SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 12 July 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 7 July 2026
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Manson, Marsden
(1850-1931) US engineer – San Francisco City Engineer 1908-1912 – and author of an early Yellow Peril tale, The Yellow Peril in Action: A Possible Chapter in History (1907 chap), in which a Future War between the USA and China is won by the latter. [JC]
Retro Hugo
Retrospective Hugo awards may be voted under certain circumstances to fill the perceived gap left by a past World SF Convention at which no Hugos were presented. Besides the voting of the usual Hugos for the previous year's sf, a Worldcon committee may optionally allow its members to choose Retro Hugos which might have been but were not presented at the Worldcon of 50, 75 or 100 years previously ...
Ward, Julian
(1908-? ) Rhodesian-born screenwriter and author of crime thrillers, in UK from his early years; We Died in Bond Street (1952) describes a Near Future London terrorized by the neo-fascist New England Party, which is attempting to take over the government. The city is put to the torch. [JC]
Brantenberg, Gerd
(1941- ) Norwegian author, whose novels frequently address Feminist issues in particular, and Gender issues in general; she is best known with the English language readers for Egalias Dotre (1977; trans Louis McKay as The Daughters of Egalia 1985; vt Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes 1985), a sharply comic take on Sex ...
Lensman [series]
Influential Space Opera series created by E E Smith (whom see for full discussion). Other authors of stories set in the Lensman universe are William Ellern, Hideyuki Furuhashi and David Kyle, the last focusing on the three Alien allies of the main series hero Kim Kinnison who like him ...
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 ...