What's the difference between the Gospel and the Bible? The title almost says it all:


What's the difference between the Gospel and the Bible? Does one contain  the other or what?
What does each one include?
Where did each one come from (or who authored each, if possible)?


Please forgive my ignorance; if the question is encyclopedic then answering the first item is enough.
First, the Bible is the entire collection of Jewish scripture (known by Christians as the "Old Testament") and Christian scripture (which also includes the "New Testament") as recognized by modern Christian groups.  Most Protestant Christian groups recognize 66 "books" (or individual pieces of literature) as their Bible. Greek Orthodox and Catholics recognize 73.  See the Wikipedia entry for Bible for a more in-depth look of what is contained within the Bible, and how various groups have different definitions.

Now, moving on to the term "Gospel."  The term "Gospel" has two meanings within Christianity.


One of the books of the Bible which tells the story of Jesus' life.  The four gospels are Gospels of (or according to) Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  In this sense, the term "Gospel" serves to designate these four books (and some groups include additional gospels) as distinct from the other types of books contained in the Bible.

In this sense, the Gospels (plural) are part of the Bible.
"The Gospel" also means simply "The Good News."  So when someone says "Jesus preached the Gospel," they don't mean "Jesus told the story of his life," but they mean "Jesus preached the Good News."  That "Good News" is essentially that God forgives sins.  It can also be considered the entire story of the Bible, including the details of man's rebellion against God, and God's desire and attempt to redeem man.

In this sense, the Gospel (singular) is either:


specifically, the message that Jesus came to redeem man.
generally, the entire message of the Bible.  In this sense, The Bible is to "The Gospel" as Moby-Dick is to "the story of Captain Ahab's quest for the White Whale."   That is, the former is the title of the book, and the latter is a description of the story the book tells.