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Thursday 19 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 18 February 2026
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Sparks, Lily
(? - ) US author initially of Young Adult fantasy, usually set in urban environments; this venue is shared in The Merciless King of Moore High (2024), which is set in a Near-Future Connecticut exurb, where a not clearly delineated planetary Disaster – possibly a Pandemic – has driven pupils to transform two ...
Area
Italian prog-rock band formed in 1972, who mastered a near-chaotic jazz-rock fusion style that many find musically sophisticated, although it may baffle others. Their work is characterized by a Marxist-Leninist perspective on the failures of western capitalism that was uncompromising, and sometimes incomprehensible – the original vocalist Demetrios Stratos (1945-1979) sang in Italian, in Arabic, in his native Greek and sometimes in a spontaneous gibberish of yawps and growls. ...
Hurwood, Bernhardt J
(1926-1987) US author of various sorts including detections and a very early manual on adjusting to the Computer age: Writing Becomes Electronic: Successful Authors Tell How They Write in the Age of the Computer (1986). He wrote and edited occult and horror titles for the Young Adult market, like Strange Curses (coll 1975) and By Blood Alone (1979); the Man from T.O.M.C.A.T. soft-porn ...
Miesel, Sandra
(1941- ) US critic and author, with degrees in chemistry and medieval history. Her involvement in sf was initially as a fan; from 1967 on she published at least seventy-five pieces in Fanzines. As a critic she became active in the 1970s, her first book being Myth, Symbol, and Religion in The Lord of the Rings (1973 chap) on J R R Tolkien. Her next book, ...
Fallen London
Videogame (2009; vt Echo Bazaar). Failbetter Games. Designed by Alexis Kennedy. Web. / Fallen London is an internet browser-based game set in a decaying alternative London (see also Ruins and Futurity), which also contains elements of Science and Sorcery, or perhaps more accurately Steampunk and Sorcery. ...
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 ...