SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 20 August 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 17 August 2026
Sponsor of the day: Ansible Editions
Crowley, John
(1942-2026) US teacher and author who also worked in documentary films and television for some time beginning in 1966. His sf novels have had a considerable impact on the field, and his fantasies established him as a figure whose work courteously but deeply stretched the boundaries of genre literature. / His first novel, The Deep (1975), is set on a flat discworld (see Flat Earth) resting on a pillar that extends beyond measurement into the ...
Marusek, David
(1951- ) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with "The Earth Is on the Mend" in Asimov's for May 1993, and who quickly established a reputation for the creation of Near Future visions of Earth of nearly unparalleled complexity. Although he comes close at time to expounding a case for the kind of Technological fixes favoured by Hard SF ...
Heathcock, Alan
(1971- ) US author, mostly of short fiction, most of which is nonfantastic; active from the late 1990s. VOLT: Stories (coll of linked stories 2011) contains his best gonzo-grit early work. He is of sf interest for 40 (2022), set in a Near Future America devastated by Climate Change, Pandemic and civil unrest; the tale takes an ...
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 ...
Davies, Paul
(1946- ) UK physicist, science writer and sf author whose scientific nonfiction is perhaps more distinguished than his sf. His novel Fireball (1987) has Antimatter pellets impacting Earth and creating chaos; although their actual source is an Alien spacecraft, they are interpreted by the USA as a Soviet weapon. The ideas are interesting, the thriller elements routine. However, his academic science ...
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 ...