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Monday 9 March 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 9 March 2026
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Bernau, George
(1945-2005) US lawyer and author of three Alternate-History thrillers: in Promises to Keep (1988) a figure based on John F Kennedy recovers from the attempt to assassinate him; in Candle in the Wind (1990) Marilyn Monroe survives her semi-accidental overdose; and in Black Phoenix (1994), Germany acquires, at the end of World War Two, a super weapon that threatens to create a ...
Frozen Synapse
Videogame (2011). Mode 7 Games (M7). Designed by Ian Hardingham, Paul Taylor. Platforms: Lin, Mac, Win. / Frozen Synapse is a Computer Wargame, developed as an Independent Game, in which the player controls small groups (or "systems") of mindless Clones (or "vatforms") in small military actions. The gameplay, in which the player works out their ...
Island City
Made-for-tv film (1994). Lee Rich Productions in association with Lorimar Television for the WB TV Network. Directed by Jorge Montesi. Screenplay by Jonathan Glassner. Cast includes Kevin Conroy, Brenda Strong. 95 minutes. Colour. / In a Near Future afflicted by Climate Change and other devastations, a Drug intended to provide Rejuvenation and near- ...
Vinter, Michael
(1927-2002) UK author of several sf novels, usually Space Opera, for Robert Hale Limited, mostly as by T S J Gibbard, though one of them, Along Came a Spider (1980), was under his own name. As Vinter, he also wrote thrillers for the firm. [JC]
Bubble E Go! Time Machine Wa Drum-Shiki
["To the Bubble! The Time Machine Is a Washing Machine"] Film (2007 Japan; vt Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust). Aries, Hoichoi, Tōhō. Directed by Yasuo Baba. Written by Ryōichi Kimizuka. Cast includes Hiroshi Abe, Ryōko Hirosue and Hiroko Yakushimaru. 116 minutes. Colour. / With the yen on the verge of collapse (see Money), the Japanese government identifies the root of its troubles as a piece of fictional legislation in 1990 that ...
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 ...