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Thursday 16 January 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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Posnick, Paul
(? - ) US author of a Near Future sf novel, Weather War (1978) with Leonard Leokum, in which the major powers, as World War Three threatens, explore the possibilities of using the technology of Weather Control against one another. [JC]
Nelson, Blake
(1965- ) US author for Young Adults whose They Came from Below (2007) features Aliens in human guise who emerge from Under the Sea in a desperate last-ditch attempt to persuade Homo sapiens to preserve the oceans, which are dying of Pollution. [JC]
UFOs
A common item of Terminology, both inside and outside sf: UFO is an acronym for Unidentified Flying Object. In the first edition of this encyclopedia in 1979, the subject of ufology was discussed under the heading "Flying Saucers". The change of title reflects the fact that ufology itself has changed over subsequent decades, and may now be thought of almost as three separate disciplines or interpretations of the phenomenon, one of which (the extraterrestrial ...
Reynolds, Anthony
(? - ) Australian author who has worked for Games Workshop, which owns the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and who has written Ties for that universe, beginning with Warhammer: Mark of Chaos (2006). Of more sf interest are his contributions to the Warhammer 40,000 subseries, beginning with Warhammer 40,000: Dark Apostle (2007); his tales revel duly in the bleak and ...
Hightower, Lynn S
(1956- ) US author of crime novels, like the Sonora Blair sequence beginning with Eyeshot (1986), and of sf, primarily the David Silver/Elaki sequence comprising Alien Blues (1992), Alien Eyes (1993), Alien Heat (1994) and Alien Rites (1995). Except for the presence of an Alien sidekick, and plots generated by interactions between sleuth Silver and the Elaki, the ...
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 ...