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Thursday 24 April 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.
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Broderick, Damien
(1944-2025) Australian author, editor and critic; he had a PhD in the semiotics of fiction, science and sf with special reference to the work of Samuel R Delany. He edited four anthologies of Australian sf: The Zeitgeist Machine (anth 1977), Strange Attractors (anth 1985), Matilda at the Speed of Light (anth 1988) and Centaurus: The Best of Australian Science Fiction (anth ...
White, James
(1928-1999) UK author from Ulster who initially worked for various Belfast tailoring firms, as assistant manager of a department store, and from 1965 in various capacities for an aircraft company, ultimately as publicity officer 1968-1984; this mixed occupational experience is reflected in several of his works. His visible involvement with Fandom began with Slant (1948-1953); his articles appeared in many other ...
St John, Arthur
(1862-1938) Indian-born author, in UK from early years; his only slightly fictionalized Utopia, Why Not Now?: A British Islander's Dream (1939), promulgates a pastoral, neighbourhood-based Near Future Britain. [JC]
Death Rays
Rays that could kill, whether by heat or by disintegration, were the staple Weapons of pulp sf in the 1920s and 1930s and became a central item of sf Terminology (see Blaster; Disintegrator). In Charles W Diffin's "The Power and the Glory" (July 1930 Astounding), ...
Large, E C
(1902-1976) UK botanist and author who began to publish poetry and fiction in the late 1920s. Sugar in the Air: A Romance (1937), first of the two connected Charles Pry tales, is a notable and original Scientific Romance bitterly but wryly describing the conflicts which arise between scientific and commercial interests during experiments with artificial photosynthesis; eventually, Charles Pry develops a process to manufacture sugar ...
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 ...