SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 13 January 2025
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.
Site updated on 6 January 2025
Sponsor of the day: Conversation 2023
Babits, Mihály
(1883-1941) Hungarian editor, translator (from English and German) and author, best known for his poetry, the finest example of which is probably the autobiographical Jönas konyve ["The Book of Jonah"] (1938). His sf novel, A Gólyakalifa ["The Caliph's Stork"] (1918; trans anon as The Nightmare 1966), is of interest in its depiction of a split personality. A utopian novel, ...
Claremont, Chris
Working name of US author Christopher Simon Claremont (1950- ) who first became known through his revitalization from 1976 of Marvel Comics's X-Men, an early 1960s title which had been temporarily retired but now became the bestselling comic in the field; the first five years of the strip are assembled as Uncanny X-Men Omnibus (graph 2006). Claremont scripted the title until he left Marvel in 1991 ...
Little Joe
Austrian/German/UK film (2019). Magnolia Pictures / Coop99 / Essential Filmproduktion / The Bureau / Arte / BBC Films / BFI. Directed by Jessica Hausner. Written by Jessica Hausner and Geraldine Bajard. Cast includes Emily Beecham, Kit Connor, Kerry Fox and Ben Whishaw. 105 minutes. Colour / Plant breeder Alice (Beecham), working for a laboratory that creates new strains of plants for commercial use (see ...
Newman, Emma
(1976- ) UK author who also writes as by E J Newman; much of her earlier work has been fantasy, as assembled in From Dark Places (coll 2011), though her first novel 20 Years Later (dated 2012 but 2011), which is sf, begins in a suddenly depopulated very Near Future London that is soon transforms into a Young Adult Dystopia ...
Stables, Gordon
(1840-1910) Scottish medical doctor and author of children's fiction, writing well over a hundred novels, primarily for boys; he served as surgeon on a whaling boat and later with the Royal Navy until 1875; some of his books were signed Dr Gordon Stables, RN, and some others were signed W Gordon-Stables or W Gordon Stables, MD, RN. He wrote extensively for the Boys' Papers, including The Boy's Own Paper, where he published many ...
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 ...