How to Locate Fiction

There are several things one must keep in mind when searching the Library's holdings for fiction. As a rule, we do not purchase popular fiction(detective novels, romance, mysteries) but we do have several items that have been purchased for other reasons that happen to fit these popular genres. Usually these materials are award-winners,"classics," or ground breaking debuts. The titles listed below comprise a small sampling of books available at the University Library organized by type. Additional tips for locating fiction appear at the end of this handout; be encouraged to use more than one of the recommended approaches since no one method is foolproof. Also, please note that items below with a Juvenile call number are not children's books, but rather adult material suitable for young people as well.

Tananarive Due. The Between: A Novel. PS 3554 U3143 B48 1995
Joseph Lewis French. Tales of Terror. PN 6071 H727 F74x 1971
Jewelle Gomez. The Gilda Stories: A Novel. PS 3557 O457 G5 1991
Christopher Moore. Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story. PS 3563 O594 B58 1995
Anne Rice. Cry to Heaven. PS 3568 I265 C7 1993

The University Libraries also own books by Dean Koontz and Edgar Allan Poe, plus Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Additional horror stories may be found by checking the subject headings and subheadings of horror tales, ghost stories, occult fiction, vampires --fiction, witchcraft -- fiction.

Mysteries

Raymond Chandler. The Raymond Chandler Omnibus. PS 3505 H3224 A15 1964
Sue Grafton. "B" is for Burglar. PS 3557 R13 B15 1985
Tony Hillerman. The Blessing Way. Juvenile Y H652 B6
Walter Mosley. Devil in a Blue Dress. PS 3563 O88456 D48 1990
Ellis Peters. A Morbid Taste for Bones. PR 6031 A49 M67x 1978
Dorothy L. Sayers. The Sayers Tandem: The Nine Tailors and Busman’s Honeymoon. PR 6037 A95 S29x
Rex Stout. Too Many Cooks. PS 3537 T733 T66x 1976

The University Libraries own additional books by the above authors, as well as books by Agatha Christie, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, H.R.F. Keating, Sara Paretsky, Ruth Rendell and a variety of other mystery writers.

Additional mysteries may be found by checking the subject heading: Detective and Mystery Stories and its subheadings in the series heading: Fifty classics of crime fiction in Minerva (there are two series, 1900-1950 and 1950-1975).

Science Fiction

Nancy Kress. Beggars & Choosers. PS 3561 R46 B38 1994
Jeff Noon. Vurt. PR 6064 O45 V87 1993
Richard Powers. Galatea 2.2. PS 3566 O92 G35 1995
Kit Reed. Little Sisters of the Apocalypse. PS 3568 E367 L58x 1994
Jules Verne. The Complete Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. PQ 2469 V4 E5 1991

The University Libraries also own works by Stephen Donaldson, Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein and Anne McCaffrey.

Additional science fiction stories may be found by searching the subject headings and subheadings: Science Fiction. Many of the science fiction books are in Special Collections, open Monday to Friday, 10-3. These books have an SPE prefix before the call number.

About Albany

William Kennedy, Director of New York State Writers Institute, is the author of a number of novels about the city of Albany. Kennedy’s Ironweed won both the 1983 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction and The Pulitizer Prize for fiction.

More books by William Kennedy may be found by performing an author search in Minerva.

Espionage and Spy Stories

Adam Hall. The Tango Briefing. PR 6039 R518 T35x
Payne Harrison. Black Cipher. PS 3558 A6718 B53 1994
John LeCarre. The Night Manager: A Novel. PR 6062 E33 N5 1993
Chang-rae Lee. Native Speaker. PS 3562 E3347 N38 1995

The University Libraries also own books by Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum who have written espionage thrillers.

Additional espionage and spy stories may be found by checking the subject heading: Spy Stories and its subheadings in Minerva .

War Novels

Cynthia Bass. Sherman's March. PS 3552 A816 S48 1994
Ernest Hemingway, ed. Men at War; The Best War Stories of all Time. PN 6071 W35 H4
Thomas Keneally. Schindler's List. PR 9619.3 K46 S3 1993
Herman Wouk. The Hope: A Novel. PS 3545 O98 H66 1993

Additional war novels and stories can be found by checking the subject heading: War Stories and its subheadings in Minerva

Historical Fiction

Rita Mae Brown. Dolley: A Novel of Dolley Madison in Love and War. PS 3552 R698 D65 1994
Caryl Phillips. Crossing the River. PR 9272 S263 P4728 1994
Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Of Love and Other Demons. PQ 8180.17 A73 D4513 1995
Mary Stewart. The Crystal Cave. Juvenile Y S851 C9
Irving Stone. The Agony and the Ecstasy, A Novel of Michelangelo. PS 3537 T669 A3

For additional historical novels, check the subject heading: Historical Fiction and its subheadings in Minerva .

Love and Romance

Louisa May Alcott. A Long Fatal Love Chase. PS 1017 L66 1995
Jane Campion. The Piano: A Novel. PR 9619.3 C345 P53 1994
Terry McMillan. Waiting to Exhale. PS 3563 C3868 W35 1992
Jean Rhys. Wide Sargasso Sea. PR 6035 H96 W53 1992

Additional romances may be found by checking the subject headings: Love Stories or Man-Woman Relationships in Minerva .

Life in America

Julia Alvarez. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. PS 3551 L845 H66 1991
Maxine Hong Kingston. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Grilhood Among Ghosts. CT 275 K5764 A33 1989
Toni Morrison. Beloved: A Novel. PS 3563 O8749 B4 1987
Philip Roth. Portnoy’s Complaint. PS 3568 O855 P66x
David Seals. Sweet Medicine. PS 3569 E1725 S93 1992
Amy Tan. The Kitchen God’s Wife. PS 3570 A48 K58 1991

For additional fiction on the theme of life in America, check the subject heading Domestic Fiction.
For ethnic American fiction, do a subject keyword search using the name of the ethnic group and the word fiction (for example: Chinese Americans and Fiction as subject keyword).

Adventure

Gary Indiana. Gone Tomorrow. PS 3559 N335 G66 1993
Peter Maas. China White. PS 3563 A2 C48 1994
Kenzaburo Oe. Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids. PL 858 E14 M413 1995
Justin Scott. Treasure Island. PS 3569 C644 T73 1994
Mary Wings. Divine Victim. PS 3573 I53213 D58 1993

The University Libraries also own books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan series.

Additional adventure stories may be found by searching the subject headings and subheadings: Adventure Stories.

Westerns

Judy Alter and A.T. Row (eds). Unbridled Spirits: Short Fiction About Women in the Old West. PS 648 W6 U6 1994
Winfred Blevins. Stone Song: A Novel of the life of Crazy Horse. PS 3552 L45 S7 1995
Clancy Carlile. Children of the Dust. PS 3553 A689 C48 1995
Max Evans. Bluefeather Fellini in the Sacred Realm. PS 3555 V23 B56 1994
Hector H. Lee (comp). The Bodega War: and Other Stories From Western Lore. PS 648 W4 T35 1987

Additional westerns may be found by checking the subject heading: Western stories and its subheadings in Minerva.

Short Stories

Stephen Dixon. Long Made Short. PS 3554 I92 L66 1994
Andrew Handler. Ararat: A Collection of Hungarian-Jewish Short Stories. PH 3177 A63x
Pauletta Otis & Steven H. Kaplan. Between the Lines: International Short Stories of War. PN 6120.95 W35 B48 1994
Alberto Manguel & Craig Stephenson. In Another Part of the Forest: The Flamingo Anthology of Gay Literature. PN 6120.95 H724 I53x 1994
Charles H. Rowell. Ancestral House: The Black Short Story in the Americas and Europe. PN 6120.92 B45 A53 1995
Julie Penelope & Sarah Valentine. International Feminist Fiction. PN 6120.92 W65 I58 1992

To locate other short story collections, search the Minerva online catalog title keyword field, series keyword field or subject keyword field with short stories .

Other Categories

Other subject headings you may wish to check in Minerva for other fiction categories are:

Afro-American Authors		Feminist Fiction
Biographical Fiction		Ghost Stories
Domestic Fiction		Political Fiction
Fantastic Fiction		Sports Stories

Keep in mind that these and other fiction categories are not systematically assigned, so they will not be comprehensive.

BROWSING

Browse through books on the second floor at the University Library or use Minerva , the online catalog to browse for items. For browsing through the books, select a call number range that meets your interests. (Dates are based on the author’s birth date.)

English Literature	19th Century	PR 3991 - PR 5990
English Literature	1900 - 1960	PR 6000 - PR 6049
English Literature	1960 -	PR 6050 - PR 6076
American Literature	19th Century	PS 991 - PR 3390
American Literature	1900 - 1960	PS 3500 - PR 3549
American Literature	1960 -	PS 3550 - PS 3576

Minerva, the Online Catalog

SEARCHING TIPS AND TRICKS

The “Keyword Searching” option provides many search opportunities; enter a topic of interest, plus the word fiction and then click on the down arrow to select “subject” for both terms. For example, search ACTORS in Subject and FICTION in Subject, DRUG TRAFFIC in Subject and FICTION in Subject, PSYCHOLOGICAL FICTION in Subject.

Are you looking for books in a particular language? Use the Advanced Search and enter your keyword(s) and use the language limitor box at the bottom of the search page. This will allow you to limit your search to a particular language.

OTHER METHODS FOR FINDING FICTION

This handout is not comprehensive. If you are looking for fiction in other categories, you might look at literary criticism specific to the genre or time period to identify authors that might interest you. You might also want to look at the following guide to good books, both fiction and non-fiction: The Reader’s Advisor Ref Z 1035 B7 1994 (fiction is contained in volumes 1 and 2).

BOOK PURCHASE RECOMMENDATIONS