Who Else Writes Like…?: : A Readers’ Guide to Fiction Authors

Citation

McIvor, S. (1998), "Who Else Writes Like…?: : A Readers’ Guide to Fiction Authors", New Library World, Vol. 99 No. 4, pp. 166-167. https://doi.org/10.1108/nlw.1998.99.4.166.2

This second revised edition of Who Else Writes Like…?: A Readers’ Guide to Fiction Authors compiled and edited by Roy and Jeanne Huse is similar in layout to the previous edition published in 1993, but contains several additions that should prove to be of interest to both readers and library professionals.

Based principally on the Public Lending Right lists of the most popular books together with suggestions made by both professional librarians and fiction specialists, the number of novelists included has now been increased to over 1,200.

The main sequence comprises an alphabetical list of authors currently in print and popular in public libraries. This is followed by a list of between four and twelve suggested alternative authors for the reader to try, all broadly similar in style or content. Where the author writes in a genre this is indicated, with separate entries for authors writing in more than one genre. This new edition now also includes the nationality or place of birth of authors who are not English (for example, showing writers from Scotland), the date of birth (and death) of the author, and gives cross‐references where a writer writes under more than one name.

The next section, “The teenage supplement”, is a completely new one, described as giving “a cross‐section of authors who write for teenagers”, with some 50 authors included. Each entry again shows nationality and date of birth of the author and is followed by a brief description of their work, giving clues as to style, content and setting together with a list of suggested titles for the teenage reader to try.

In the “Authors listed by genre” section, the 14 genre categories remain broadly the same as the previous edition, however six of the genres have been considerably enhanced by the inclusion of sub‐genres. For instance, the “Adventure” genre now indicates which authors specialise in “Spy stories”, and the “Fantasy” genre shows those authors specialising in “Epic fantasy”, “Dark fantasy” and “Literary fantasy”. Each of the genres and sub‐genres are given a brief explanation at the start of the section. The “Crime” category has received the most detailed attention, with authors divided into 12 sub‐genres in the first index, and an alphabetical list of authors showing sub‐genre in the second index. A third index gives the main character name (for example, Inspector Dalgleish) or the environment (for example, ecclesiastical, Victorian Scotland) used by the particular author.

The “Literary prizes and awards” section, listing prize‐winning novels and their authors from 1970 onwards, has been updated and enlarged to cover over 30 literary awards. The very useful short “Bibliography” section at the end has been similarly revised, and lists other current guides to fiction reading, together with a brief description of their coverage and content.

With its main section being based on subjective opinion of author similarity, this guide does have its obvious limitations, and these are readily acknowledged within the guide itself. Nevertheless, the section does represent a systematic attempt to draw together the experience of fiction librarians and fiction specialists for the benefit of both library staff and the reading public.

Before this second edition was produced, a LISU survey revealed that in the great majority of cases the guide is retained behind the desk for use by library staff, in spite of the original intention that it should be available principally for readers. This is unfortunate, as its clear layout and simple instructions make it very easy to understand and use. Readers may be unwilling to approach the library desk for fiction advice, and so remain unaware of its existence. At £18.95 a copy, it would not seem unreasonable for libraries to provide an extra copy for the benefit of readers. If they can be encouraged to try different authors, then the result should be a more effective use of existing bookstock, rather than a heavy reliance on new titles by favourite authors.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of this edition is that the “General” category has not been included for subdivision. With Jane Austen, Jeffrey Archer and Salman Rushdie all thrown in together, it would seem obvious that the reader would benefit from more information. In fact this is not a true genre category, but rather a collection of authors grouped together because their writing does not easily fall into a genre, a situation often mirrored by the shelving arrangements for general fiction in libraries. The criteria of a similarity of style or content does not apply in this case, and so the need for further information here is greater than within the true genre categories. It is to be hoped that this situation will be remedied when the next edition is produced in three years’ time.