SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 7 December 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.
Site updated on 1 December 2025
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Stoppard, Tom
Working name of Czech-born playwright and screenwriter Tomáš Straussler (1937-2025), in the UK since 1946, the Stoppard surname being acquired from his stepfather when his widowed mother remarried in 1945. His early dramatic work was characterized by extravagant wit and wordplay, and an Absurdist application of logic to surreal or insane situations. Following the broadcast of several Radio plays, his ...
Isis
US juvenile tv series (1975-1976; vt The Secrets of Isis). Filmation Associates for CBS television. Directors were Hollingsworth Morse, Arnold Laven, Arthur H Badel and Earl Bellamy. Writers included Marc Richards and many others. Cast includes JoAnna Cameron, Brian Cutler and Joanne Pang. 22 30-minute episodes. Colour. / Isis was the first female Superhero to star in her own US Television series, beating both ...
Han Song
(1965- ) Chinese author and journalist, a multiple recipient of the Yinhe Award and considered one of the leading figures of the genre in China. Han Song spent the period 1984-1991 at Wuhan University, studying English and journalism, and eventually graduating with a Master of Laws. He subsequently became an editor and contributor to the government-owned journal Liaowang Dongfang Zhoukan ["Oriental Outlook ...
Torres Quesada, Ángel
(1940- ) Spanish author, very popular and prolific in sf, fantasy and horror; he has also written as by A Thorkent or Alex Towers. He has published at least 128 novels, three collections and more than thirty short stories and novellas. His first book was Un mundo llamado Badoom ["A World Called Badoom"] (1963), a Pulp-style sf novel. His early stories were included in some of the most important anthologies of that time, such as ...
Montgomery, Rutherford
(1894-1985) US author of books for children from 1932, mostly set in the American west, often featuring animals prominently. Of sf interest is the Young Adult Kent Barstow sequence, beginning with Kent Barstow Special Agent (1958) and ending with Kent Barstow Aboard the Dyna Soar (1964); Barstow, a test pilot and special agent, engages in Technothriller adventures in defense of America, and ...
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 ...