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Tuesday 13 January 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.
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von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Rock, Pam
Joint pseudonym of a writing team comprising Barbara Andrews (? - ) and Pamela S Hanson (? - ), Hanson being Andrews's daughter; they also write nonfantastic romantic fiction as by Jennifer Drew, Pam Andrews Hanson, Evangeline Kelley. As Rock they are responsible for the romantic Planetary Romance Moon sequence beginning with Moon of Desire (1993), set on a ...
Malraux, André
(1901-1976) French statesman, adventurer and author whose La Voie royale (1930; trans Stuart Gilbert as The Royal Way 1935) conveys a slightly peripheral Lost World atmosphere as its spiritually ambitious protagonist travel further and further into a heart of darkness in Cambodia and Laos, searching for a mysterious lost guru. [JC]
Turner, C C
(1870-1952) UK journalist and author, active from before World War One, in which he served, and which he described in the nonfiction The Struggle in the Air, 1914-1918 (1919) as Major Charles C Turner; most of his early journalism and books dealt with aeronautical issues, beginning with Cantor Lectures on Aeronautics (coll 1910), which were delivered in 1909. In later years, Turner specialized in crime adventures, often for adults, ...
Miles, Patricia
(1930- ) UK author for children's and Young Adult markets, some of whose work is of sf interest, including The Gods in Winter (1978), an Equipoisal tale whose young protagonists, who live in a scientific research establishment with their parents, witness an incursion of ancient gods; Lowther Hall (1981) and Mind Pirates (1983) share a similar graceful gravity of ...
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 ...