Science fiction is a young genre, its roots drawing from humanity's desire to understand the future and speculate about the unknown. The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature attempts to trace a path of its emergence and provide a snapshot of the genre as it is now. This is done through a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section includes cross-referenced entries on more than 900 science fiction authors, ranging across the entire historical spectrum, while more than 200 other entries describe subgenres, key concepts, technical terms, and the magazines, movements, and ideas that have shaped the genre throughout the 19th, 20th and 21st century.
