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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 ...
Serpell, Namwali
(1980- ) Zambian-born author, in USA from the age of nine. She is of initial interest for the nonfiction Seven Modes of Uncertainty (2014), which explicitly draws some of its strategies from William Empson's Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930), arguing for the vital importance of "structures of conflicting information" in the work of authors like Thomas Pynchon; in this ...
Starmania
Canadian album and musical (1978). Music by Michel Berger, lyrics by Luc Plamondon. Original cast included Daniel Balavoine, Claude Dubois, Diane Dufresne, Eric Esteve, France Gall, René Joly, Grégory Ken, Fabienne Thibault and Nanette Workman. / Francophone musical, originally released in France and Quebec as a double album, Starmania: ou la passion de Johnny Rockfort selon les évangiles télévisé ["Starmania: or the passion of Johnny ...
Black Sleep, The
Film (1956; vt Dr Cadman's Secret). Bel-Air Productions/United Artists. Produced by Aubrey Schenck and Howard W Koch. Directed by Reginald Le Borg (as LeBorg). Written by John C Higgins from a story by Gerald Drayson Adams. Cast includes Patricia Blair (credited as Patricia Blake), Claire Carleton, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr, Peter Gordon, Tor Johnson, Bela Lugosi, Basil Rathbone, Herbert Rudley, Phyllis Stanley, Akim Tamiroff and Sally Yarnell. ...
Man in the White Suit, The
Film (1951). Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick. Written by Roger MacDougall, John Dighton, Mackendrick, based on the play The Man in the White Suit by MacDougall. Cast includes Joan Greenwood, Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker and Ernest Thesiger. 85 minutes, cut to 81 minutes. Black and white. / A Scientist creates a monomolecular artificial fibre (see Monomolecular Wire) that neither wears out ...
Nicholls, Peter
(1939-2018) Australian editor and author, primarily a critic and historian of sf through his creation and editing of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction [see below]; resident in the UK 1970-1988, in Australia from 1988; worked as an academic in English literature (1962-1968, 1971-1977), scripted television documentaries, was a Harkness Fellow in Film-making (1968-1970) in the USA, worked as a publisher's editor (1982-1983), often broadcast film and book reviews on BBC Radio from 1974 and ...