SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 12 April 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 6 April 2026
Sponsor of the day: Paul Giamatti
Space Men
Film (1960; vt Assignment Outer Space). Titanus/Ultra Films. Directed by Antonio Margheriti credited as Anthony Dawson. Written by Ennio De Concini and Jack Wallace. Cast includes Alain Dijon, Gabriella Farinon, David Montresor, Archie Savage and Rik Van Nutter. 73 minutes. Colour. / For his next assignment, journalist Ray Peterson (Van Nutter) is flown to a space station by pilot Al (Savage); upon his arrival, commander George (Montresor) objects to the presence of this green ...
Hunting, Gardner
(1872-1958) US author, often for Young Adult readers, whose sf novel The Vicarion (1926; exp 1927) features the Vicarion, a Time Viewer directed toward the past, which plays back the permanent record of what has been. As a consequence, murders can be solved, politics cleaned up and the true events of history understood at last. [JC] see also: Machines. /
What, Leslie
(1955- ) US author who has also written as by Leslie Joyce; her novel under that name, the nonfantastic Nice Girls Do (2001), is a romance set amid the dangers of World War Two. Her second novel, Olympic Games (short version May 1996 Asimov's as "The Goddess is Alive, And, Well, Living in New York City"; 2004), a fantasy set mostly in New York, plays ...
Undone
US animated online series (2019; 2022). Amazon Studios, Minnow Mountain, Submarine and Tornante Company. Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy. Directed by Hisko Hulsing. Writers include Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Lauren Otero and Kate Purdy. Voice cast includes Angelique Cabral, Siddharth Dhananjay, Constance Marie, Bob Odenkirk and Rosa Salazar. Sixteen 23-minute episodes. Colour. / 28-year-old Alma Winograd-Diaz (Salazar) dislikes the routine her life has fallen into ...
Mason, Colin
(1926-2020) New Zealand-born Australian journalist, politician – Senator for New South Wales 1977-1987 – and author whose Near Future sf novel, Hostage (23 July-3 August 1973 Melbourne Sun; 1973), sets the beginning of World War Three in Israel and its climax in Australia. The 2030 Spike: Countdown to Global Catastrophe (2003; rev vt ...
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 ...