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Thursday 16 July 2026
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 14 July 2026
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Reid, Iain
(1981- ) Canadian author whose novels to date, beginning with I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2016) are horror; that first novel was filmed as I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. Fog (2018) strongly evokes Horror in SF through its frame narrative: in the ...
Harris, Frank
Working name of Irish-born UK editor, entrepreneur, playwright and author James Thomas Harris (1856-1931), who early in his life became a lawyer in the USA, but was back in the UK by 1875, using his working name from this point; he left the UK for good at the beginning of World War One. During his lifetime, he was famous for his extremely loud voice, his sexual exploits, and for general roguery; he is now best known for his erotic autobiography, My Life and Loves (1922-1927), ...
Leydenfrost, A
THe usual byline of US artist Alexander Leydenfrost (1888-1961), also credited simply as Leydenfrost, who was born in Hungary as Baron Sandor Leidenfrost; upon moving to America at the age of 34, he Americanized his first name to Alexander and changed the spelling of his last name. Trained as an artist in his native land, Leydenfrost emigrated to America in 1923 along with three friends, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, and Paul Lucas, who went on to successful acting ...
Scoops
UK small weekly tabloid magazine, 20 issues 10 February to 23 June 1934, published by C A Pearson Ltd, London, in the editorial department of Haydn Dimmock (1895-1955), editor of The Scout, though the managing editor was Bernard Buley (1899-1973). Scoops was intended as a Boys' Paper that would "transport its readers from the everyday happenings into the future"; whatever appeal it might have had for adults was not helped by the decision to use, ...
Clift, Bethany
(? - ) UK filmmaker, screenwriter and author whose first novel, Last One at the Party (2021), is set in a Near Future world where the Covid-19 Pandemic has been succeeded by a second, far more devastating plague known as 6DM: six days being the maximum time a sufferer can survive. The protagonist, who may be the only human being left (see Last Man), ...
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 ...