SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 9 February 2025
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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 3 February 2025
Sponsor of the day: Janine G Stinson
Sarrantonio, Al
(1952-2025) US editor and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Ahead of the Joneses" in Asimov's for March 1979. Much of his work was horror, sometimes tinged with sf (see Horror in SF), including his first novel, The Worms (1985), a Gothic tale set in Massachusetts with hints of H P Lovecraft; and the Equipoisal Moonbane ...
Babits, Mihály
(1883-1941) Hungarian editor, translator (from English and German) and author, best known for his poetry, the finest example of which is probably the autobiographical Jönas konyve ["The Book of Jonah"] (1938). His sf novel, A Gólyakalifa ["The Caliph's Stork"] (1918; trans anon as The Nightmare 1966), is of interest in its depiction of a split personality. A utopian novel, ...
Starquest
Videogame series (from 1980). Automated Simulations (AS). Designed by Jon Freeman. / The members of the Starquest series are early examples of the Computer Role Playing Game form, modelled after their designer's successful Dunjonquest fantasy sequence but set in the same Future History as Starfleet Orion (1978). In the ...
Dowding, Henry Wallace
(1867-1938) UK-born clergyman and author, in the US from 1889, most active in the 1920s. His sf novel, The Man from Mars, or Service, for Service's Sake (1910), is occupied for much of its length with its protagonist's search for a McGuffin document, but shifts in its later moments to be a long description, on the part of the protagonist's employer, of his time on Mars, which planet is small, quite close to Earth, and ...
Pollock, A W A
(1853-1923) UK soldier and author, an army officer from 1875 until the end of World War One; he is of sf interest for two Future War tales, Lord Roastem's Campaign in North-Eastern France With Sketch Map (1911 chap), which describes a series of imaginary battles, and In the Cockpit of Europe (1913) which specifically adumbrates World War One, with Britain coming to the aid of a beleaguered France. [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 ...