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Saturday 8 February 2025
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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Sarrantonio, Al
(1952-2025) US editor and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Ahead of the Joneses" in Asimov's for March 1979. Much of his work was horror, sometimes tinged with sf (see Horror in SF), including his first novel, The Worms (1985), a Gothic tale set in Massachusetts with hints of H P Lovecraft; and the Equipoisal Moonbane ...
VGA Planets
Videogame (1992). Designed by Tim Wissemann. Platforms: DOS, Win. / VGA Planets is a turn-based 4X Game of galactic domination displayed on a two-dimensional map, broadly similar to its near contemporary Master of Orion (1993). ("VGA" refers to a type of graphics hardware; its use in early versions made the game more visually appealing than some of its competitors.) After ...
Trebor, Robert
Pseudonym of an unidentified US author (? - ). "Robert Trebor", a palindrome, is a frequently used Pseudonym and no presumption is made here that this author has written other work bearing the same name; he is not, for instance, Robert Trebor, the television actor, nor the singer-songwriter Robert Trebor. The Trebor featured in this entry is the author of an sf novel, An Xt Called Stanley (1983), featuring an ...
Eastercon
The generally used nickname, originating in Fan Language, of the UK national sf Convention. This is traditionally held over the Easter bank holiday weekend, though this was not the case in early years. The first event in the consensus list below took place on a single day of the slightly later Whitsun holiday weekend, 15 May 1948, and although the 1949 event was genuinely an Eastercon, Whitsun was the usual choice until 1955. ...
Kilpatrick, Florence A
(1888-1968) UK playwright and author best known for her Elizabeth sequence of spoofish adventures featuring a slapstick but spunky Cockney lass; of sf interest in the series is Elizabeth in Africa (1940), where she runs across a Lost Race of Egyptians who remain hidden in a remote valley. Luckily for Elizabeth, the Mtangulizis have already been taught English by a previous visitor. [JC]
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 ...