SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 8 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 6 February 2026
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Sallis, James
(1944-2026) US musician, poet and author, briefly active in New Worlds during its Michael Moorcock-directed New-Wave phase; he began to publish work of genre interest in this context with "Kazoo" (August 1967 New Worlds) and co-edited the magazine 1968-1969. His clearly acknowledged models in the French avant garde and the gnomic brevity of much of his work ...
Yu, E Lily
(? - ) US author who began publishing work of genre interest with "The Transfiguration of Maria Luisa Ortega" in The Kenyon Review for Summer 2010, her early fiction in general drawing significant attention, including the 2012 John W Campbell Award for best new writer. Though her work safely resides within the water margins of Fantastika, Yu rarely engages in sf as such, with ...
Hirai Kazumasa
(1938-2015) Japanese author, an early adopter in many forms of new media, remembered largely for two large, pulpy serials that came to dominate his output, as well as pioneering scripts in early Anime Television. Both through his own work and his Tie contracts, he may be seen as instrumental in the construction of the Japanese variation on Superheroes, ...
Mind of Mr Soames, The
Film (1969). Amicus. Directed by Alan Cooke. Written by John Hale and Edward Simpson, based on The Mind of Mr Soames (1961) by Charles Eric Maine. Cast includes Nigel Davenport, Terence Stamp and Robert Vaughn. 98 minutes. Colour. / John Soames (Stamp) has been in a coma since birth and is now 30 years old. A neurosurgeon (Vaughn) brings him to consciousness with a brain operation. Now a sexually ...
Dewey, Katharine Fay
(1865-?1953) US author whose only novel, Star People (1910), describes First Contact between a group of Scientists and an Extraterrestrial source; attempts at mutual Communication lead to visions of an ethically superior Utopian civilization in the stars.[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 ...