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Wednesday 14 May 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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Fabian, Stephen E
(1930-2025) American artist, sometimes credited as Steve Fabian or simply Fabian. The self-trained Fabian first worked as an electronic engineer, but he began contributing art to Fanzines in the late 1960s and became a full-time professional artist in 1973. He did a number of covers and interior art for SF Magazines, mostly Amazing, Fantastic, and ...
Ratfandom
Highly informal UK fan group of the 1970s, several of whose members later became sf professionals. Based in London, Ratfandom and its satellites produced some of the most literate, witty and scurrilous Fanzines in that fertile period for UK Fandom; these included Big Scab (1974, 3 issues) edited by John Brosnan, Fouler (1970-1972, 6 issues) edited by Leroy ...
Cook, Hugh
(1956-2008) UK-born New Zealand author, who spent much of his childhood in the South Pacific Republic of Kiribati, and who lived in Japan from 1997; he is known primarily for his interestingly varied and sometimes inventive fantasy series, Chronicles of an Age of Darkness, whose ornate textures are Equipoisal between Planetary Romance and fantasy, though the latter mode is dominant. His ...
Herscholt, Wolfe
An Australian pseudonym or more likely a House Name used mainly by G C Bleeck and Russell Hausfeld on some unremarkable Scientific Thrillers titles, two of them of novella length. These are Magnetic Peril (1949 chap) and X-Ray Menace (1949 chap), both involving Inventions; in the first a new metal is used to magnetically attract ocean liners (see ...
Holloway, Michael
(1952- ) US author whose Near Future novel, Empath (1993), treats the AIDS crisis in medical Technothriller terms; during the course of the tale, the cure finally becomes available. [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 ...