita C. Wilson, "Vehicles of Dissent," ChLAQ 19.3 (Fall 1994): 142-43. A selection and analysis of "Victorian fairy tales that enabled female authors to undermine the conventions and constraints imposed by nineteenth-century gender ideology." The first section includes revisions of traditional tales, the second section, "Subversions," wholly original stories. G.A.

Broderick, Damien. "SF as Generic Engineering." Foundation 59 (Autumn 1993): 16-28. Taken, with some changes, from Broderick's forthcoming Reading by Starlight: The Semiotics of Modern and Postmodern Science Fiction. Addresses the question: "Is anything to be gained [for critics] in continuing to treat SF as a genre?" G.A.

Campbell, Patty. "The Sand in the Oyster." Horn Book 70.2 (March/April 1994): 234-38. A discussion of YA horror paperbacks wildly popular with teens. Campbell decries the eroticizing of violence against women but urges "finding constructive ways to take advantage of the [books'] appeal." G.A.

Caswell, Brian. "The Fantasy Phenomenon." Orana 30.4 (Nov. 1994): 256-67. The Australian author examines fantasy's nature, function, and techniques in his book Merryll of the Stones, Emily Rodda's Rowan of Rin, Robert Carter's The Collectors, and Isobelle Carmody's The Gathering. J.D.A.

Clute, John, and Peter Nicholls, eds. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. London: Orbit, 1993. 1370 p. ISBN 1-85723-124-4. £45. Enthusiastic review David B. Barrett, TLS 1 Oct. 1993: 22-23. A new edition, "effectively a new work," of the 1979 Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, which has a total of 4360 entries, 2100 cross-references, and 212 essays on specific themes, including genre, linguistics, magic, magic realism, music, mythology, pollution, postmodernism, psychology, religion, time travel, virtual reality, war, and women writers, to name a few. G.A.

Cooke, Brett. "Sociobiology, Science Fiction and the Future." Foundation 60 (Spring 1994): 42-51. Examines an emerging "biopoetics" that is particularly relevant to SF. Looks at some writers who have already employed biopoetics, including Le Guin, and makes suggests for authors and critics in the future. G.A.

Gauch, Patrida Lee. "A Quest for the Heart of Fantasy." New Advocate 7.3 (Summer 1994): 159-67. The editorial director of Philomel Books talks about editing fantasy in terms of 2 books, Brian Jacques's Redwall (1986) and Tom Barron's Heartlight (1990). G.A.

Gibberman, Susan R. Star Trek: An Annotated Guide to Resources on the Development, the Phenomenon, the People, the Television Series, the Films, the Novels and the Recordings. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1991. 434 p. $39.95. Positive review Doug Highsmith, Popular Culture in Libraries 2.1 (1994): 112-13. An annotated bibliography of books, articles, and audio and video of everything in English published before 31 Dec. 1990. Omits fanzines and comic books. G.A.

Gunn, James. "Science Fiction Scholarship Revisited." Foundation 60 (Spring 1994): 5-9. An overview of scholarship in the field, starting with the 1950s and ending with the 2 recent 1992 anthologies edited by Thomas Shippey and by Ursula Le Guin and Brian Attebery. G.A.

Le Brun, Claire. "Il était/sera une fois. Le conte de fées technologique des années 80." Canadian Children's Literature 74 (1994): 63-75. On 3 SF novels: Henriette Major's La Ville fabuleuse (1982), Marie Page's L'Enfant venu d'ailleurs (1983), and Daniel Mativat's Ram, le robot ou le Pinocchio de Sirius (1984). Science and technology revitalize the traditional themes of the fortunate isles and the land of Cockaigne; there is the hint of a subgenre, the technological fairy tale. G.A.

Lyall, Francis. "Law in Science Fiction: An Introduction." Foundation 55 (Summer 1992): 43-57. A professor of public law discusses the relatively little law found in SF. Topics are law as background, technical developments, trials, judges, jurisdiction...