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Sunday 22 June 2025
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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Forsyth, Frederick
(1938-2025) UK author who gained fame with his first novel, The Day of the Jackal (1971), and whose books are generally political thrillers. The Shepherd (1975 chap), however, is a sentimental Timeslip or ghost fantasy in which a pilot on Christmas Eve 1957 is saved from crashing by a World War Two pilot in an antique bomber: pilot and plane had been shot down on the Christmas Eve of 1943. ...
Music
This article deals with music as it is portrayed and speculated about in sf. For discussion of actual music with sf themes, see SF Music. / Of the Arts, music is the one most commonly featured in sf – albeit not quite to the extent that Fantasy is pervaded by it. Several sf writers studied it, notably including Lloyd Biggle Jr (PhD in musicology), Langdon ...
Woods, Olivia
(? - ) South-African-born author, in the USA for some years; she is of sf interest for two Ties to the Star Trek universe: Fearful Symmetry (2008) and The Soul Key (2009), both in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Relaunch series. [JC]
Greatest American Hero, The
US tv series (1981-1983). Created by Stephen J Cannell. Stephen J Cannell Productions. ABC Television network. Produced by Alex Beaton, Babs Greyhosky, and others. Directors included Chuck Bowman, Bruce Kessler, Arnold Laven and Christian I Niby II. Scriptwriters included Rudolph Borchert, Cannell, Patrick Hasburgh and Frank Lupo. Cast includes Robert Culp, Jesse D Goins, Faye Grant, William Katt, Michael Paré and Connie Sellecca. 43 50-minute episodes. Colour. / The name ...
Suddick, Louise F
(1856-1943) US poet and author whose sf novel is Zerelda: A Story of Love and Death (1899), in which a voyage to another planet is made by astral means (see Fantastic Voyages; Space Flight). [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 ...