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Saturday 27 July 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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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
Evans, Richard
(1950-1996) UK sf editor for various London publishers: Futura – where he launched the Orbit sf imprint – in the 1970s, Hutchinson/Arrow until 1983, and finally Gollancz, where he remained a senior editor until his death. At Arrow he edited, anonymously, two sf anthologies for the children's imprint Sparrow: Peter Davison's Book of Alien Monsters (anth 1982) and Peter Davison's Book of Alien Planets (anth 1983). The stories ...
Le Tellier, Hervé
(1957- ) French mathematician and author, president of the Oulipo Group (see Mathematics; Oulipo); active from around 1990. Though much of his work is expectably and proficiently generated from "arbitrary" models, with linguistic/mathematical rhythms often commanding multiple unpackings of human behaviour, including Sex positions and outcomes, he is primarily of sf interest for ...
Anstey, F
Pseudonym of Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934), UK author and humorist, best known for his many contributions to the magazine Punch from the 1880s and for his classic satirical fantasies, in most of which some magical item is introduced into contemporary society, with chaotic consequences. These were widely imitated by many writers, including R Andom, W D Darlington (1890-1979) and Richard Marsh (1857-1915), and thus became the archetypes ...
Firestarter
Film (1984). Universal. Directed by Mark L Lester. Written by Stanley Mann, based on Firestarter (1980) by Stephen King. Cast includes Drew Barrymore, Freddie Jones, David Keith, Heather Locklear, George C Scott and Martin Sheen. 114 minutes. Colour. / The novel is not one of King's best, but it hardly deserved this messy adaptation. A young girl, Charlie (Barrymore), has pyrotic powers and can start fires by mental concentration alone. ...
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 ...