SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 17 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 16 February 2026
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Schaffer, Gene
(1941- ) US author in whose sf novel, Countdown to Doomsday (1982), Aliens direct a remote-control satellite to Earth, where it emits a Ray that makes all women infertile; the purpose is eventually to clear the planet of humans. [JC]
USNA: The United States of North America
Graphic Novel (graph 2012), followed by USNA II: The United States of North America (graph 2012 3vols), produced under a group rubric, The Reel Write Bros, by various contributors including Harry Kalensky, Davy Longworth and Allen Stanleigh; visually executed by Dave Casey and Francine Delgado; with some art and lettering by Chris Barrett. Set in a Near Future United States of North America, where an ...
Burks, Arthur J
(1898-1974) US military man and author whose first career was in the American Marine Corps (1917-1927); he re-enlisted in World War Two, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. In the meantime, he began to publish for the Pulp magazines, his first work of fantastic interest being "Thus Spake the Prophetess" (November 1924 Weird Tales) as Estil Critchie; his first sf was "Monsters of Moyen" in Astounding for April 1930. ...
Williams, Tess
(1954-2025) UK-born teacher, editor and author, in Australia for many years, there receiving a degree in literature from Curtin University and an MA in creative writing from the University of Western Australia. She began publishing work of genre interest with "The Padwan Affair" in She's Fantastical (anth 1995) edited by Judith Raphael Buckrich and Lucy Sussex. Of sf interest are two novels: Map of Power (1996), set mostly in a ...
Black Rain
US electronic/industrial group formed in New York in 1989, who formed an association with William Gibson in the 1990s. In 1994, they teamed up with him to produce an audio version of Neuromancer (1984). The music they produced for the audiobook was given a stand-alone release for the novel's 40th anniversary in 2024. Divorced from Gibson's narration, the would-be futuristic electronics ironically now sound thoroughly time-bound, but do ...
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 ...