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Tuesday 20 January 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 19 January 2026
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von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Adams, Scott
(1957-2026) US author and cartoonist best known for the Dilbert strip published from 1989, which when at its best superbly (in terms of concept and accuracy of Satire rather than quality of drawing) satirized contemporary office life and corporate incompetence. As with most ambitious modern comic strips, it segues frequently into sf and fantasy tropes – such as Robot office workers, wish-fulfilling ...
War Game, The
Made-for-tv film (1965). BBC/Pathé Contemporary. Produced, directed and written by Peter Watkins. Narrators Michael Aspel, Dick Graham. 50 minutes, cut to 47 minutes. Black and white. / This pseudo-documentary about a nuclear attack on England and its aftermath in a small town in Kent was refused a showing by BBC TV, though made for them, on the grounds that it was too realistic and might disturb audiences – as indeed it was designed to ...
Duff, Douglas V
(1901-1978) Argentinian-born author of UK parents, in the UK from 1906. He was in active service in World War One as a naval cadet, and also served in World War Two. This extended experience, plus an inter-war career in the Palestine Police, mark him as a Young Adult writer with nothing to prove about his own manliness; it may (or may not) be consequential upon his personal experience of the ...
Fly by Night
US film (1942; vt Secrets of G32). Paramount Pictures. Directed by Robert Siodmak, brother of Curt Siodmak. Written by Jay Dratler, F Hugh Herbert, Ben Roberts and Sidney Sheldon. Cast includes Albert Bassermann, Richard Carlson, Nancy Kelly, Martin Kosleck and Miles Mander. 72 minutes. Black and white. / On a stormy night George Tieler (Kosleck) breaks out of a sanatorium by strangling a guard, whose gun he uses to force passing pathologist ...
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 ...