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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.
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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 ...
Whiteson, Leon
(1930-2013) Southern-Rhodesia-born architect, journalist and author, resident variously in UK, USA and Canada. He is of sf interest for Scanners (1980; vt David Cronenberg's Scanners 1981), a Tie novelizing the screenplay of the film Scanners (1980) directed by David Cronenberg. [JC]
Ebook
An electronic book, normally written as in this encyclopedia as ebook (but as Ebook when linking to this entry). The term is generally used to describe both the hardware – typically a device about the size of a small paper book, with a screen for reading and controls; in appearance similar to a sophisticated cell phone – and any text which has been downloaded into the device. The only slowly increasing popularity of the ebook has been governed by various difficulties which are ...
Moore, Isabel
(? - ) US author whose Near Future tale, The Day the Communists Took Over America (1961), depicts in Cold War terms what comes close to a full outbreak of World War Three: the Soviets have blockaded America, sink her shipping, block her from Communications with other nations, and introduce a deadly ...
Schwarz-Bart, Simone
(1938- ) French-born author, in Guadeloupe from infancy, married to André Schwarz-Bart; of sf interest is Ti Jean L'horizon (1979; trans Barbara Bray as Between Two Worlds 1981), an Equipoisal tale tracing the life of a folk hero in mythological and sf terms; the great cloud that darkens Guadeloupe may be deemed allegorical of white ...
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 ...