Jeff Prucher - Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction

The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction

Edited by JEFF PRUCHER

Introduction by GENE WOLFE

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Prucher, Jeff.

Brave new words : the Oxford dictionary of science fiction / Jeff Prucher.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-0-19-530567-8 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-19-530567-1 (alk. paper)

1. Science fictionDictionaries. I. Title. II. Title: Oxford dictionary of science fiction.

PN3433.4.P78 2007

809.3876203dc22 2007037280

ISBN-10: 0-19-530567-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-19-530567-8

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

for REBECCA

A great many people helped and encouraged me in writing this dictionary. I am grateful to my editorial board, Mark L. Olson and Anthony R. Lewis, who gamely read everything I wrote, for their many suggestions and gentle corrections. They saved me many times from errors large and small; any errors or infelicities to be found in the text are my own.

I feel extremely lucky to have had Erin McKean as my editor. This dictionary was her idea to begin with, and I am thankful to her for giving me the opportunity to write it. Her continued advice and understanding throughout the process have been extraordinary.

I am grateful to the Oxford English Dictionary and its Science Fiction Citations Project (see next page) and to Jonathan Lighter, Jane OConnor, and Grant Barrett of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang for generously allowing me to use their citations.

Many others have contributed citations, information, suggestions, technical assistance, and advice at various stages of the dictionary: Liz Duffy Adams, John Aegard, Grant Barrett, Ian Brookes, Charles N. Brown and Locus, Peter Coogan, Leonardo De S, Malcolm Farmer, Victoria Elizabeth Garcia, Joseph Gerharz, Damien Hall, Michelle Hlubinka, Sean Kleefeld, Steve Lieber, Richard Lupoff, Jeff Michael, Orion Montoya, Jason Mosser, Bill Mullins, Will Murray, Sara Ryan, Peter Sattler, Nick Seidler, Nisi Shawl, Jesse Sheidlower, Ivo Thomas, and the good folks on the American Dialect Society mailing list. The paging staff and interlibrary loan department of the San Francisco Public Library were extremely helpful in fielding all manner of increasingly arcane requests, as were the special collections departments of the Temple University and University of California, Riverside libraries. Special thanks are due to Alistair Durie and Fred Galvin for the sheer volume of citations they found or verified for me, and to Mike Christie both for his citations and for his thoughtful editorial suggestions.

Finally, Rebecca Novick has been a constant source of encouragement. Her enthusiasm for, and unflagging belief in, both me and the dictionary have made this book possible.

The majority of the citations in this dictionary came from the Oxford English Dictionary Science Fiction Citations Project, which has been collecting citations for science fiction terminology since 2001 (online at www.jessesword.com/sf ). I am indebted to The Oxford English Dictionary, John Simpson, Chief Editor, and Jesse Sheidlower, Editor-at-large, for making this information available to me, and to Sue Surova, Mike Christie, and Malcolm Farmer for their roles in creating and overseeing the project. I am additionally indebted to everyone who has taken the time to submit citations, comments, and suggestions to the project; their names are listed below. This dictionary would not exist without their efforts. I have made every attempt to make the list complete, and I offer my apologies to anyone I may have omitted.

Cyril Alberga

Eric Albert

Brian Aldiss

Brian Ameringen

Karen Anderson

Ted Anderson

Robert Andrews

Fred Bacon

Daniel Bambeck

Tom Becker

Gregory Benford

Ruth Berman

James Birdsall

Eric Boehm

Edward Bornstein

Alan Bostick

Mark Bourne

Tim Boyer

David Bratman

Patrick Broadhurst

Jennifer Broekman

Ralf Brown

Evelyn Ellen Browne

John C. Bunnell

Mary Aileen Buss

Katrina Campbell

Adam Canning

Robert Carnegie

Eric Casteleijn

Ted Chiang

Greg Childers

Joe Christopher

Sam Clark

Dan Clore

John Clute

Steve Coltrin

Alan Cox

Apollo Crum

Jonathan Dale

Andrew Dalke

Robert Dana

Ray Dassen

Christopher Davis

Stephen Dedman

Brian Denehy

Richard Dodson

Michael Dolbear

John Doyle

Gardner Dozois

Alistair Durie

Patrick Dusoulier

Jason Dyer

David Dyer-Bennet

Tom Easton

Dan Efran

John Eggeling

Mark English

David Eppstein

Conrad Feinson

David Ferguson

Sheila Finch

Rachel Flynn

Courtenay Footman

Enoch Forrester

Susan Francis

Daniel Frankham

Jonathan Franks

Matt Freestone

Mitchell J. Friedman

Sarah Canfi eld Fuller

Stuart Gale

Fred Galvin

Meg Garrett

Imran Ghory

Suzanne Gibson

Robert Godwin

Lee Gold

Guy Gordon

J. Greely

David Greenebaum

John Groth

Irene Grumman

Hal Hall

Alex Harman

Andrew Hatchell

Rick Hauptmann

Cameron Hayne

Derek Hepburn

Paul Hoffman

Randy Hoffman

Karen Holland

Brian Hopper

Richard Horton

William Howe

Matthew Hoyt

Jeffrey Glen Jackson

Steve Jackson

Eddie Janusz

Mikael Johansson

Alexx Kay

Edward Keyes

Fruma Klass

Roberto Labanti

James A. Landau

Dave Langford

Jeff Lassahn

Faith Lawrence

Russell Letson

Robert Lichtman

John Locke

M. Lohr

Gavin Long

Svante Lovn

Simon Lyall

Frederic Marchal

Andrew May