Sf Masterworks

A friend asked me this morning if there was any up-to-date listing of the Gollancz SF Masterworks series (for which I, Adam Roberts, and Gwyneth Jones are writing introductions). There’s a Wikipedia page for the series, but it’s a bit out of date. So here’s a listing of all the titles that have been announced so far, with links to the relevant Amazon pages. The series is doing two things at the moment: reprinting titles from the original 1999-2007 series in a new livery with new introductions; and adding new titles in the same livery. Real completists will note that the new livery has more than a little to do with the “Gollancz Yellow” that adorned many sf hardbacks for several decades till the 1980s. The original series was numbered, the new ones aren’t; I’ve added notional (and not-at-all official) numbering in the list below because I’m that sort of OCD-ish completist. Nos 1-10 are the original series, and nos 74 on are the new ones. The links under each title take you to the appropriate Amazon page, where you can buy the books and make my fortune via Amazon’s referral programme. (Other bookshops are available.) I’ll try to keep this list updated as and when new titles are announced.

ETA, Dec 4th 2011: list updated to Dec 2012.

Number Author Title Format Date
“1” Joe Haldeman The Forever War pb Apr-10
“2” Richard Matheson I am Legend pb Apr-10
“3” James Blish Cities in Flight pb Apr-10
“4” Philip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? pb Apr-10
“5” Alfred Bester The Stars My Destination pb Apr-10
“6” Samuel R. Delany Babel-17 pb Apr-10
“7” Roger Zelazny Lord of Light pb Apr-10
“8” Gene Wolfe The Fifth Head of Cerberus pb Apr-10
“9” Frederik Pohl Gateway pb Apr-10
“10” Cordwainer Smith The Rediscovery of Man pb Apr-10
“74” Christopher Priest Inverted World pb May-10
“75” Kurt Vonnegut Cat’s Cradle hb May-10
“76” H G Wells The Island of Doctor Moreau hb Jun-10
“77” Arthur C. Clarke Childhood’s End hb Jun-10
“78” H G Wells The Time Machine hb Jul-10
“79” Samuel R. Delany Dhalgren pb Jul-10
“80” Brian Aldiss Helliconia pb Aug-10
“81” H G Wells The Food of the Gods hb Sep-10
“82” Jack Finney The Body Snatchers pb Oct-10
“83” Joanna Russ The Female Man pb Nov-10
“84” M J Engh Arslan pb Dec-10
“85” William Gibson & Bruce Sterling The Difference Engine pb Jan-11
“86” Christopher Priest The Prestige pb Feb-11
“87” Brian Aldiss Greybeard pb Mar-11
“88” Olaf Stapledon Sirius pb Apr-11
“89” Dan Simmons Hyperion pb May-11
“90” Clifford Simak City pb Jun-11
“91” Frank Herbert Hellstrom’s Hive pb Jul-11
“92” William Tenn Of Men and Monsters pb Aug-11
“93” Karel Capek War with the Newts & R.U.R. pb Sep-11
“94” Christopher Priest The Affirmation pb Oct-11
“95” Cecelia Holland Floating Worlds pb Nov-11
“96” Algis Budrys Rogue Moon pb Jan-12
“97” Harlan Ellison (ed.) Dangerous Visions pb Feb-12
“98” Olaf Stapledon Odd John pb Mar-12
“99” Dan Simmons The Fall of Hyperion pb Apr-12
“100” Douglas Adams The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy hb May-12
“101” H G Wells The War of the Worlds hb Jul-12
“102” Pat Cadigan Synners pb Aug-12
“103” Nicola Griffith Ammonite pb Sep-12
“104” Karen Joy Fowler Sarah Canary pb Sep-12
“105” Mary Shelley Frankenstein pb Oct-12
“106” D G Compton The Continuous Catherine Mortenhoe pb Oct-12
“107” Connie Willis Selected Short fiction pb Nov-12
“108” Russell Hoban Riddley Walker pb Nov-12
“109” Colin Greenland Take Back Plenty pb Dec-12
“110” H G Wells The Invisible Man pb Dec-12

10 Responses to “Sf Masterworks”

  1. Thank you. I was actually looking at the first ones to turn up in a bookshop here in Sydney. I was pleased that some issues that I had with the original series – poor print and lack of introductions – have been addressed with these new editions.

    Especially looking forward to the Dhalgren and Helliconia editions (about time I finally finished them)

  2. Thanks. I believe Gollancz are indeed doing new typesetting for the new ones. (Exception: Dhalgren, which has all sorts of typographical complications, and for which they’re using the recent Vintage text incorporating Delany’s latest corrections.)

  3. I too was wondering which of the various texts of ‘Dhalgren’ was going to be used. I doubt Delany would want to do yet another read-through for typos.

    Particularly looking forward to MJ Engh’s ‘Arslan’, which I found to be an excellent read when Tor reissued it several years ago. Who is doing the intro for that?

    Also (and please forgive the persistent questioning), are there still plans afoot to get hold of Disch’s ‘Camp Concentration’, now that he’s unfortunately no longer with us? It was listed before for Masterworks publication but I gather that particular deal fell through.

  4. Adam’s doing the intro for Arslan. Re the Disch, I’m on record in my admiration for the book, but as you’ll understand I can only talk about what’s officially announced. And, as you know, there are all sorts of rights/contractual reasons that can stymie reissuing any book.

  5. Thanks for providing an updated list. I only found out that the list was extended by accident. There are reading groups online for these books and they have quite a following. Nice to find a place where I can find the latest information.

  6. Philip, glad you found it helpful.

  7. [...] Foundation which should be out before the end of the year; writing introductions to the forthcoming Gollancz editions of Sirius, The Difference Engine and The Prestige; talking about mathematical sf at the Locus [...]

  8. [...] other things, I’ve also updated the list of forthcoming books in the SF Masterworks series, for which I and Adam Roberts are currently writing introductions. In the meantime, [...]

  9. [...] been announced, taking the run up to 94 titles.  The current Gollancz list with recently announced titles includes 6 women.  Yes just six of these are by female authors, Ursula LeGuin twice, Sheri Tepper, [...]

  10. [...] just updated my page listing forthcoming books in the Gollancz Sf Masterworks series to the 100th title, due in April 2012. Of the six new titles I’ve added, I’m [...]

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