I’ve known about Diana Wynne Jones’s The Tough Guide to Fantasyland for a while now. The book is a fabulous tour through the clichés of fantasy novels, from Eternal Quests to Dark Lords to Magic Swords. It’s written in the form of a tour guide, with the reader taking on the role of tourist to a strange new land.

What I hadn’t seen was The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy. It’s focused on SF tropes, from The Fall of the Empire to Libertarian Militarists. I can see this eating giant chunks of my spare time. When I have spare time, that is. Sigh.