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Friday 20 September 2024
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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Omega Point
Originally a metaphysical term conceived by the Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) to denote the state of maximum complexity and consciousness towards which he considered the universe must evolve; the Roman Catholic Church barred his work from publication until after his death. Secularly aspirational versions of Teilhard de Chardin's concepts are central to the "singulatarian" Transhumanism influentially espoused by Ray Kurzweil (1948- ) in ...
Koman, Victor
(1954- ) US author who began publishing sf with "When It Worked" for New Libertarian Notes, 5 September 1976. Much of his subsequent output has emphasized material and points of view that could be characterized under the Libertarianism rubric. After publishing Starship Women (15 July 1977-10 March 1978 Impulse as "Saucer Sluts"; 1980), and collaborating with Andrew J Offutt ...
Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The
Russian animated silent film (1929; vt Adventures of Munchausen). Mezhrabpomfilm. Directed by D Cherkes. Written by N Sats and D Cherkes, based on the story sequence by Rudolph Erich Raspe. 18 minutes. Black and white. / A fairly mundane version of the Baron's tales, where – after stepping out of a book – he recounts his pursuit of a fox which made off with one of his chickens. This involves riding ...
Stevens, David
(1937- ) UK author of Sunset and Morning Star (1976), a Satire for the Young Adult market; the tale is set on a strange planet where a modified topsy-turvydom operates, with the fattest person on the planet being elected its ruler, and "thins" treated as slaves. [JC]
Thom, Robert
(1929-1979) US screenwriter and author, of sf relevance mainly for his film work. For Wild in the Streets (1968) directed by Barry Shear, he wrote the screenplay, basing this on an earlier story, "The Day It All Happened, Baby!" (original publication not found); he was also responsible for the novelization, Wild in the Streets (1968). The surname of the rock star in this film – Flatlow – reflects Thom's original surname, ...
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 ...