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Tuesday 11 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 10 August 2026
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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 resting on a pillar that extends beyond measurement into the circumambient galactic Deep, in which very few stars ...
Adams, Norman
(1933-2014) US illustrator, active from the early 1950s, often signing his work Adams, which has occasionally led to some confusion with the work of Tom Adams, as both specialized in trompe l'oeil effects, in both cases sometimes startlingly effective. Adams may be best known for his cover for the first edition of Larry Niven's World of Ptavvs; the image itself closely replicates his cover for an 1963 UK reprint, as ...
Monroe, Keith
(1915-2003) US author best known for juvenile sf (and also much nonfiction) aimed at Boy Scouts. In the Time Machine series (1959-1989) – comprising 16 stories as by Donald Keith in collaboration with his father Donald Monroe (1888-1972) and seven by Monroe alone – an abandoned Time Machine enables adventures for the Scout patrol that finds it. As lifelong Scout leaders, the Monroes brought verisimilitude to their Scouting milieu. The ...
Odom, Mel
(1957- ) US author of many novels since 1988, many of them being Ties like his contributions to the Mack Bolan thriller series as by Don Pendleton, after that author had franchised himself as a House Name; he has also written several series, usually fantasy, including numerous contributions to the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer universe [associational or fantasy ties and ...
Rocketman
US Comic (1952). One issue. Farrell Comics Inc. Artists include the Iger Shop, Henry Kiefer and Charles Quinlan Jr. 36 pages: four long strips (three featuring Rocketman), two short humorous strips and a two-page text story. This comic is an interesting example of a publisher reworking older material: except for the cover and perhaps the text story, the contents are refurbished from 1940s comics (discussed below). / Rocketman is "a young, American space pilot ...
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 ...