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Tuesday 11 August 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 10 August 2026
Sponsor of the day: The Telluride Institute
Crowley, John
(1942-2026) US teacher and author who also worked in documentary films and television for some time beginning in 1966. His sf novels have had a considerable impact on the field, and his fantasies established him as a figure whose work courteously but deeply stretched the boundaries of genre literature. / His first novel, The Deep (1975), is set on a flat discworld resting on a pillar that extends beyond measurement into the circumambient galactic Deep, in which very few stars ...
Wooley, Sheb
(1921-2003) A rodeo rider and character actor particular associated with Western movies, Wooley is included here for his 1958 novelty record "The Purple People Eater"; a bouncy, light-hearted jingle about a space Alien, the "one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater" of the title, who descends to earth hoping to join a rock band, an ambition he realizes, perhaps improbably, at the song's end. According to some accounts this release is MGM's best selling single. ...
Edelman, Scott
(1955- ) US editor and author, his fiction having had perhaps unduly little recognition, almost certainly because his work shifts from horror to fantasy to sf without any marketing consistency; his first work of genre interest was "Guinea Pigs" in Fantasy Book for May 1983. The stories assembled in Suicide Art (coll 1992 chap) are horror, though some tales in These Worlds Are Haunted (coll 2001) are sf; various ...
Parker, Richard
(1914-1990) UK author for children whose Animal Fantasy sequence, Escape from the Zoo, comprises Escape from the Zoo (1945 chap) (see Zoo), finding a rural enclave for refuge; A Camel from the Desert (1947), in which territory the escaped animals find safety; and The Penguin Goes Home (1951), which carries the action further south [for Animal Fantasy see The ...
Wheeler, Lorraine
(1932- ) Australian author whose fiction has been directly primarily towards younger readers; Pretend It's Christmas (1984) is a Young Adult tale about the Near Future Invasion of a peaceful enclave. [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 ...