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Tuesday 17 March 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 16 March 2026
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Dietz, William C
(1945-2026) US author who began to publish sf with War World (1986; vt Galactic Bounty 1997), the first volume of his Sam McCade sequence of sf adventures about an interstellar bounty hunter, which continued with Imperial Bounty (1988) and two further titles. The galactic venue of the series exhibits some interesting kinks, and McCade himself gradually gains individuality. Although the angle of approach differs – the protagonist this time ...
Skelton, Robin
(1925-1997) UK-born poet and author, in Canada from 1962, who began to publish work of genre interest with "The Angel" in 1984 (magazine not identified). He was extremely prolific both as a poet and academic. Of sf interest is Fire of the Kindred (1987), a Prehistoric SF tale set at time just before the matriarchal world depicted (see Feminism; Women in SF) is about be forcibly ...
Anton, Ludwig
(1872-1941) Austrian medical doctor and author whose Anglophobe novel Brücken über den Weltraum (1922; trans by Konrad Schmidt as "Interplanetary Bridges" Winter 1933 Wonder Stories Quarterly) describes the colonization of Venus. [JC]
Fire Maidens from Outer Space
UK film (1956; vt Fire Maidens of Outer Space). Criterion Films. Directed and written by Cy Roth. Cast includes Owen Berry, Paul Carpenter, Jacqueline Curtis, Anthony Dexter, Susan Shaw and Richard Walter. 80 minutes. Black and white. / Following the discovery of the Earth-like 13th moon of Jupiter, a nuclear-powered Rocket ship lifts off from the American-British Astronomical Station in Surrey; the five-man crew is led ...
Something in the Dirt
Film (2017). Rustic Films. Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Written by Justin Benson. Cast includes Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. 116 minutes. Colour. / In a contemporary Los Angeles (see California) afflicted by unspecified Disasters, a pair of down-on-their-luck neighbours are startled to witness a levitating ashtray in one of their apartments. When the phenomenon repeats, the pair decide to use this ...
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 ...