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Saturday 16 May 2026
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for what we mean by Science Fiction; here for the masthead; here for some Statistics; here for the Acknowledgments; here for the FAQ; here for advice on citations. Find entries via the search box above (more details here) or browse the menu categories in the grey bar at the top of this page.
Site updated on 11 May 2026
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Suzuki Kōji
(1957-2026) Japanese author and essayist, largely known in English through the Cinema adaptations of several of his books, the international success of which obscured his wide-ranging domestic output. His horror and Equipoisal fiction proceeded in tandem with a wide array (not listed here) of books on young fatherhood and occasional works on motorcycle travel. He was also the translator of Simon Brett's ...
Brown, Peter
(1979- ) US illustrator and author whose Wild Robot fiction sequence beginning with The Wild Robot (2016) combines Children's SF with Animal Fantasy [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]. The central character is a female Robot whose Transportation box is initially washed up on the shore ...
Hall, Hal
Working name of US author Harold Curtis Hall (1911-1992), not to be confused with Hal W Hall; his Future War novel, The Great Conflict (1942), clearly inspired by the challenge of the New Deal and then World War Two, introduces a visitor to the Utopian America of 2009, a land of peace and productivity. Politicking has ebbed; democracy rules. [JC]
Shea, Michael
(1938-2009) Scottish diplomat and author, press secretary to the Queen between 1978 and 1987; it has been suggested that he left this post under a cloud for having exhibited candour. His fiction – about twenty novels in all – more safely conveys his wry, politically centrist point of view. As Michael Sinclair (his given names) he wrote a Near-Future thriller in which shameless entrepreneurs manipulate international money markets, ...
Reich Star
Role Playing Game (1991). Creative Encounters. Designed by Ken Richardson, Simon Bell. / Reich Star is a Space Opera set in a world where the Nazis won (see Hitler Wins). In its Alternate History Germany's early development of atomic weapons allowed it to conquer the Allies in what is now known as the "War of Unification". Two hundred ...
Langford, David
(1953- ) UK author, critic, editor, publisher and sf fan, in the latter capacity recipient of 21 Hugo awards for fan writing – some of the best of his several hundred pieces are assembled as Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (coll 1992 chap US; much exp vt The Silence of the Langford 1996; exp 2015 ebook) as Dave Langford, edited by Ben Yalow – plus five Best Fanzine Hugos ...