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Tuesday 13 October 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 12 October 2026
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Edwards, Malcolm
(1949-2026) UK editor, critic and publisher, educated at Cambridge, where he graduated in anthropology. Active in UK sf Fandom in the 1970s and early 1980s, he published the first complete text of James Blish's "The Science in Science Fiction" (May 1951-May 1952 Science Fiction Quarterly) in his Fanzine Quicksilver #2 in 1971; edited the ...
Kearney, Chalmers
(1881-1966) Australian-born engineer and author, in the UK most of his life, author of the nonfiction Rapid Transit in the Future: The Kearney High-Speed Railway: Second Edition (only recorded edition, 1911 chap) as Elfric Wells Chalmers Kearney, in which he advocates, for the London Underground, an advanced version of the monorail (or, rather, duorail, with one rail below and one above the train); it was one of several pre-World War One schemes ...
Stop Susan Williams
US tv series (1979; vt Cliffhangers: Stop Susan Williams). Universal Television for NBC-TV. Created by Kenneth Johnson. Produced by Richard Milton. Directors included Reza Badiyi, Richard S Harwood, Sigmund Neufeld Jr. Writers included Peggy Goldman, Richard Christian Matheson, Andrew Schneider. Cast includes Susan Anton, Marji Dusay (Jennifer Selden), John Hancock (Gold Tooth), T Miratt (Ti), ...
Strange Planet [tv]
US animated tv series (2023). Shadowmachine, Mercury Filmworks, Harmonius Claptrap, Nathan W Pyle, Apple Studios. Created by Dan Harmon and Nathan W Pyle, based on the webcomic/book series by Pyle. Directors include Charlie G, Maaike Scherff, Monica Tomova and Caitlin Vanarsdale. Writers include Steven Levy, Lauren Pomerantz and Nathan Pyle. Voice cast includes Lori Tan Chinn, Hannah Einbinder and Danny Pudi. Ten circa 23-minute episodes. Colour. ...
Benni, Stefano
(1947- ) Italian journalist and author who published several nonfiction books before releasing his first novel, Terra! (1983; trans Annapaoloa Cancogni 1985), set in a Post-Holocaust world racked by Nuclear Winter; the action moves from the Underground city of Paris to a race through space to occupy a new and Edenic planet. Governing the farcical ...
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 ...