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Friday 20 June 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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Forsyth, Frederick
(1938-2025) UK author who gained fame with his first novel, The Day of the Jackal (1971), and whose books are generally political thrillers. The Shepherd (1975 chap), however, is a sentimental Timeslip or ghost fantasy in which a pilot on Christmas Eve 1957 is saved from crashing by a World War Two pilot in an antique bomber: pilot and plane had been shot down on the Christmas Eve of 1943. ...
Robbins, Judith Redman
(1941- ) US author of the Coyote Woman trilogy beginning with Coyote Woman (1996), a Prehistoric SF sequence set in the time of the Anasazi civilization and following the life story of a young woman who, instead of marrying as ordained, becomes a force for good in her world (see Feminism; Women in SF) and culture changer. [JC]
Frayn, Michael
(1933- ) UK journalist, playwright and author, best known for such work outside the sf field as the novel Towards the End of the Morning (1967; vt Against Entropy 1967), which despite its vt is not sf, and for Copenhagen (performed 1998; 2001), which examines the historical meeting during World War Two between Niels Bohr (1885-1962) and Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976). The Tin Men ...
Saiz Cidoncha, Carlos
(1939-2018) Spanish author, considered one of the best writers of Space Opera; he also wrote as by Denis Klein and Darío Solano Ruiz. He published about twenty sf and fantasy novels, five collections and more than seventy-five short stories and novellas, plus five nonfiction books and many articles on themes and authors related to the Golden Age of SF. / In addition to a degree in Physics, Law and Criminology, he ...
War Game, The
Made-for-tv film (1965). BBC/Pathé Contemporary. Produced, directed and written by Peter Watkins. Narrators Michael Aspel, Dick Graham. 50 minutes, cut to 47 minutes. Black and white. / This pseudo-documentary about a nuclear attack on England and its aftermath in a small town in Kent was refused a showing by BBC TV, though made for them, on the grounds that it was too realistic and might disturb audiences – as indeed it was designed to ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...