What Fantastic Fiction Do I Read Next?: A Reader's Guide to Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic guide to fantastic fiction!
Review: Here are two worthy additions to Gale's multigenre What Do I Read Next? series. What Fantastic Fiction specializes in fantasy, horror, and science fiction published within the last eight years (1989^-96), providing details on more than 4,800 titles. The editor has contributed to other volumes in the series and has sound working knowledge of fantastic fiction. What Western describes 1,500 titles published since 1989, selected by someone who is himself a writer of western fiction. The arrangement of each is similar to that of the parent volume, What Do I Read Next? There is a key to story types and a list of award-winning titles for the period covered at the beginning. The list of fantastic story types is divided by subgenre: horror, fantasy, science fiction. Western story types include Indian wars, man alone, and ranch life. The title section is the same format as What Do I Read Next?: author/title, story type, character, time period and locale descriptors, a short summary, and other title suggestions. The latter go well outside the time period of the works described. As with all Gale titles, there are multiple indexes: series, time period, geographical, story type, character name, character description, author, and title. All public libraries, as well as academic libraries with popular fiction courses, will want to consider these collection-development and reader's-advisory tools. They will be especially welcomed by librarians who do not have expertise in these genres.