Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction edited by Jeff Prucher
(introduction by Gene Wolfe), Oxford University Press, $29.95, 342pp, hc, 9780195305678.
Prucher has taken it upon himself to define and give the derivations and histories of just about every word created for use in science fiction: those that were born in stories and found their way into the “real world,” those which have remained solidly in the community, and those which are the lifeblood of “trufen” (look it up; it’s in here). And he’s done a wonderful job with it; I haven’t yet found a “SFnal” term I was looking for that wasn’t in this book. (Although the other side of that argument is that I wonder how large an audience could possibly exist for this book. But that doesn’t really matter; Oxford thought it was big enough, and the book exists.)
In addition to typical OED entires with histories, there are also several essays on themes, discussing whole areas of knowledge or endeavor and the many words which buttress them. The titles of those theme discussions are illuminating in themselves: Communications & Entertainment; Earthlings; Expletives & Profanity; Fanspeak; Naval Terms; Robots; Space Drives; Star Trek; Time Travel; Weapons; and Zines.
In addition to the main entries and essays, there’s a list of pseudonymous authors quoted or referenced in the book (along with their real names), a full bibliography of the cited works; and a few dozen pages of lists of books about science fiction, books about writers, and other reference works. It’s a pretty exhaustive study of the words we’ve created in our little corner of the literary world, and also a handsome book. This one has already earned itself a place on my reference shelf.