SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 15 July 2025
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 14 July 2025
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Rossmann, John F
(1942- ) US author of the Mind Masters sequence, beginning with The Mind Masters (1974), in which a Vietnam vet, whose ESP powers have been activated by trauma, joins a secret organization whose goal is to prevent the powers-that-be from subverting research into paranormal phenomena; as the series progresses, Equipoisal shifts between sf and supernatural horror weaken its occasional strengths. The ...
Davidson, Lionel
(1922-2009) UK author who began to publish short fiction – none of it apparently fantastic – in the 1930s, and who was best known for his intermittent but highly successful thrillers, beginning with The Night of Wenceslas (1960). In his second novel, The Rose of Tibet (1962), a young man traces his half-brother into a Lost World in the heart of 1950 Tibet, just as China prepares to invade; it is a tale full of the same ...
Bradford, K Tempest
Main pseudonym of unidentified teacher, blogger and author (1978- ), who also writes as by Kim Bradford and Finley T Larkin. As Larkin, she began to publish work of genre interest with "Elf Aware" in The Cafe Irreal for August 2002, most of her subsequent fiction being fantasy. In 2020 she shared a special Locus Award with Nisi Shawl (whom see) and Cynthia Ward for the online writing classes and workshops still continuing as ...
Ryner, Han
Pseudonym of Algerian-born French philosopher and author Jacques Élie Henri Ambroise Ner (1861-1938), which he adopted in 1898, after having published fairly widely under his own name. His philosophical position, as articulated in many articles and books, combined epicurean stoicism about the purpose of life with anarchist political views which led to his taking a pacifist stand in World War One, a position reflected in Les Pacifiques ["The ...
Waterworld
Film (1995). Universal Pictures and Lawrence Gordon present a Gordon Company/Davis Entertainment/Licht-Mueller Film Corp. production. Directed by Kevin Reynolds. Written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. Cast includes Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Tina Majorino and Jeanne Tripplehorn. Theatrical version 135 minutes; extended version 177 minutes. Colour. / An indefinite time in the future, after the icecaps have melted and humanity's remnants have ...
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 ...