SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 15 July 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 14 July 2025
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Bubuki Buranki
Japanese animated tv series (2016; vt BBK/BRNK). Sanzigen. Directed by Daizen Komatsuda. Written by Jirō Ishii and Yukinori Kitajima. Voice cast includes Megumi Han, Shizuka Ishigami, Hisako Kanemoto, Yūsuke Kobayashi, Mikako Komatsu, Ari Ozawa, Sōma Saitō, Kazuhiro Yamaji and Ryoka Yuzuki. 24 24-minute episodes. Colour. / Long ago, Alien Mecha called Buranki fell to Earth. Some ...
Conceptual Breakthrough
The legends of Prometheus and of Dr Faustus contain a central image which is still vigorous in sf: the hero in his lust for knowledge goes against the will of God and, though he succeeds in his quest, he is finally punished for his overweening pride and disobedience. Adam eating the forbidden apple is another version of the legend. Its reverberations resonate throughout the whole of literature. / The Faustian version of the quest for knowledge – it lives on in Mary ...
Johnson, Bill
(1956-2022) US author, journalist, technical writer and business administrator, a Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop graduate, who began to publish work of genre interest with "Stormfall" in Clarion SF (anth 1977) edited by Kate Wilhelm. Much of his fiction is strongly flavoured by his South Dakota origins, as in his best-known story "We Will Drink a Fish Together ..." (May 1997 ...
Reamy, Tom
Working name of US author, movie projectionist and graphic designer Thomas Earl Reamy (1935-1977); early involved in Fandom, he won a Hugo in 1967 and 1969 for his Fanzine Trumpet, afterwards publishing Nickelodeon, and participating in Shayol. He began publishing with "Twilla" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for September 1974 ...
Gombrowicz, Witold
(1904-1969) Polish playwright, essayist and author whose work was not directly connected with Genre SF, though he occasionally utilized fantastic elements; his impact on Polish literature (see Poland) was unprecedented both at the level of his highly original narrative technique, for which he derived idiosyncratic diminutive forms and neologisms, and a consistent philosophy, at some points evoking associations with existentialism, ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...