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Monday 13 July 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 13 July 2026
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Wessex, Martyn
Pseudonym of UK author P F Little (? - ) for two sf novels written for Robert Hale Limited: The Slowing Down Process (1974), in which a space capsule returns to Earth with a dead astronaut and the seeds of a lethal Pandemic; and Chain Reaction (1976), where human fertility is endangered by the effects of a new Drug. [JC/DRL]
Martian, The [film]
Film (2015). Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/TSG Entertainment/Genre Films. Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by Drew Goddard from The Martian (2014) by Andy Weir. Cast includes Sean Bean, Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Mackenzie Davis, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Azel Henne, Kate Mara, Michael Peña, Sebastian Stan, Kristen Whig. 144 minutes. Colour, 3-D. / The Martian begins in the ...
Widescreen Baroque
An occasionally quoted critical term coined by Brian Aldiss to denote Space Opera at its most grandiose: what might also be termed space grand opera. In his introduction to the 1964 Faber edition (as The Paradox Men) of Charles L Harness's Flight into Yesterday (May 1949 Startling; exp 1953; vt The Paradox Men ...
Bagnall-Stubbs, James
(1878-1955) UK author who served in World War One, and who was responsible for two novels containing sf elements of interest: in Ora Pro Nobis (1899), a spirit journey is undertaken to another planet, where human-like beings live in peace; and in The Order of Isis: A Story of Mystery and Adventure in Egypt (1900), occult chemists in the eponymous order create a vapour capable of enabling eavesdropping at a distance. [JC/MA]
MacPherson, John F
(1873-1939) Australian-born author, in UK by 1891; in his complex Future War novel, A Yankee Napoleon (1907), two Scientists – one a Mad Scientist who uses his Inventions for evil, the other an ethical Superman figure – oppose one another, as the mad one devises a brain serum that ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...