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Wednesday 11 February 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 9 February 2026
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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Serenity
Film (2005). Universal Pictures. Written and directed by Joss Whedon. Cast includes Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nathan Fillion, Ron Glass, Summer Glau, David Krumholtz, Sean Maher, Jewel Staite, Gina Torres and Alan Tudyk. 114 minutes. Colour. / An Alliance assassin (Ejiofor) pursues the Serenity Spaceship crew's damaged psychic River Tam (Glau) to prevent the dissemination of a fearsome ...
Hanna
British/German film (2011). Focus Features/Holleran Company/Sechzehnte Babelsberg Film/Neunte Babelsberg Film. Directed by Joe Wright. Written by David Farr and Seth Lochhead. Cast includes Eric Bana, Jessica Barden, Cate Blanchett and Saoirse Ronan. 111 minutes. Colour. / Teenaged Hanna (Ronan) and Erik Heller (Bana), the man she believes to be her father, live alone in northern Finland, where he has been training her in survival and combat tactics ...
Klein, T E D
(1947- ) US magazine editor and author, principally of horror and weird fiction, who began to publish work of genre interest with The Events at Poroth Farm (December 1972 Beyond the Dark Gateway; 1990 chap), which despite its initial Fanzine appearance was selected for The Year's Best Horror Stories No. 3 (anth 1973) edited by Richard Davis. Klein's well-received horror novel ...
Thorne, Anthony
(1904-1973) UK playwright and author whose Thirteen O'Clock: A Play in Three Acts (1929) is set mostly in an unnamed "super City" in the moderately distant Near Future, where despite the efforts of its brave protagonist – who with the aid of his Invention of a powerful explosive blows up buildings as an act of protest – it proves impossible to destabilize rampant capitalism. The ...
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 ...