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Friday 2 June 2023
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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Synge, J L
(1897-1995) Irish physicist and author whose best-known nontechnical work of nonfiction is Science, Sense and Nonsense (1951). His novel, Kandelman's Krim: A Realistic Fantasy (1957), features a long conversation in which an Orc, a Kea, a Unicorn and a Plumber discuss the concept of infinity and instruct a passing Goddess in the foundations of Mathematics. [BS]
Doescher, Ian
(1977- ) US author, based in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for a series of books, beginning with William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope (2013), which retell the stories of George Lucas's Star Wars films as plays purportedly written by Shakespeare in Elizabethan blank verse; all are subtitled "Inspired by the Work of George ...
Mysterious Island
Film (1961). American Films/Columbia. Produced by Charles H Schneer. Directed by Cy Endfield. Written by John Prebble, Daniel Ullman, Crane Wilbur, based on L'île mystérieuse (1874-1875; trans W H G Kingston as The Mysterious Island 1875) by Jules Verne. Cast includes Michael Callan, Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood and Herbert Lom. 100 minutes. Colour. / This is a jovial showcase for Ray ...
Lindskold, Jane
(1962- ) US author, primarily of fantasy, including her two series – the Athanor sequence beginning with Changer (1998), the Firekeeper Saga beginning with Through Wolf's Eyes (2001) and the Breaking the Wall sequence beginning with Thirteen Orphans (2008) [for titles see below] – plus two continuations of Roge Zelazny drafts, Donnerjack (1997) and ...
Prediction
This entry deals with sf as a "predictive" genre. For sf stories about foretelling future events, see Precognition. / The most widespread false belief about sf among the general public is that it is a literature of prediction. Very few sf writers have ever claimed this to be the case, although Hugo Gernsback did see one function of his sf magazines as to paint an accurate picture of the future. Very few of the stories he ...
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 ...