SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Wednesday 11 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
Sponsor of the day: The Telluride Institute
Giancola, Donato
(1967- ) American artist, at times credited simply as Donato. After initially studying engineering in college, Giancola shifted his focus to art, obtaining a BFA in painting from Syracuse University College of Visual Arts in 1992. Almost immediately, he began receiving assignments to paint covers for major publishers, including Tor Books and Ace Books, creatively employing his classical training to depict ...
Kraftwerk
Enormously influential group of German electronic musicians, formed by Ralf Hütter (1946- ) and Florian Schneider-Esleben (1947-2020) in 1970. The group achieved international fame as a quartet, with drummer Wolfgang Flür (1947- ) and Karl Bartos (1952- ), following the release of their fourth album Autobahn (1974). The 20-minute title track reproduces a car journey on its titular motorway, from the ...
Leslie, Desmond
(1921-2001) UK composer and author, son of the writer Shane Leslie (1885-1971) and best known for co-authoring with George Adamski (whom see for details and related works by Adamski alone) the famous early UFO book Flying Saucers Have Landed (1954; exp by Leslie 1970). Of more direct sf interest is Angels Weep (1948), a right-wing Dystopia, and ...
Medieval Futurism
Term coined by John Carnell in his introduction to New Writings in SF 12 (anth 1967) to describe a contemporary trend of sf containing "Future technologies, often on other planets, but with heavy overtones of the Middle Ages feudal systems as the governing bodies." (see History in SF) Examples cited by Carnell include L Sprague de Camp's Divide and Rule (April-May 1939 ...
John Carter: Warlord of Mars
Board and counter Wargame (1979). Simulations Publications Inc. Designed by Mark Herman, Eric Goldberg. / While most easily classified as a Wargame, John Carter is actually a fusion of several types of game which have followed generally separate paths of development since its release. Specifically, it combines many of the attributes of Board Games, Wargames and ...
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 ...