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Thursday 24 April 2025
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.
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Broderick, Damien
(1944-2025) Australian author, editor and critic; he had a PhD in the semiotics of fiction, science and sf with special reference to the work of Samuel R Delany. He edited four anthologies of Australian sf: The Zeitgeist Machine (anth 1977), Strange Attractors (anth 1985), Matilda at the Speed of Light (anth 1988) and Centaurus: The Best of Australian Science Fiction (anth ...
Long, Jeff
(1951- ) US author, initially of mountaineering novels, who made his genre debut with The Descent (1999). While including some mountaineering, this Horror thriller posits that the myth of Hell derives from a worldwide realm of Underground caverns inhabited by a Lost Race of "hadals". The hostile environment has caused many of these human-related cannibals to ...
Duke, Madelaine
Pseudonym of Ukrainian-born physician and author Elizabeth Magda MacFarlane (1919-1996), in UK from 1939 or earlier; active under her main pseudonym plus at least two others in a variety of genres including sf novels (which she describes as "cartoons"). Claret, Sandwiches and Sin: A Cartoon (1964 as by Maxim Donne; 1966 as by Duke) depicts a world insecurely amalgamated, after a World War Three that has, in ...
Pfeffer, Susan Beth
(1948- ) US author for children and the Young Adult market from 1970, perhaps best known for the nonfantastic The Year Without Michael (1987). Of sf interest are two series: the VCR Time Travel sequence comprising Rewind to Yesterday (1988) and Future Forward (1989), whose young protagonists engage in generally lighthearted Time Travel, as enable by their ...
Wilson, Steven H
(? - ) US information technology consultant, publisher and author whose sf series, the Arbiter Chronicles sequence beginning with Taken Liberty: A Tale from the Arbiter Chronicles (2006) is a modestly gonzo Space Opera strongly evocative of the world of Star Trek and other similar universes. Peace Lord of the Red Planet (2016) is a singleton. [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 ...