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Saturday 12 July 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.
Site updated on 7 July 2025
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Bioforge
Videogame (1995). Origin Systems. Designed by Ken Demarest, Jack Herman. Platforms: DOS. / Bioforge is a graphical Adventure game which prefigures later action Adventures; the gameplay depends on a combination of puzzles and combat sequences. The game begins with a non interactive Full Motion Video sequence showing the unconscious player character ...
Borderlands [game]
Videogame (2009). Gearbox Software (GS). Designed by Matthew Armstrong. Platforms: PS3, Win, XB360 (2009); Mac (2010). / Borderlands is an "action RPG" (see Computer Role Playing Games), much influenced by First Person Shooters but in essence resembling a science-fictional variant of the hack and slash fantasy game Diablo (1997). ...
Wyss, Johann David Von
(1743-1818) Swiss philosopher and author, of sf interest for Der Schweizerische Robinson (1812-1813; trans William Godwin as The Family Robinson Crusoe 1814) [for subtitles of original and trans see Checklist below], a nonfantastic tale which nevertheless – together with the tale which inspired it, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) – served as a central model for sf tales of the ...
Furukawa Hideo
(1966- ) Japanese poet, author and playwright, much garlanded with prizes in the literary field, but with roots and interests firmly in the world of Fantastika, with an insistent sense of bricolage, hommage and recursion. In the genre world, he might be most frequently compared to Yasutaka Tsutsui or Yōko Tawada, but teasing his own literary ...
Bartter, Martha A
(1932-2013) US critic, editor and author, a lifetime member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, now most well known for her scholarship and teaching. / As M A Bartter, she published a handful of early short stories beginning with "The Eggs of Eden" (December 1974 Galaxy) and also including "Be Ye Perfect" (January 1975 Galaxy) and "The Wallad Blond" (March 1977 Galaxy), ...
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 ...