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Saturday 27 July 2024
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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.
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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
McDermot, Murtagh
Pseudonym of an unidentified UK or Irish author (? -? ) whose satirical Moon-voyage novel, A Trip to the Moon (1727 chap) [for subtitle see Checklist], describes various remarkable sights and beings, initially in the Fantastic Voyage mode of Jonathan Swift, as "McDermot" takes ship to Tenerife before undergoing his abrupt transit into space; the ...
Eloy
German prog-rock band, founded in 1969 by guitarist, singer and songwriter Frank Bornemann (1952- ); named after the Eloi of H G Wells's Time Machine (the track "Eloy" on the band's first album [Eloy, 1971], sings their praises). It is not clear why Bornemann got the spelling wrong, or why he has persisted with it through decades of English-language recording. Early albums often contain, alongside a number of more ...
Spy-Rays
Traditional item of sf Terminology for various surveillance mechanisms employing some kind of Ray that can penetrate most forms of matter, conferring the power of undetectable eavesdropping upon its operator. E E Smith uses the term throughout his Lensman series and seems to have coined it in the original magazine version of Triplanetary (January-April 1934 Amazing; ...
Reida, Alvah
(1920-1975) US author whose sf novel, Fault Lines (1972) – not to be confused with Kate Wilhelm's later novel of the same title – deals apocalyptically with the Disasters that afflict America of a San Andreas Fault earthquake caused, at least in part, by an unwary use of thermonuclear devices. [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 ...