SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 15 August 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 10 August 2026
Sponsor of the day: Paul Giamatti
Crowley, John
(1942-2026) US teacher and author who also worked in documentary films and television for some time beginning in 1966. His sf novels have had a considerable impact on the field, and his fantasies established him as a figure whose work courteously but deeply stretched the boundaries of genre literature. / His first novel, The Deep (1975), is set on a flat discworld resting on a pillar that extends beyond measurement into the circumambient galactic Deep, in which very few stars ...
Pan's Labyrinth
Spanish/Mexican film (2006). Original title El laberinto del fauno. Directed and written by Guillermo Del Toro. CafeFX, Esperanto Filmoj, Estudios Picasso, OMM, Sententia Entertainment, Telecinco, Tequila Gang, Wild Bunch. Cast includes Pablo Adán, Álex Angulo, Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Doug Jones, Sergi López and Maribel Verdú. 119 minutes. Colour. / ...
Jeschonek, Robert T
(1965- ) US comics author and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "A Wall of Lisas" in Backroads for 1983, much of his later shorter work being published as individual ebooks, many of them spoofs, or at least exaggerated iterations, of familiar Superhero tales, a representative sampling being assembled as 6 Superhero Stories (coll 2012 ebook). The Trek sequence – beginning with ...
Burger, Neal R
(1931-2005) US author and scriptwriter who in collaboration with George E Simpson published three sf novels with a strong thriller/espionage flavour: Ghostboat (1976) featuring a kind of Timeslip; Thin Air (1978) involving Matter Transmission; and Fair Warning (1980), an Alternate History tale. For plot details ...
Brain from Planet Arous, The
Film (1957). Marquette Productions Ltd/Howco International. Produced by Jacques R Marquette. Directed by Nathan H Juran (credited as Nathan Hertz). Written by Ray Buffum. Cast includes John Agar, Joyce Meadows and Dale Tate. 71 minutes. Black and white. / Young Scientist Steve March (Agar) is about to marry Sally (Meadows) when the criminal Alien brain Gor (voiced by Tate) arrives on Earth, and takes possession of Steve's ...
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 ...