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Wednesday 10 June 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 8 June 2026
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Duffy, Maureen
(1933-2026) UK author, active from around 1950, several of whose books focused on London, including Capital (1975), a complex set of era-switching meditations – including a Neanderthal man's thoughts about the future – on the deep mythos of the city. The novel influenced Michael Moorcock's Mother London (1988) (as the author acknowledged clearly), and similar later works by Iain ...
Invisible Adversaries
Austrian film (1977; original title Unsichtbare Gegner). Valie Export Filmproduktions GmbH. Directed by Valie Export. Written by Valie Export and Peter Weibel. Cast includes Peter Weibel and Susanne Widl. 104 minutes. Colour. / In contemporary Vienna, photographer Anna (Widl) receives messages on her radio saying that Aliens are taking over the minds of people, without altering their hosts' appearance, with the aim of ...
Aurealis
Australian SF Magazine of Semiprozine status based on its circulation (about 5,000) but of professional status based on payment rates. Published by Chimaera Publications, Melbourne, A5 format, side-stapled until issue #14 (December 1994), thereafter perfect bound. Founded and edited by Stephen Higgins and Dirk Strasser until issue #27/28 (October 2001), and then by ...
Diaman, N A
(1936-2020) US photographer – as Nikos Diaman – and author of gay sf novels, including Ed Dean Is Queer (1978) and The Fourth Wall (1980), both of which see Near Future America as a Dystopia for homosexuals, though the first ends hopefully; and Private Nation (1997), whose gay protagonists must exist in a world oppressively subject to privatization gone mad. [JC]
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
Film (1969). Hammer/Warner. Directed by Val Guest. Written by Guest, from story by J G Ballard. Cast includes Patrick Allen, Robin Hawdon and Victoria Vetri. 100 minutes. Colour. / This was originally written by J G Ballard, but director Guest got to the script and eliminated anything expensive, original or intellectual. Still a bit livelier than most Prehistoric SF romances, this is one of a series of them made by ...
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 ...