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Saturday 27 July 2024
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
McDevitt, Jack
Working name of US author John Charles McDevitt (1935- ), who began publishing sf with "The Emerson Effect" for Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine in December 1981, coming to prominence with "Cryptic" (April 1983 Asimov's), a tale whose theme – First Contact between humans and the Alien races who are sending ...
Anglin, Norman
(1891-1944) UK poet and playwright who served in World War One; his Near Future play Poison Gas (1928) dramatizes the issue of Poison gas, its use (via Weather Control devices), and hopes of its prevention, a topic much discussed in the years after the War. Tragically, in a strife-torn starvation-prone 1950, a guilt-ridden industrialist fails to ...
Reid, C Lestock
(1888-1954) India-born UK army officer and author, in active service during World War One. His adventure novels include The Trail of Pharaoh's Treasure: A Romance of Africa (1924); Sons of Solomon (1931), a Lost Race tale also set in Africa, sadly defaced for modern readers by its racism (see Race in SF); and Dark Destiny (1936). ...
Totò nella Luna
Italian film (1958; vt Totò in the Moon). Maxima Films/Variety Films/Montfluor Films. Directed by Steno [Stefano Vanzina]. Written by Sandro Continenza, Ettore Scola, and Steno, based on a story by Lucio Fulci and Steno. Cast includes Jim Dolen, Sylva Koscina, Richard McNamara, Sandra Milo, Luciano Salce, Agostino Salvietti, Ugo Tognazzi, Renato Tontini and Totò. 101 minutes. Black and white. / While mysterious Aliens, represented by ...
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 ...