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Sunday 20 July 2025
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.
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Williams, Tess
(1954-2025) UK-born teacher, editor and author, in Australia for many years, there receiving a degree in literature from Curtin University and an MA in creative writing from the University of Western Australia. She began publishing work of genre interest with "The Padwan Affair" in She's Fantastical (anth 1995) edited by Judith Raphael Buckrich and Lucy Sussex. Of sf interest are two novels: Map of Power (1996), set mostly in a ...
Kuroma Hisashi
Working name of Japanese translator Hiroshi Sakuma (1951-1993), who had a profound impact on the sf genre as it appears to modern Japanese readers. A graduate in Law from the prestigious Tokyo University, he became a commercials director for Dentsū before drifting into translation and occasional criticism initially under the pen-name Seiki Shirakawa. / Kuroma's translations clustered around a group of authors whose works were suffused with neologisms or ...
Rocket Man, The
Film (1954; vt McCluskey Strikes a Blow [original script title]). Panoramic Productions/20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Produced by Leonard Goldstein. Directed by Oscar Rudolph. Written by Lenny Bruce and Jack Henley from a story by George W George and George F Slavin. Cast includes John Agar, Spring Byington, Charles Coburn, Anne Francis, Emory Parnell and George "Foghorn" Winslow. 79 minutes. Black and white. / A comedy with elements of romance and sf. Young Timmy ...
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Japanese animated tv series (1997). Original title Shōjo Kakumei Utena. Created by Be-Papas. J.C.Staff. Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Written by Yōji Enokido. Voice cast includes Yuriko Fuchizaki, Tomoko Kawakami, Jūrōta Kosugi and Hikaru Midorikawa. 39 23-minute episodes. Colour. / As newly orphaned Utena Tenjou (Kawakami) mourns, she is comforted by a travelling Prince, who gives her a ring with a rose crest. Utena is so ...
Cockroft, W P
(1909-1992) UK author who began publishing work of genre interest with They Came from Mars (28 April 1934 Scoops as "Cataclysm", anon; circa 1945 chap), which with its sequel, "City of Mars" (16 June 1934 Scoops), depicts an Earth prostrated by a Martian plague, the destruction of London, and the eventual accommodation between the two races. [JC] see also: ...
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 ...