SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 19 July 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 16 July 2025
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Williams, Tess
(1954-2025) UK-born teacher, editor and author, in Australia for many years, there receiving a degree in literature from Curtin University and an MA in creative writing from the University of Western Australia. She began publishing work of genre interest with "The Padwan Affair" in She's Fantastical (anth 1995) edited by Judith Raphael Buckrich and Lucy Sussex. Of sf interest are two novels: Map of Power (1996), set mostly in a ...
Swamp Thing, The
Created by writer Len Wein and artist Berni Wrightson in DC Comics's House of Secrets #92 (July 1971), the Swamp Thing is a Monster whose moss- and muck-encrusted body is formed entirely of vegetable matter. In that original short graphic story, as a result of a scientific "accident" arranged by his jealous assistant Damian Ridge, Dr Alex Olsen is killed and subsequently resurrected in mutated form ...
Low, A M
(1888-1956) UK academic, engineer, inventor and author, president of the British Interplanetary Society for a period; for much of his career he addressed himself and was addressed as "Professor", but without a position to justify the use. During his service in World War One in 1917, he was partially responsible for the Invention of a flying bomb, though it seems never to have been used (he claimed it was essentially identical to a ...
Hillman, S A
(? - ) US author of a Near Future medical Technothriller, Cradle Kill (1988), in which prenatal infants are profoundly affected by a chromosomal killer. Reflections of the Future: An Elective Course in Science Fiction and Fact (1975) is a competent primer for school use. [JC]
Reaves, Mallory
(1984- ) US author, daughter of Michael Reaves, initially known for US adaptations of Japanese Manga. She collaborated with her father on the second and third novels in the InterWorld sequence opening with InterWorld (2007) by Michael Reaves and Neil Gaiman, a Young Adult tale whose protagonist has the power to visit various ...
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 ...