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Saturday 27 July 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 25 July 2024
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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
Repo Man
Film (1984). Edge City Productions/Universal. Written and directed by Alex Cox. Cast includes Olivia Barash, Emilio Estevez, Harry Dean Stanton and Tracey Walter. 92 minutes. Colour. / Set in the seedier areas of Los Angeles (see California), this independent, low-budget, semi-surreal film concerns a young man (Estevez) who gets a job as a repo man – a repossessor of unpaid-for cars; his mentor (Stanton) inculcates a ...
Spencer, David
(1965- ) US author whose work of sf interest is primarily restricted to his Tie to the Alien Nation universe, Alien Nation #6: Passing Fancy (1994), which is obedient to its requirements. Earlier he wrote the lyrics for Alan Brennert's Weird Romance (first performed 14 June 1992 WPA Theatre, New York). [JC]
McCarry, Charles
(1930-2019) US government agent and author, best known for the Paul Christopher series of intermittently Near Future political thrillers beginning with The Miernik Dossier (1973). McCarry's grave acuity, and his extensive knowledge of the workings of intelligence agencies like the CIA (his employer for a decade or more), have given rise to comparisons with the work of John Le Carré (1931-2020), though he did not share the ...
Car Wars
Board and counter Wargame (1981). Steve Jackson Games (SJG). Designed by Steve Jackson, Chad Irby. / Car Wars is a game of "autoduelling" – combat between armed and armoured cars, motorcycles and trucks. It is set in a fragmented future America, in which oil and food crises have caused the near collapse of civilization. The game's Future History exemplifies many of 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 ...