Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature

by Allen Stroud

Fantasy is both old and new. In the ancient past, stories of magic, where supernatural creatures existed, the gods walked the earth and heroes saved their civilizations from the dark fate that awaited them were intermingled with history, religion, and fact. It is only in the last few hundred years that a conscious suspension of disbelief has allowed us to return to the literature of the impossible and appreciate it for its craft and storytelling once more.
Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, an extensive bibliography, and cross-referenced entries on more than 800 authors, ranging across the entire historical spectrum. More than 200 other entries describe the fantasy sub genres, key images in fantasy literature, technical terms used in fantasy criticism, and the intimately convoluted relationship between literary fantasies, scholarly fantasies, and lifestyle fantasies. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about fantasy literature.

578 pages, Hardcover

Published June 24, 2023

About the author

I am Assistant Professor (Research) Defence and Security Futures in the Centre for Peace and Security at Coventry University.

I was Chair of the British Science Fiction Association between 2019 and 2025.

In 2017, I completed my Ph. D. in "Worldbuilding Techniques and Writing Structures in Science Fiction and Fantasy".

My Official Elite: Dangerous novel, Elite: Lave Revolution was published in May 2014. I am also the official novelist for Julian Gollop's new game 'Chaos Reborn', released in 2016. I also wrote 'The Last Tank Commander', which was first published by Newcon Press and went on to be included in 'The Year's Best Military SF and Adventure Stories 2016' by Baen Books.

In 2017, Luna Press published my novel, 'The Forever Man', a weird fiction/urban fantasy. In 2018, I was featured in the Clarke Award/Newcon Press anthology celebrating 100 years since the birth of Arthur C. Clarke.

I was also the co-lead writer for the computer game, Phoenix Point which was published in 2019. You can find a collection of the short stories here - https://phoenixpoint.info/archives/

In 2020, Flame Tree Press published my Science Fiction novel, Fearless.

“Stroud raises fascinating questions about the politics of space exploration.”- Publisher’s Weekly

“Rigorous hard SF with a powerful but flawed protagonist and a fascinating historical background, Fearless is a treat for just about any Analog reader.” AnalogSF

“Fast-paced, gripping hard SF with death in hard vacuum waiting at every turn.” Adrian Tchaikovsky

After Fearless, we have the sequel, Resilient (2022) then the episodes: Europa (2023), Ceres (2023) Lagrange Point (2023), Terra (2023), Luna (2024) and Jezero (2024). Also, the third novel, Vigilance came out in 2024.