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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.
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Mercenary
Videogame (1985). Novagen Software (NS). Designed by Paul Woakes. Platforms: Atari8, C64 (1985); Amstrad, Spectrum (1987); Amiga, AtariST (1988). / While it is of primarily historical interest today, Mercenary is notable as an early example of a modular plot structure (see Interactive Narrative) in which the player has considerable freedom of action within clearly defined boundaries, ...
Sound of Thunder, A
Film (2005). Franchise Pictures presents a Scenario Lane/Jericho production in association with Crusader Entertainment. Directed by Hyams. Written by Thomas Dean Donnelly & Joshua Oppenheimer and Gregory Poirier; story by Donnelly & Oppenheimer, from "A Sound of Thunder" (June 28 1952 Collier's Weekly) by Ray Bradbury. Cast includes William Armstrong, Corey Johnson, Ben ...
Crichton, Neil
(1932- ) Canadian photographer and author in whose sf novel, Rerun (1976), a man from 1990 Timeslips fifteen years back into his own life of the mid-1970s, where he gains material wealth but loses his soul. [JC]
Impostor
Film (2001). Dimension Films presents a Marty Katz production in association with Mojo Films. Directed by Gary Fleder. Adaptation by Scott Rosenberg, based on "Imposter" (June 1953 Astounding) by Philip K Dick; screenplay by Caroline Case and Ehren Kruger and David Twohy. Cast includes Vincent d'Onofrio, Mekhi Phifer, Tony Shalhoub, Gary Sinise and Madeleine Stowe. Original short version (without ...
Bioshock
Videogame (2007). 2K Boston / 2K Australia. Designed by Ken Levine. Platforms: XB360, Win (2007); PS3 (2008); Mac (2009). / BioShock is a First Person Shooter, much influenced by System Shock 2 (1999) (see System Shock). The game begins with the player character, Jack, in the middle of the Atlantic in 1960, having survived an airplane ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...