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Wednesday 4 October 2023
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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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Bennett, Ron
(1933-2006) UK Fanzine editor and book dealer – for many years a stalwart of UK Convention dealers' rooms – whose 1950s fanzine was Ploy (13 issues 1954-1959, numbered #2 to #14) and who from 1959 to 1971 edited and published Skyrack (which see), the British Newszine of the 1960s, all issues of which were eventually assembled with related material as ...
Rose, Malcolm
(1953- ) UK chemist and author of Young Adult fiction who may be best known for the Lawless and Tilley series of crime novels (not listed below) which, although the investigators are scientifically literate, is not sf. His first novels, which tend to focus on various Disasters, are of genre interest: The Obtuse Experiment (1993) is a thriller set in the ...
Wilbrandt, Conrad
(1832-1921) German economist, politician and author, whose possible relationship to Adolf von Wilbrandt is undetermined; of sf interest is Des Herrn Friedrich Ost Erlebnisse in der Welt Bellamy's: Mittheilungen aus des Jahren 2001 und 2002 (1891; trans Mary J Stafford as Mr East's Experiences in Mr. Bellamy's World: Records of the Years 2001 and 2002 1891), one of many negative responses to Edward ...
Firth, N Wesley
Working name of UK author Norman Firth (1920-1949), who in fact had no middle name. He began his career during World War Two writing Pulp Westerns and thrillers. He wrote stories variously as Rice Ackman, Earl Ellison, Jackson Evans, Leslie Halward, Olga Hendry, Joel Johnson and perhaps other names; his first sf publication was almost certainly "Obscene Parade" (1946 Weird Story Magazine #2). His first novel, Terror Strikes ...
Robinett, Stephen
(1941-2004) US author and lawyer who began publishing sf as Tak Hallus (apparently Persian for "pen name") with "Minitalent" in Analog for March 1969; most of his shorter work is assembled in Projections (coll 1979), where a sharp wit is allowed free and satirical play. Robinett's first novel, Mindwipe! (December 1969 Analog as by Tak Hallus; 1976) as by Steve Hahn, is unexceptional, but Stargate ...
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 ...