SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 5 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 5 October 2026
Sponsor of the day: Andy Richards of Cold Tonnage Books
Twonky, The
Film (1953). Arch Oboler Productions/United Artists. Directed by Arch Oboler. Written by Oboler, based on "The Twonky" (September 1942 Astounding) by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner). Cast includes Gloria Blondell, Hans Conreid, Billy Lynn, Ed Max and Janet Warren. 72 minutes. Black and white. / After his sanctimonious Five (1951), about survivors of nuclear war, ...
Westheim, Michael
(1958- ) US teacher and author whose Young Adult tale The Callisto Group (1995) carries its young protagonists through the Solar System on various adventures. [JC]
Littlefield, Sophie
(? - ) US author of several crime novels; some of her Young Adult books – like the Banished sequence comprising Banished (2010) and Unforsaken (2011) – are paranormal romances. Of sf interest is the complicatedly Equipoisal Aftertime sequence, comprising Aftertime (2011), Survivors (2011 ebook), Rebirth ...
EC Comics
Company founded in 1945 by M C Gaines (1896-1947), creator of the format of the modern Comic book and original partner in the company that became DC Comics. The initials stood for both Educational and, later, Entertaining Comics. After Gaines's death the company passed to his son, William M Gaines (1922-1992), who revamped the line to his own taste. Educational Comics was wound down and Entertaining Comics was transformed into a line of ...
Bettauer, Hugo
(1872-1925) Austrian author, who emigrated to the US and became an American citizen in 1899, lived in New York for 12 years, then returned to Vienna. His sf novel, Die Stadt ohne Juden: Ein Roman von Ubermorgen (1922; trans Salomea Neumark Brainin as The City Without Jews: A Novel of our Time 1926) – filmed as Die Stadt ohne Juden, Die (1924) directed and written by Hans Karl ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...