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Tuesday 15 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 14 July 2025
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Whedon, Joss
(1964- ) US filmmaker, who has also worked to particular impact in television and comics. His father and grandfather had both worked as screenwriters and lyricists, and two brothers and a sister-in-law followed him into the business, often as his co-writers. His first writing jobs were in television, where he wrote episodes for the third season of Roseanne (1989-90) and for the short-lived television version of Parenthood (1990). His first ...
Baker, Henry
(1698-1774) Naturalist and early microscopist, one of the founders of the Society of Arts in 1754; the father-in-law of Daniel Defoe. He was the author of an epic poem, The Universe (1727), the subtitle of which proclaims its intended aim "to restrain the pride of Man". This is something Baker attempts by striving repeatedly for what we might call a Sense of Wonder ("Amazing Thought! What Mortal can conceive!") ...
Tau Ceti
Brazilian jazz-fusion band, whose sole release Tau Ceti (1998) includes a number of instrumental keyboard-heavy tracks that aim to evoke the flavour of alien worlds ("Antares", "Visoes Noturnas"), as well as a compressed three-part adaptation of Dante Alighieri, "A Divina Comedia". It is pleasant, if bland, fare. [AR]
Hartmann, Franz
(1838-1912) German medical doctor, astrologer and author, a central figure (along with his associate Helena Blavatsky) in Theosophy, whose doctrines he espoused throughout his literary career. He wrote in both German and English; German originals for titles cited only in English have not been found. From his large output, of some moderate sf interest are An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians: By a Student of Occultism (1887) ...
Godfrey, Hollis
(1874-1936) US engineer, academic and author in whose sf novel, The Man Who Ended War (1908), the inventor of a radioactive metal-disintegrating Ray (an early nuclear weapon of sorts, though not the first in world literature; see Robert Cromie) threatens to destroy the world's warships from a secret location, one by one, if the great powers refuse to disarm. They initially resist and he carries out his threat, though the ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...