Neilson, Keith
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author, Critic, Editor.
(1935- ) US academic of importance in the field of sf and fantasy scholarship for editing (anonymously: both books were created under the umbrella editorship of Frank N Magill) the Survey of Science Fiction Literature [for subtitle see Checklist] (anth 1979 5vols) and the Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature (anth 1983 5vols); the first contains 500 and the second about 500 essays, averaging some 2000 words, on individual books and series (see Critical and Historical Works About SF). Contributors include many authors given entries in this Encyclopedia, the most prolific of them probably being Brian Stableford. Although – inevitably – some essays in the extensive array are weak or wrong-headed, many are strong and original, and the two surveys present between them an indispensable series of critical responses to the literature. A successor to the sf work is Magill's Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature (anth 1996 4vols) edited by Tom Shippey and A J Sobczak. [JC]
Keith Townsend Olaf Neilson
born 7 November 1935
works
- Survey of Science Fiction Literature: Five Hundred 2,000-Word Essay Reviews of World-Famous Science Fiction Novels with 2,500 Bibliographical References (Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1979) edited as by Frank N Magill [nonfiction: anth: published in five volumes: hb/nonpictorial]
- Science Fiction: Alien Encounter (Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1981) edited as by Frank N Magill [nonfiction: anth: cut version of the above comprising 75 selected essays: pb/]
- Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature (Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1983) edited as by Frank N Magill [nonfiction: anth: published in five volumes: hb/nonpictorial]
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