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Monday 9 December 2024
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.
Site updated on 2 December 2024
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Bubble, The
Film (1966; vt Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth 1976). Arch Oboler Productions/Midwestern MagicVuers. Produced by Marvin J Chomsky. Directed by Arch Oboler. Written by Oboler. Cast includes Michael Cole, Johnny Desmond and Deborah Walley. 112 minutes; cut to 94 minutes for 1976 re-release; later versions cut to 75 minutes. Colour. / Young married couple Mark (Cole) and Katherine (Walley), the latter heavily pregnant, take a trip in a private ...
Döblin, Alfred
(1878-1957) German physician and author who began publishing before World War One, in which he served as a physician; in exile because of his Jewish background 1933-1945. Die Ermordung Einer Butterblume und andere Erzählungen ["The Murder of a Buttercup"] (coll 1913; exp 1962; trans Damion Searles as Bright Magic 2017) assembles hectic fantasies and parables, some powerful. In the surreal ...
Krohn, Leena
(1947- ) Finnish author whose first novels were composed for younger readers, an example being Ihmisen vaatteissa: Kertomus kaupungilta (1976; trans Bethany Fox as "The Pelican's New Clothes: A Story from the City" in Collected Fiction 2015), whose young protagonist experiences a magical City through his relationship with the eponymous talking bird. Krohn's focus on multivariant experiences of urban life [for Beast ...
Bug-Eyed Monsters
A traditional visual Cliché of sf: grotesque Alien beings, usually menacing, as regularly pictured on the covers of SF Magazines of the 1930s and 1940s: Howard V Brown's early covers for Thrilling Wonder Stories are regarded as archetypal. Often known by their acronym, BEMS. Relevant theme anthologies include ...
Souza, Steven M
(1953- ) US author of The Espers (1972), set initially on an Earth dominated from time immemorial by an Alien race of Secret Masters who have prevented Homo sapiens's natural evolution (see Arrested Development); the protagonist's Amnesia is explained by the fact that he is a Weapon in a long ...
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 ...