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Tuesday 17 February 2026
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 February 2026
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MacLeod, Angus
(1906-1978) Scottish author of fiction and plays for Radio. His sf novels are The Body's Guest (1958), in which a yoga machine built by an Indian physicist switches identities (see Identity Exchange) between nine Scots and a bull, with mildly amusing results, and The Eighth Seal (1962), set on a Scottish Island where a Mad Scientist is ...
Overpopulation
In 1798 the UK economist Thomas R Malthus (1766-1834) published his Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society, arguing that a Utopian situation of peace and plenty would be impossible to achieve because the tendency of populations, in the absence of the checks of war, famine and plague, to increase exponentially would result in society's continually outgrowing its resources. In the second edition of 1803, replying to ...
Aminoff, Iwan T
(1868-1928) Swedish noble, army officer and author. Aminoff's ancestors were Russian, but from the early seventeenth century the family lived in Finland, at that time a part of Sweden. His grandfather Johan Fredrik Aminoff (1756-1842) attained the rank of Major General and in 1808 was raised to the Swedish nobility; in 1819 he was also created a count by the Tsar, as Finland in 1809 had become the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. Aminoff himself initially chose an ...
America's Greatest Comics
US Comic (1941-1943). Fawcett Publications. 8 issues. Artists include Phil Bard, C. C. Beck, Tom McNamara and Mac Raboy. Script writers include Otto Binder (see Eando Binder) and Tom McNamara. 100 pages, comprising five or six long strips and a short text story, plus short strips (fiction and non-fiction) as filler. / #1 opens with Captain Marvel: when radio reporter Billy Batson says "SHAZAM" ...
Niswonger, Charles Elliott
(1868-1918) US author of a Lost Race novel set on the Island of Feminine (see Islands), where women are Immortal and men (few in number) are slaves; the ship-wrecked narrator becomes enamoured with the Island's queen, who dies when she requites his love, as immortality and Sex do not mix. The island sinks. [JC]
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 ...