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Tuesday 13 January 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.
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von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Schulze, Klaus
(1947-2022) German electronic musician who was the drummer on the first Tangerine Dream album, then formed Ash Ra Tempel, leaving after their first album (though occasionally guesting on later releases). He then pursued a solo career, but would also often collaborate with others – such as Pete Namlook (on a series of albums loosely named after ...
Ardies, Tom
(1931- ) US journalist and author, mostly of crime fiction, who also wrote nonfantastic tales as by Richard O'Brien and Jack Trolley. His borderline Near Future Sparrow sequence – Their Man in the White House (1971), This Suitcase Is Going to Explode (1972) and Pandemic (1973), the Pandemic in question being an almost universally fatal manufactured flu ...
Bonfiglioli, Kyril
Adopted name of Cyril Emmanuel George Bonfiglioli (1928-1985), UK son of Italo-Slovene and English parents, at various times a book dealer, art dealer, editor of Science Fantasy, and author. In the last capacity he is best known for the Charlie Mortdecai black-comedy thrillers beginning with Don't Point That Thing at Me (1973), which despite a few parodic swipes at Ian Fleming's James Bond ...
Craig, David
Pseudonym of UK author and journalist Allan James Tucker (1929-2023), whose Roy Rickman series, beginning with The Alias Man (1968), is essentially a jeremiad about a then-imminent 1970s world crisis of the Cold War, with the UK becoming in the Near Future a Soviet satellite, though it offers a sufficient sf displacement through the exploits of the multi-national spy Rickman to be of some interest. [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 ...