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Tuesday 17 February 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 16 February 2026
Sponsor of the day: Andy Richards of Cold Tonnage Books
Spaceways
Film (1953). Hammer/Exclusive. Directed by Terence Fisher. Written by Paul Tabori, Richard Landau, based on a 1952 radio play by Charles Eric Maine. Cast includes Eva Bartok, Howard Duff, Andrew Osborn and Alan Wheatley. 76 minutes. Black and white. / In this first UK space movie since Things to Come (1936) a Scientist falsely suspected of ...
Hugo
The annual awards given by the World SF Society, comprising members of the Worldcon. The awards were originally known as the Science Fiction Achievement Awards while affectionately termed Hugos in honour of Hugo Gernsback; the name was officially changed to the Hugo Awards when the US authorities declined to allow a service mark on the original name. Hugos were first awarded at the 1953 World SF ...
Behemoth, the Sea Monster
Film (1959; vt The Giant Behemoth US). Diamond/Allied Artists. Directors Douglas Hickox, Eugène Lourié. Written by Lourié. Cast includes Gene Evans, Jack MacGowran, Leigh Madison and André Morell. 80 minutes, cut to 72 minutes. Black and white. / Lourié made several Monster Movies during his career, including The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms ...
Pinkerton, Thomas A
(1850-1914) UK author some of whose books edge into the fantastic; of sf interest is No Rates and Taxes: A Romance of Five Worlds (1902), in which a human trapped on Mars, which he describes, in a series of letters to a colleague on Venus, as a Dystopia where women rule (see Feminism; Women in SF); Valdora (1907) is a ...
Mikes, George
(1912-1987) Hungarian author born Mikes György, in UK from 1938, naturalized 1946. He was a successful journalist in Hungary from 1933, and came to the UK in his professional capacity, remaining in London because, as he was Jewish, it would have been suicide to return. His work is various, mostly nonfiction, often slyly comical; his only work of any sf interest is Down With Everybody!: A Cautionary Tale for Children Over Twenty-One, and Other Stories (coll 1951), which spoofs ...
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 ...