Finding Great Books: Fantastic Fiction

In this blog post series, we'll introduce you to some of the websites, apps, and tools we librarians use to help patrons find the books they're looking for.

Fantastic Fiction

What it is: Fantastic Fiction is a bibliography website, with pages for over 30,000 authors and over 350,000 books.

URL: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

How we use it: Because Fantastic Fiction lists new and upcoming releases prominently on the homepage, it's a great site to use when someone asks "When is the new book by so-and-so coming out?". The pages for specific genres at the bottom of the homepage are also a nice touch. 

This site is primarily useful when patrons ask about books in a series: "Can you tell me the fourth book in this series?" "How many books are in this series?" "This author has multiple series; which book goes where?" To find information on books in a series, look up the author. All of that author's books will be listed, organized by series, with color photos of the cover art.  

How we don't use it: The site is less useful when looking up a particular book. The book search is very specific and can be a problem if you're unsure of the book's exact title. 

There is no way to search by series. If you look up a particular book, the only way to look up the next book in the series is to click on the author's page. 

Conclusion: Because this site really shines with its author pages, use Fantastic Fiction to keep up with your favorite authors.