Glossary of Terms

Most of the abbreviations and such that I use are self-explanatory...however in the interests of clarity here they are:

If there's a term/acronym/etc you don't understand and think should be added to this list, please mail me at espana@Catch22.COM

  • A,DV: Again, Dangerous Visions
  • A.K.A.: Also known as
  • Amz: Amazing Stories
  • Anlg: Analog Science Fiction and Fact(Formerly Astounding Science Fiction)
  • Anth.: Anthology (collection of short stories by various authors)
  • Ast: Astounding (Now Analog Science Fiction and Fact)
  • Aurora: Prix Aurora Awards. Canadian SF/Fantasy Award (formerly known as the Casper)
  • B.: Born
  • Bb: Bibliography
  • Bio: Biography
  • BSFA: British Science Fiction Award
  • C.: circa (around, approximately)
  • Campbell: John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the Best New Writer, Worldcon
  • Casper: Canadian SF/Fantasy Award (now known as the Aurora)
  • Coll: Collection
  • DV: Dangerous Visions
  • D.: died
  • Deathrealm: Award given by Deathrealm Magazine
  • Ditmar: The Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award.
  • Ed.: Edited by/Editor of
  • ESFS: European Science Fiction Society
  • F: Fantasy
  • FTL: Faster than light
  • F&SF: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
  • Gandalf: Special WSFS award, sponsored by Lin Carter
  • GM: Grand Master Nebula (lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy)
  • GOH: Guest of Honor (at a convention)
  • hc: hardcover
  • house name: Pseudonym used by a publishing company for several authors. Often used by magazines when more than one story by the same author was being published in the same issue or by books publishers that used a few authors to mass produce alot of books for one of their lines.
  • Hugo: World Science Fiction Convention award
  • IASFM: Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (known simply as Asimov's Science Fiction now, I believe)
  • Intro: Introduction (Usually to an anthology or another author's work)
  • Nebula: SFWA Award
  • N-F, NF: Non-Fiction
  • NSF: Non Science Fiction (usually mainstream fiction)
  • Orig: originally
  • pb: Paperback
  • Pboy: Playboy Magazine
  • Pegasus: Award given out at the Ohio Valley Filk Fest to recognize excellence in filking.
  • Prometheus: Given out by the Libertarian Futurist Society to honor libertarian SF.
  • Publ: Published
  • Related Works: Works relating to the author but not written, edited nor published by the same (Biographies, mentions, contributions etc)
  • Rhysling: SFPA's award for the best SF poetry of the year.
  • Sh.st.: Short story
  • Sh.sts.: Collection of short Stories by one author
  • SF: Science Fiction
  • SFPA: Science Fiction Poetry Association. Gives out the Rhysling award
  • SFWA: Science Fiction Writers of America
  • SFRA: Science Fiction Research Association
  • Sturgeon: The Theodore Sturgeon Award, for the best short science fiction of the year.
  • S&S: Simon and Schuster
  • Tiptree: The James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award . More info
  • tp: trade paperback
  • Trade Paperback: Oversized paperback, usually about the size of a hardcover but still a softcover. Sometimes it's the edition between the first hardcover printing and the mass market paperback (pocketbook-sized) edition. Some smaller publishers and certain types of books (like Graphic Novels) only come out in the trade format.
  • Vol: Volume
  • W.: With (in colaboration with)
  • WFA: World Fantasy Association or World Fantasy Association Award
  • Worldcon: World Science Fiction Convention
  • WSFS: World Science Fiction Society

    As I said, most of these are fairly obvious. Aside from this there are a few other things, such as:

    UK, Australian, etc publications will be noted as such. Otherwise books with no notation are assumed to be US editions or the country of publications is unknown.

    Italics under the name of the author refer to his or her real,original or full name

    Italics elsewhere refer to periodical publications (magazines, fanzines, etc)

    Quotation marks usually indicate a work smaller than a novel (short stories, novellas,etc)

    Question marks indicate a fact I am unsure of, i.e. spelling or misattribution

    If the place that the work was published is not shown in italics, this means it is an Anthology or something of the type. Publishing houses (such as Doubleday) are not italicised.

    Hugo, Nebula, WFA Achievement, Edgar, Philip K. Dick, Campbell, Aurora, HOMer, etc are all awards.

    A divider line:

    separates the novel-length works from the shorts.

    Updated November 2005