SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 12 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 7 July 2025
Sponsor of the day: Ted Chiang
Thompson, Andrew
(? - ) UK playwright whose first commercially produced drama, In Event of Moone Disaster (performed 2017; 2017), makes structural and Feminist use of a real speech, "In Event of Moon Disaster", written for President Nixon in case the 1969 Moon landing failed. The play is divided into three interacting sections, set in 1969, 2017, and Near Future 2055. In ...
Betchov, Robert
(1919-1996) American academic and author, whose The Year of the Spiatnik: A Novel (1975) describes Future War and its guardedly hopeful outcome. [JC]
D'Ammassa, Don
(1946- ) US critic and author who has until recently been best known over the past three decades or so for his very numerous reviews, in Science Fiction Chronicle and elsewhere; his work – usually couched in long-capsule form – is noted for its fairness and generosity, and for the extremely wide range of texts he has covered. His Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2005), which clearly draws on this vast ...
Costain, Meredith
(1955- ) Australian author of a large number of books for children and Young Adult readers. Those few with any sf or fantastic content tend to be light-hearted; her attentions are focused elsewhere. [JC]
Felix the Cat
US animated film shorts (1919-1930). Pat Sullivan studio. Created by Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan. Directed and written by Otto Messmer. 180 episodes (4-11 minutes), all but 12 silent; 15 silent episodes were reissued with sound 1929-1930. Black and white. / Felix was the most popular animated character prior to the rise of Mickey Mouse, and an early example of the successful merchandising of film-related Toys and songs. There is some dispute over who ...
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 ...