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Tuesday 13 January 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 12 January 2026
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von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Crawford, William L
(1911-1984) US publisher and editor, one of the first sf fans to become a publisher, editing and producing two Semiprozines: Unusual Stories – ambitiously announced in 1933 but more or less still-born – and Marvel Tales, which came out in 1934. At about the same time, after a chapbook anthology assembling "Men of Avalon" by David H Keller and ...
Quandry
US Fanzine (1950-1953), 30 issues, edited from Georgia by Lee Hoffman. Though undistinguished in appearance, Quandry was noted for the quality and humour of its writing; along with Hyphen, its influence on fan publishing is still remembered. Contributors included Walt Willis, Robert Silverberg, Wilson ...
Undying Monster, The
Film (1942; vt The Hammond Monster). 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Produced by Brian Foy. Directed by John Brahm. Written by Lillie Hayward and Michael Jacoby based on The Undying Monster: A Tale of the Fifth Dimension (1922) by Jessie Douglas Kerruish. Cast includes Heather Angel, James Ellison, Bramwell Fletcher and John Howard. 63 minutes. Black and white. / Set in Wales, where the aristocratic Hammond family ...
Farrer, Matthew
(1970- ) Australian author who also signs as Matt Farrer, most of whose work to date has consisted of contributions to the Warhammer 40,000 Role Playing Game universe, beginning with "Badlands Skelter's Downhive Monster Show" for Inferno! in 1999, and continuing with Warhammer 40,000: Crossfire (2003), which features the continuing character Shira Calpurnia of the Adeptus Arbites, and other similar ...
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 ...