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Wednesday 11 March 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 9 March 2026
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Man Made Monster
US film (1941; vt Atomic Monster). Universal Pictures. Associate Producer Jack Bernhard. Directed by George Waggner. Written by Waggner from the story "The Electric Man" by Harry Essex (credited as H J Essex), Sid Schwartz and Len Golos. Cast includes Frank Albertson, Lionel Atwill, Lon Chaney Jr, Samuel S Hinds and Anne Nagel. 59 minutes. Black and white. / "Big" Dan McCormick (Chaney) – a carnival sideshow performer as Dynamo Dan, the Electric Man – survives a ...
Corey, Paul
(1903-1992) US reporter and author in various genres, active from as early as 1934 with "Their Forefathers Were Presidents" for Story, though his first work of genre interest, "Operation Survival" for New Worlds, did not appear until December 1962. Most of his early novels are set on farms in the US Middle West; the title of one of them, Acres of Antaeus (1946), deceptively suggests sf content; The Little Jeep (1946 chap) is a ...
Strieber, Whitley
(1945- ) US author, much better known for horror novels – like The Wolfen (1978) (see Horror in SF; Werewolves) and the Hunger sequence beginning with The Hunger (1981) (see Vampires) – than for his sf, though he has continued to produce the latter intermittently throughout his career, with an emphasis on the ...
Challengers of the Unknown
A team of DC Comics Superheroes, created by Jack Kirby in 1957, with possible co-creators Joe Simon or Dave Wood; after appearances in Showcase, they were given their own title, which lasted from 1958 to 1971. Though lacking Superpowers, they are four unusually talented men: pilot Ace Morgan, Scientist Walter Haley, daredevil Red ...
Mephisto Waltz, The
Film (1971). 20th Century Fox. Directed by Paul Wendkos. Written by Ben Maddow from the novel The Mephisto Waltz (1969) by Fred Mustard Stewart. Cast includes Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Pamelyn Ferdin, Curt Jürgens, Barbara Parkins and Kathleen Widdoes. 115 minutes. Colour. / A woman uses Magic to inhabit the body of a rival after a similar Identity Transfer ...
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 ...