Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction

by Jeff Prucher

Brave New Words is the winner of a 2008 Hugo Award for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The first historical dictionary devoted to science fiction, Brave New Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction shows exactly how science-fictional words and their associated concepts have developed over time, with full citations and bibliographic information. It's a window on a whole genre of literature through the words invented and passed along by the genre's most talented writers. In addition, it shows how many words we consider everyday vocabulary-words like "spacesuit," "blast off," and "robot"-had their roots in imaginative literature, and not in hard science. Citations are included for each definition, starting with the earliest usage that can be found. These citations are drawn not only from science fiction books and magazines, but also from mainstream publications, fanzines, screenplays, newspapers, comics, film, songs, and the Internet. In addition to illustrating the different ways each word has been used, citations also show when and where words have moved out of the science fiction lexicon and into that of other subcultures or mainstream English. Brave New Words covers the shared language of science fiction, as well as the vocabulary of science fiction criticism and its fans--those terms that are used by many authors in multiple settings. Words coined in science fiction have become part of the vocabulary of any number of subcultures and endeavors, from comics, to neo-paganism, to aerospace, to computers, to environmentalism, to zine culture. This is the first book to document this vocabulary transfer. Not just a useful reference and an entertaining browse, this book also documents the enduring legacy of science fiction writers and fans.

Genres: Science Fiction, Reference, Writing, Language, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Books About Books

342 pages, Hardcover

First published March 21, 2007

Reviews

[John Dods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really interesting stuff in this book.
Thanks Pam for the loan.

[Impoeia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really wonderful resource for all Sci-Fi fans - whether you're writing a period-specific piece or are just interested in all things sci-fi.

I can only recommend it.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great source for keeping track of genre terms and tropes, past and present. Short articles that get to the point quickly. A good desktop companion.

[John Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this is as a Christmas present. It’s ‘just’ a dictionary so it’s hard to say a lot about it… only that’s it’s pretty good. Seems to have just about every ‘sf’ word you can think of eg needle gun, cyborg, wallscreen… to flick it open at random. Also a lot of the language of science fiction fandom is covered – some of which, especially the older more archaic terms, were new to me. Each term comes with multiple extensive citations from the history of sf and its surrounding literature. Also it’s nice to get some definitive pronunciation guides for terms I’ve only seen in print before. There’s also a couple of short introductory essays and several themed ones eg ‘Earthlings’ ‘Star Trek’ ‘Zines’ scattered through the text giving examples of different words used within a topic.

Can’t say I read it cover to cover (nor do I plan to) but it was an entertaining and informative flick through and it’ll be handy to have on the shelf for future reference and inspiration.

[Betsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

really fun! it's not exactly what i thought it'd be, but still fun. He chooses 1999 as the last year for inclusion in the book, which was disappointing but understandable. The other part that surprised me was that he includes a lot of definitions that aren't from books, but from scifi culture. it's fine, just not what I'd expected. totally recommend it, and I'm looking forward to the next edition. It really feels like scifi has had a renaissance in the last 8 years, and I'd love to see those authors included!

[Anthony Patten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference book. Inspires me every time. The resources are a bit dodgy/unnecessary, and there could be alot more content (the "space-" seciton was nearly half the book. Spaceman, spacegirl, I get it!).

[Kacper · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good book to glance at. Some of my favorite words are: go nova, doublesuperungood, posthuman, and alternate future ;-) But it has entries for words like robot and laser gun, *yawn*

[RUSA CODES · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was selected as an Outstanding Reference Source for 2008. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...

[Cat Fithian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great dictionary. Fun to skim through.