Country | United Kingdom |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher |
|
Published | 1999–present |
Media type | Print (Hardcover / Paperback) Ebook |
No. of books | 188 (186 in current publication) |
Website | sfgateway |
SF Masterworks is a series of science fiction novel reprints published by UK-based company Orion Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Hachette UK. The series is intended for the United Kingdom and Australian markets, but many editions are distributed to the United States and Canada by Hachette Book Group. As of June 2022 [update] , there are 188 unique titles in the series, 186 of which have been printed in the relaunched series. Approximately 230 volumes, including hardcover and revised editions, have been published in total.
Superseding the earlier series Gollancz Classic SF (1986–1987) and VGSF Classics (1988–1990), [1] the SF Masterworks series began publication in 1999. Developed to feature important and out of print science fiction novels, the selections were described by science fiction author Iain M. Banks as "amazing" and "genuinely the best novels from sixty years of SF". [2] Many of the selections had been out of print in the United Kingdom for many years.
Its companion series include Fantasy Masterworks and Gateway Essentials.
Not all printings include a volume number stamp. Printings distributed to the United States do not include any markings to indicate they are part of a series.
The new designs sport yellow/white spines, with the SF Masterworks logo written vertically on the cover. The original 10 numbered titles were re-issued first. For titles that were previously issued in the original series, generally the cover artwork is tinted in a different colour from the original version. For example, The Dispossessed cover artwork is primarily red in the original release, and was tinted green when reprinted as part of the relaunch.
Only two titles from the numbered series have not yet been reprinted in the relaunch series: The Drowned World and Now Wait for Last Year . Since these are also the only entries missing from the "Complete List" of titles published by Gollancz in 2016, [3] the delay in reprinting both titles is likely a publisher oversight.
‡ Reprinted version of a title from the numbered series
‡ Reprinted version of a title from the numbered series
§ Later reprinted in a paperback edition
The following editions were announced, but appear to have been withdrawn:
Tentative Title | Author(s) | Scheduled | Known ISBN |
---|---|---|---|
Camp Concentration | Thomas Disch | 10 August 2006 | 0-575-07877-4 |
334 | 9 November 2006 | 0-575-07897-9 | |
The Long Loud Silence | Wilson Tucker | February 2015 | 978-1-4732-0773-8 |
The Forge of God | Greg Bear | 2017 | 978-1-4732-2266-3 |
The Iron Dream | Norman Spinrad | 14 November 2017 | 978-1-4732-2264-9 |
Title | Author(s) | Date | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|
Dune | Frank Herbert | 27 October 2022 | 978-1-399-61117-6 |
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy | Douglas Adams | 24 August 2023 | 978-1-399-61724-6 |
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Gollancz imprint, Orion published ten fan-chosen editions. Each novel featured Gollancz's red-on-yellow cover design. The series was initially marketed as part the SF Masterworks series.
No. | Title | Author(s) | Date | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Shadow and Claw (The Book of the New Sun, Vol. 1) | Gene Wolfe | 1 September 2011 | 978-0-575-11673-3 |
2 | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Philip K. Dick | 978-0-575-11676-4 | |
3 | Flowers for Algernon | Daniel Keyes | 978-0-575-11674-0 | |
4 | I Am Legend | Richard Matheson | 978-0-575-11670-2 | |
5 | Dune | Frank Herbert | 978-0-575-11678-8 | |
6 | The Lies of Locke Lamora | Scott Lynch | 978-0-575-11672-6 | |
7 | Eric | Terry Pratchett | 978-0-575-11669-6 | |
8 | Hyperion | Dan Simmons | 978-0-575-11677-1 | |
9 | The Name of the Wind | Patrick Rothfuss | 978-0-575-11671-9 | |
10 | The Time Machine | H. G. Wells | 978-0-575-11675-7 |
Initially marketed as part the SF Masterworks series.
Title | Author(s) | Date | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|
Doomsday Morning | C. L. Moore | 10 January 2019 | 978-1-4732-2326-4 |
Galactic Patrol | E. E. 'Doc' Smith | 978-1-4732-2470-4 | |
Fury | Henry Kuttner | 978-1-4732-2255-7 | |
The Sands of Mars | Arthur C. Clarke | 978-1-4732-2236-6 | |
Earthlight | 7 February 2019 | 978-1-4732-2237-3 | |
Grey Lensman | E. E. 'Doc' Smith | 978-1-4732-2471-1 | |
Second Stage Lensman | 7 March 2019 | 978-1-4732-2472-8 | |
Northwest of Earth | C. L. Moore | 978-1-4732-2254-0 | |
Jirel of Joiry | 4 April 2019 | 978-1-4732-2252-6 | |
Children of the Lens | E. E. 'Doc' Smith | 978-1-4732-2473-5 | |
Against the Fall of Night | Arthur C. Clarke | 2 May 2019 | 978-1-4732-2234-2 |
Judgment Night | C. L. Moore | 13 June 2019 | 978-1-4732-2253-3 |
The Stainless Steel Rat | Harry Harrison | 19 September 2019 | 978-1-4732-2768-2 |
The Deathworld Omnibus | 14 November 2019 | 978-1-4732-2837-5 | |
Sidewise in Time | Murray Leinster | 3 September 2020 | 978-1-4732-2739-2 |
The Outward Urge | John Wyndham | 5 August 2021 | 978-1-4732-3072-9 |
Stories of Mars | Edgar Rice Burroughs | 17 March 2022 | 978-1-4732-3482-6 |
A special edition collection with matte, non-glossy covers, rounded corners and minimalist cover art by Marc Adams.
Donald Allen Wollheim was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pearson, and Darrell G. Raynor. A founding member of the Futurians, he was a leading influence on science fiction development and fandom in the 20th-century United States. Ursula K. Le Guin called Wollheim "the tough, reliable editor of Ace Books, in the Late Pulpalignean Era, 1966 and '67", which is when he published her first two novels in Ace Double editions.
Howard Waldrop was an American science fiction author who worked primarily in short fiction. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2021.
Victor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group.
Fevre Dream is a 1982 vampire novel written by American author George R. R. Martin. It is set on the antebellum Mississippi River, beginning in 1857, and has been described by critics and Martin himself as "Bram Stoker meets Mark Twain". About writing the novel, Martin said that "It was strongly influenced by the time I spent in Dubuque, Iowa, where river steamboats were once built".
Ammonite is British-American author Nicola Griffith's debut novel, which was published in 1992. It takes place on Grenchstom's Planet ("Jeep") which is inhabited entirely by women. American author Ursula Le Guin cited Ammonite as “a knock-out first novel, with strong, likeable characters, a compelling story, and a very interesting take on gender”.
The Castle of Iron is a fantasy literature novella by American authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, and of the novel into which it was later expanded by the same authors. It was the third story in their Harold Shea series.
Marvel Masterworks is an American collection of hardcover and trade paperback comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics, with the main goal of republishing classic Marvel Comics storylines in a hardcover, premium edition, often with restored artwork and better graphical quality when compared to other Marvel collected editions. The collection started in 1987, with volumes reprinting the issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, and The Avengers. The Masterworks line has expanded from such reprints of the 1960s period that fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books to include the 1930s–1940s Golden Age; comics of Marvel's 1950s pre-Code forerunner, Atlas Comics; and even some reprints from the 1970s period called the Bronze Age of Comic Books.
Black Gate is a fantasy magazine published by New Epoch Press. It was published in glossy print until 2011, after which it shifted online.
Lovecraft: A Biography is a 1975 biography of the writer H. P. Lovecraft by science-fiction writer L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardcover by Doubleday in February 1975.
Time and Chance: an Autobiography is the autobiography of science fiction and fantasy writer L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardcover by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in 1996. An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011, as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form.
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a nonfiction book by the British author Diana Wynne Jones that humorously examines the common tropes of a broad swathe of fantasy fiction. The U.S. Library of Congress calls it a dictionary. However, it may be called a fictional or parodic tourist guidebook. It was first published by Vista Books (London) in 1996. A revised and updated edition was completed in 2006 and published by Penguin, first in the U.S.
Science-Fiction Handbook, subtitled The Writing of Imaginative Fiction, is a guide to writing and marketing science fiction and fantasy by L. Sprague de Camp, "one of the earliest books about modern sf." The original edition was published in hardcover by Hermitage House in 1953 as a volume in its Professional Writers Library series. A revised edition, by L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, titled Science Fiction Handbook, Revised, was published in hardcover by Owlswick Press in 1975 and as a trade paperback by McGraw-Hill in 1977. An E-book version of the revised edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on April 30, 2014.
The Dragon Waiting: A Masque of History is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer John M. Ford. It won the 1984 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. This book, set in an alternate history, contains such plot elements as vampirism, the House of Medici, and the convoluted English politics surrounding Edward IV and Richard III. It also deals with the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs is a book by Richard A. Lupoff that explores the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan and author of numerous science-fiction, fantasy, and adventure novels. The book is one of the few major works of criticism covering the work of Burroughs, and it helped create renewed interest in his work during the 1960s.
The 1973 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the second volume in a series of nineteen. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in May 1973, followed by a hardcover edition issued in August of the same year by the same publisher as a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. For the hardcover edition the original cover art of Jack Gaughan was replaced by a new cover painting by William S. Shields. The paperback edition was reissued by DAW in December 1978 under the variant title Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Two, this time with cover art by Larry Oritz.
The 1975 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the fourth volume in a series of nineteen.
The 1978 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the seventh volume in a series of nineteen. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in May 1978, followed by a hardcover edition issued in August of the same year by the same publisher as a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. For the hardcover edition the original cover art of Jack Gaughan was replaced by a new cover painting by Richard Powers. The paperback edition was reissued by DAW in 1983 under the variant title Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Seven, this time with cover art by Graham Wildridge. A British hardcover edition was published by Dennis Dobson in May 1980 under the variant title The World's Best SF 5.
The Incomplete Enchanter is a collection of two fantasy novellas by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, the first volume in their Harold Shea series. The pieces were originally published in the magazine Unknown in the issues for May and August 1940. The collection was first published in hardcover by Henry Holt and Company in 1941 and in paperback by Pyramid Books in 1960.
The Phoenix and the Mirror; or, The Enigmatic Speculum is a fantasy novel by American writer Avram Davidson, the first volume in his Vergil Magus series. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in February 1969, with the first paperback edition issued by Ace Books in the same year. The Ace edition was reprinted in January 1978 and February 1983. The first ebook edition was issued by Prologue Books in August 2012. The first British edition was published in paperback by Mayflower in April 1975. Gollancz issued British trade paperback and ebook editions in October 2013 and December 2013, respectively. The Gollancz edition adds an introduction by Adam Roberts.
The Best of Cordwainer Smith is a collection of science fiction short stories by American author Cordwainer Smith, edited by J. J. Pierce. It was first published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday in July 1975 and in paperback by Ballantine Books in September of the same year as a volume in its Classic Library of Science Fiction. The Ballantine edition was reprinted in October 1977 and July 1985. Phoenix Pick issued a new edition in trade paperback and ebook in April, 2017. A British paperback edition under the alternative title The Rediscovery of Man was published by Gollancz in June 1988, and reissued in 1999, 2003, and 2010; Gollancz also brought out hardcover and ebook versions in September 1988 and November 2012, respectively. The book has also been translated into German.