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Saturday 14 March 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 9 March 2026
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Spivey, Thomas Sawyer
(1857-1938) US author of two Lost Race novels: The Seven Sons of Ballyhack (1911) is set specifically before the Biblical Flood, where a number of doomed nations are described Satirically; and The Caverns of Crail (1912), set in a less fixed period, though long before identifiable nations exist, and mainly concerned with dynastic disputes. The Last of the Gnostic Masters (1926), which is ...
Turner, Vickery
Working name of UK actor, playwright, screenwriter and author Christine Hazel Turner (1945-2006), in whose courtroom drama The Testimony of Daniel Pagels (1991) a man proves his innocence by applying the theory of quantum mechanics (see Physics) to explain the Teleportation of the child whose presence at the scene of the crime seems to have demonstrated the accused's guilt. [JC]
Avatars
In the world of Computers, Cyberspace and Virtual Reality as these concepts already exist, avatars are familiar as the visible icons or points of presence in virtual space of either human beings or software routines. Well-known examples include the representations of player and non-player characters in Videogames, ...
Brennan, Frederick Hazlitt
(1901-1962) US journalist, screenwriter and author, active in the first capacity from 1923, and in the second capacity between 1929 and 1963; of his novels, One of Our H Bombs Is Missing (1955) is of sf interest for its exploitation of very Near Future Cold War tensions in the story of a group of pilots who go rogue, steal a nuclear bomb, and attempt to bring about the ...
Drumm, D B
A House Name used on Dell Books' Post-Holocaust Traveler series of Survivalist Fiction, initiated by Ed Naha, with most of the novels being the work either of Naha or of John Shirley. [PN]
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 ...