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Saturday 19 April 2025
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.
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Ion Drive
A common item of sf Terminology derived from a long only theoretical means of Rocket propulsion proposed by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1911. Chemically fuelled rockets are hampered by the necessity of carrying large burdens of fuel. Other systems, including the ion drive, propose using much lighter fuels, compensating for the decrease in the mass available for propulsion by ejecting it at ...
Transformers – The Movie, The
Film (1986). Sunbow/Marvel. Directed by Nelson Shin. Voices by Orson Welles, Eric Idle et al. Written by Ron Friedman. Animation by Toei Animation. 86 minutes. Colour. / This US-produced, Japanese-animated film is a spin-off from the comic-book and television series of the same name, and all are part of a gigantic marketing operation to sell the Transformers Toys: model Robots (invented ...
Blow, Ernest J
(? - ) South African author of Appointment in Space (1963), an undemanding tale whose protagonists take a Spaceship to Mars, where they have some adventures. [JC]
Watson, Aaron
(1850-1926) UK journalist and author, active from the earl 1870s; he is of sf interest for For Lust of Gold [for subtitle see Checklist below] (1 November 1888-16 February 1889 The Shields Daily Gazette; 1892), a Lost Race tale, set in Elizabethan times, which describes the discovery of the hidden City of Manoa, where treasure is found but discord mounts. [JC]
Morris, William
(1834-1896) UK designer, artist, publisher, poet and author whose greatest fame rests on his work as a designer of furniture and fabrics; his efforts to reform the prevalent vulgarity of mid-Victorian taste and to preserve standards of craftsmanship placed him in radical and irresolvable conflict with the basic tendencies of the industrial era, then in the first vigour of its youth. This conflict was variously expressed in his writing. In his early poems, collected in ...
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 ...