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Sunday 12 July 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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Tiptree, James, Jr
Pseudonym of US psychologist and author Alice Hastings Bradley Sheldon (1915-1987), who was widely assumed to be a man, despite the deep rapport "he" displayed for women in stories like "The Women Men Don't See" (December 1973 F&SF). "James Tiptree Jr" flourished from 1967 until her identity was exposed in 1977. Beginning in 1974, she also wrote several sf stories as Raccoona Sheldon, and some earlier non-fantastic work under other names, including her first fiction, ...
Prestige, The
Film (2006). Warner Brothers Pictures and Touchstone Pictures (see The Walt Disney Company) present a Newmarket Films/Syncopy production. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, based on The Prestige (1995) by Christopher Priest. Cast includes Christian Bale, David Bowie, Michael ...
Startling Stories
1. US Pulp magazine, 99 issues January 1939 to Fall 1955, published by Better Publications January 1939 to Winter 1955, and by Standard Magazines (really the same company) Spring to Fall 1955; edited by Mort Weisinger (January 1939-May 1941), Oscar J Friend (July 1941-Fall 1944), Sam Merwin Jr (Winter 1945-September 1951), Samuel ...
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Film (1977). Columbia. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Script credited to Spielberg but early draft actually written by Paul Schrader (1946- ), who disagreed with Spielberg over the treatment of his script and withdrew his name from the project. Cast includes Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon, Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Cary Guffey and François Truffaut. 135 minutes. Colour. / After Star Wars ...
Brillhart, Ralph
(1924-2007). American artist. Although virtually nothing is known about this artist, there is a 2007 obituary for a Ralph Winton Brillhart of Great Neck, Long Island, identifying the man as a former Marine and "commercial illustrator", and one can reasonably assume that he was the Ralph Brillhart who painted a number of sf book covers for New York publishers during the 1960s and early 1980s. During the first phase of his career, Brillhart sometimes employed a realistic style that could appear ...
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 ...