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Sunday 7 December 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.
Site updated on 1 December 2025
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Stoppard, Tom
Working name of Czech-born playwright and screenwriter Tomáš Straussler (1937-2025), in the UK since 1946, the Stoppard surname being acquired from his stepfather when his widowed mother remarried in 1945. His early dramatic work was characterized by extravagant wit and wordplay, and an Absurdist application of logic to surreal or insane situations. Following the broadcast of several Radio plays, his ...
De Abaitua, Matthew
(1971- ) UK editor, journalist and author born Matthew Humphreys, legally changing his surname in early adulthood; active from the end of the nineties, a period marked by contributions to journals and with the nonfantastic "Inbetween" in Disco Biscuits (anth 1999) edited by Sarah Champion. He edited film.com from 2000 to 2009. He is of sf interest for his first two novels, very loosely assembled into the Red Men sequence, connections between ...
Volars, C G
(? - ) US author of the Young Adult Static Over Space sequence beginning with Static Over Space: Gravity and Lies (2022), whose young protagonist, an aspirational Superhero whose Superpower is the ability to fly, is abducted by entrepreneurial Aliens who take him off-planet as an entertainer. His adventures ...
X-Men
US Comic-book series, created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee for Marvel Comics in 1963. Kirby drew the first 11 issues and Lee wrote the first 19. Not as immediately successful as Marvel's other properties, it had an initial 66-issue run, and then ran reprints until #93 (1974). A new team of X-Men was introduced in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (cover dated May 1975, released in ...
Omni
US heavily illustrated popular-science Slick magazine which included fiction; letter-size format, published by Omni Publications International, New York, October 1978 to Winter 1995, 200 issues, monthly (though February/March 1993 issue combined) to April 1995 and quarterly for two final issues, Fall and Winter 2005. Editors: Frank Kendig, October 1978 to December 1979, Ben Bova, January 1980 to September 1981, Dick Teresi, October 1981 ...
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 ...