SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 9 December 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.
Site updated on 2 December 2024
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Runyon, Charles W
(1928-2015) US author of thrillers and some sf, who began publishing the latter with "First Man in a Satellite" for Super-Science Fiction in December 1958; sixteen further short sf/fantasy stories followed, chiefly for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. His first sf novel Pig World (1971) depicts a Near-Future USA governed by a right-wing tyranny challenged by a vicious would-be demagogue. ...
Jennings, Gordon
(1896-1953) Special effects pioneer who worked on nearly 200 films in his long career. These included Dr Cyclops (1940), and the supernatural comedy-romance I Married a Witch (1942). He is of most importance to the sf film for overseeing the effects for The War of the Worlds (1953). Unfortunately Jennings died before this film's release and subsequent great success. [GSt]
Science Fiction Studies
Academic journal, published both from the USA and from Canada, founded Spring 1973, current, 107 issues to March 2009, three issues a year. Science Fiction Studies was co-edited from the outset by R D Mullen and Darko Suvin, with Mullen also acting as publisher; the magazine was first published from Indiana State University, where Mullen taught. He left at the end of 1978, and in 1979 with #17 the magazine moved to McGill ...
Bickerton, Derek
(1926-2018) US linguist, Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaii; of marginal sf interest, but a cognitively intriguing examination of the problems of Communication between species, King of the Sea (1979), tells of the experiences of a man who lives with dolphins. [JC]
Memory Edit
Term used in this encyclopedia for selective Amnesia and/or implantation of false memories, deliberately inflicted upon its victim – though sometimes self-inflicted. Early Proto SF examples include Dr Heidenhoff's Process (1880) by Edward Bellamy and "The Memory Clearing House" (July 1892 Idler) by Israel Zangwill (1864-1926) – the latter featuring ...
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 ...