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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
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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 ...
Jacques, Norbert
(1880-1954) Luxembourg-born journalist and author, in Germany from around 1900, a journalist in World War One but not in active service, already controversial for the right-wing views that led to his support of National Socialism, and the ostracism he suffered after World War Two. Of sf interest is the Doktor Mabuse sequence – comprising Doktor Mabuse der Spieler (1920; trans Lilian A Clare as Dr Mabuse, Master of Mystery ...
Rendal, Justine
(1948-2004) US author born Randy Goldfield who changed her name legally to Justine Olivia Rendal; in her Young Adult sf tale, A Very Personal Computer (2004), an adolescent in crisis is helped by his Computer, which contains a seemingly sentient program or AI called Conner, which guides him through his difficult times. [JC]
Jordan, Hillary
(1963- ) US author whose second novel, When She Woke (2011), is set in a Near Future America where church and state are no longer separate, and a fundamentalist Dystopia has been established according to whose diktats women are scapegoated and treated as breeders. The homage to Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850) – on being ...
Moon Pilot
Film (1962). Walt Disney Films (see The Walt Disney Company). Directed by James Neilson. Written by Maurice Tombragel, based on Starfire (19 March-2 April 1960 Saturday Evening Post as "Moon Pilot"; 1960; vt Moon Pilot 1962) by Robert Buckner. Cast includes Brian Keith, Tommy Kirk, Edmond O'Brien, Dany Saval, Kent Smith, Bob Sweeney and ...
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 ...