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Tuesday 17 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 16 February 2026
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Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters
Japanese film (1968). Original title Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari. Daiei Film. Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda. Written by Tetsurō Yoshida. Cast includes Jun Fujimaki, Ryûtarô Gomi and Takashi Kanda. 80 minutes. Colour. / During the Edo period of Japan, landowner Mr Tajimaya (Kanda), working for the magistrate Lord Uzen of Hotta (Gomi), buys a local village's shrine. He plans to tear it down and build a brothel in its place; the caretaker ...
Corlett, William
(1938-2005) UK actor, playwright and author, in the latter capacity mostly for older children, though much of his later work, which openly explores the lives of gay men, was written for adults. He is of sf interest mainly for the Gate of Eden trilogy, comprising The Gate of Eden (1974), an essentially associational tale which he adapted for Television as The Gate of Eden (1979). The Land Beyond (1975), which ...
Morgan, Helene
(? - ) US author, possibly pseudonymous, of the erotic sf novel (see Sex), Seed of the Beast (1965). [JC]
Leave the World Behind
US film (2023). Esmail Corp, Red Om Productions, Higher Ground Productions. Directed and written by Sam Esmail, based on Leave the World Behind (2020) by Rumaan Alam. Cast includes Mahershala Ali, Vanessa Aspillaga, Kevin Bacon, Charlie Evans, Ethan Hawke, Farrah Mackenzie, Myha'la and Julia Roberts. 141 minutes. Colour. / In a remote rental vacation property on Long Island, New York, the Sandford family are ...
Communications
Many aspects of communication in sf are dealt with under separate entries in this volume. The most familiar form of communication is through language, for a discussion of which see Linguistics (also Universal Translator). Devices allowing communication at a distance, besides those discussed in the next paragraph, include the Videophone. For the perennially popular theme of opening ...
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 ...