The Four-Part Trilogy
a Checklist of Series and Sequels in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror

To Four-Part ç

Coverage / Methodology / Arrangement / Amendments & Updates / For Nit-Pickers / Bibliography

Keeping track of series and sequels in science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction is becoming an art-form in itself. Blink, and a simple trilogy expands to four or more parts, a sequel pops up to a book written years before, or a series suddenly develops a new name.

There are many different forms of series: sequels, prequels, parodies, sharecrops, shared-worlds, spinoffs, universes and sequels by other hands.

The series phenomenon is not confined to SF and fantasy, nor to a lesser extent, horror. Series exist in detective, western, historical and romance fiction. However a critical difference with SF/Fantasy is that it is often necessary to collect an entire series in order to read the whole story, a trend some accuse J.R.R. Tolkien of starting. Certainly the popularity of Tolkien in paperback in the late sixties contributed to a stronger interest in fantasy writing, but the enormous commercial success of Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara in 1977 paved the way for a demand for more series in science fiction and fantasy.

The first edition of The Four-Part Trilogy was published by Gaslight Books in book form in 1993. Below is a graph showing the increase in SF/fantasy series to 1992 (what looks like a drop off in 1993 isn't: we only had a small slice of data for the beginning of 1993)

The Four-Part Trilogy lists titles in series and sequels published in science fiction, fantasy, horror and a few off-shoots such as the adventure novel with fantastic elements.

It includes:

• Any title designated by a publisher or author, or generally accepted, as forming part of a series or a sequel to an earlier work

• Shared-world series, that is, series featuring a world or character(s) created by another author

• Novelisations and spin-offs based on television, films, games, and comics

• Novels, short story collections (where the entire collection forms part of the series) and anthologies

• Publisher’s series linked by a common theme, for example the Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult

• Series which might be regarded more as adventure, crime or detective series, but which contain "fantastic" elements, for example The Destroyer, Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu series

• Anything else we wanted a record of.

It excludes:

• Short stories, where not included in a collection

• Graphic novels

• Adventure game books, usually presented in a "programmed-text" format

• Books originally published in one volume then reprinted in two or more parts with the same title, only differentiated by number

• Children’s series

However, some children’s series are included where they have been re-packaged for an adult market (for example Del Rey’s Oz series), or where they are generally accepted as "classic" and collected by adults (for example the Narnia series), or where the writer is collected by adults (for example Diana Wynne Jones), or where they are spin-offs to popular film or television series (for example Star Trek’s Space Academy). We reserve the right to choose!

Omnibus books that collect two or more titles together in one physical volume are included if it could be ascertained that they were commercially distributed through the book trade. Many omnibus editions were published only by the US Science Fiction Book Club and only available to members residing on the North American continent. Some copies filter their way to Australia, but on the whole they are difficult to obtain in this country.

As these lists are presented in a checklist format, it is difficult to show the interrelationships within some series (for example Poul Anderson’s Technic History books), or point out tenuous relationships (for example series that share only a similar background). It is suggested that readers consult The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and its companion The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (see the bibliography).

A small number of non-fiction books about a series gradually are being included, for example The Dune Encyclopedia, but not broader works such as author biographies. However, books about television series, for example Star Trek or Red Dwarf, are not included. Should someone write a critical book about the Star Trek or Red Dwarf novels, we'll put it in.

The Four-Part Trilogy is not a bibliography. For details of first printings, reprints, full sub-titles, minor title variations and page counts, please see Tuck, Reginald or Currey in  the bibliography.  And perhaps the obvious should be stated -  books which do not form part of a series are not included!

The entries for this checklist were and are compiled wherever possible from a sighting of the book. Sources are the books received by Gaslight Books, the compiler’s own collection, and major collections of several local collectors.

Once the bulk of the entries had been collated, entries were cross-checked against the major bibliographies and encyclopaedias together with journal sources, especially Locus and Interzone. However this was not a page-by-page check - life's too short.. Some entries found in these sources were not used (for example because they were for young adult / children’s series), and of course, some series that should be included have been overlooked. Readers are cordially invited to send in amendments and updates based on titles in their own collections - please see further below for details.

1. The Four-Part Trilogy is structured into primary listings by authors, including editors. Their names are listed in one alphabetic sequence, followed by the series in alphabetical order, followed by the titles in numerical or chronological sequence within the series. For example

We are starting to include brief one to two line descriptions of series, and a reference to any non-fiction books about the series itself (not the author).

2. Editors are denoted by "(ed)" after their name. There are separate entries for an author who is both author and editor, for example

3. Except where noted, titles in a series are listed in numeric sequence or in order of publication. Numbers are used when noted on the book, or when commonly referred to as the "nth" in a series, or when it was necessary to distinguish between titles published in the same year. Otherwise chronological order is used, as many series’ internal chronologies vary each time a new addition is published.

4. Entries are made under the name of the author/editor as it appears on the book, with links to and from pseudonyms as applicable. Most readers would look for the Farseer series under the name Robin Hobb, rather than her real name Megan Lindholm

For example:

HOBB, ROBIN
Pseudonym of Megan Lindholm

LINDHOLM, MEGAN
Also writes as Robin Hobb

5. If one author/editor collaborates with another on a book, the entry goes under the first name listed on the book and a link is made from the second (third etc) joint author to the first author.

For example:

WHITE, STEVE
See also joint author David Weber

6. Publication dates are generally those of first book publication. In the case of reprint series (such as the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series), the date refers to the year of publication in the series and the original date appears in parentheses after the title. Alternate titles and other notes are also given in parentheses after the title.

For example:

7. Other abbreviations used are:  (coll) - short story collection, and (om) - omnibus

These are indexes to all the authors in the main listings. They appear in the left frame of your screen, and remain on-screen until you select another index from the main index at the top of your screen. If you use the pseudonym and joint author links to move between the main listings, the index you originally selected will still remain open.

These indexes are alphabetical lists of series names, and within each series, the author who wrote it. The appear in the left frame of your screen. Up to two authors names are listed. Where three or more authors/editors write in the same series, the series is listed separately, for example BATTLETECH. As with the author indexes, the index you originally selected will remain open if you jump between pseudonyms and joint authors.

Inverted forms of names are included, for example Diana Tregarde, and Tregarde, Diana, together with commonly-used alternative names, for example MYTH and Skeeve for Robert Asprin’s series.

Series which share the same name but which are written by different authors, are listed separately, for example

MARS
Brackett, Leigh

MARS
Burroughs, Edgar Rice

MARS
Robinson, Kim Stanley

Popular types of series are grouped by themes, for example Aussie authors. These indexes are indicative rather than exhaustive, but suggestions for additions are welcome. More themes will be added.

Readers are cordially invited to send amendments, additions, alternate series names, brief one to two line descriptions of series, etc, to

Gayle Lovett, Gaslight Books, PO Box 267, Fyshwick ACT 2609 Australia
Fax (02) 6239 3633, or   gasbooks@gaslightbooks.com.au

Acknowledgements are due to Kearin de Vos, Greg Leveck, Ian Clarke, Allen Cox, Garry Wyatt, Urac Sigma,  Andrew Perrott, L. Haywood and Pat Hawk for information from their collections and collecting interests.

For Nit-Pickers

This project has been on-going for several years and has changed computers and formats at least four times.

So, there ARE inconsistencies

a. sometimes initial articles are missing or appear at the end of a title
b. capitalisation is sometimes there, sometimes not
c. on lists of some multi-author series the author is listed first followed by the title, and sometimes the author is listed after the title

As time and enthusiasm permits, these inconsistencies will be amended.

This is a never-ending job. So the latest in a prolific series may not get entered for a few weeks after publication. I tend to update frequent series output, such as Trek and Doctor Who, every couple of months or so.

Cheers
Gayle Lovett
9 March 2002

The Four-Part Trilogy is copyright Gaslight Books 2000, 2001, 2002

   gasbooks@gaslightbooks.com.au