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Friday 20 September 2024
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Also known as OMD. UK synth-pop band, formed in 1978 by Andy McCluskey (1959- ) and Paul Humphreys (1960- ). OMD rode the slipstream of Kraftwerk inflected synth-pop, much as did Gary Numan and the Human League, although the OMD sound is generally speaking brighter, poppier and more upbeat than that of their fellows. This cheerier tone expresses itself ...
Bacon, Roger
(circa 1214/1220-?1292) Franciscan friar, philosopher, and speculative thinker over a wide range of subjects, born in England, though he spent many years in Paris; it has recently been argued that his year of birth is more likely 1220 than any earlier date. A disputatious, highly original polymath, he was a central figure in the ferment that marked thirteenth-century European culture. His originality (once disputed) seems incontrovertible; but he did not occupy the position of majestic, ...
Wilson, Robert
(? - ) US author whose Science Fantasy tale Tentacles of Dawn (1978) is set mostly in a terrifying Underground world, from which its protagonist – who may have been transported there via Time Travel – eventually escapes (see Pocket Universe). [JC]
Rocket Stories
US Digest-size magazine; three issues, April, July, September 1953, published by Space Publications, New York, one of the imprints of John Raymond. It was edited by Lester del Rey for the first two issues and Harry Harrison for the final, both under the alias Wade Kaempfert. Rocket Stories was a companion magazine to ...
Rabelais, François
(?1483/1494-1553) French monk, doctor, priest and author. The various titles now generally gathered together as Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-1552 plus a posthumous text of dubious authenticity 1564) were initially published as separate volumes [see Checklist for individual titles plus the translations of same by Sir Thomas Urquhart – first two books 1653, third book 1693 – and Peter Anthony Motteux – fourth and fifth books 1694]. ...
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 ...