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Tuesday 12 May 2026
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 11 May 2026
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Suzuki Kōji
(1957-2026) Japanese author and essayist, largely known in English through the Cinema adaptations of several of his books, the international success of which obscured his wide-ranging domestic output. His horror and Equipoisal fiction proceeded in tandem with a wide array (not listed here) of books on young fatherhood and occasional works on motorcycle travel. He was also the translator of Simon Brett's ...
Shirley, John
(1954- ) US author who began publishing sf with "The Word 'Random,' Deliberately Repeated" for Clarion (anth 1973) edited by Robin Scott Wilson, and who has performed as lead singer in rock bands, including the punk band Sado Nation. This background heavily influenced his first novel, the Dystopian Transmaniacon (1979) – the title is taken from a ...
Ebenbach, David
(1972- ) US academic, poet and author, active from around 2000; He began publishing work of genre interest with "Team Orderly Mars" in Not One of Us for October 2016, his earlier short stories, variously assembled, are nonfantastic. He is of sf interest for his third novel, How to Mars (early version May/June 2021 Analog; 2021), in which a cadre of scientists, on a publicity-shaped mission to Mars, ...
Landolfi, Tommaso
(1908-1979) Italian translator (mostly from the Russian) and author, active as an author of short fictions from 1929. Three selections, covering most of his career, have appeared in English: Gogol's Wife and Other Stories (coll trans Raymond Rosenthal, John Longrigg and Wayland Young 1963), Cancerqueen and Other Stories (coll trans Raymond Rosenthal 1971) – which includes the short title novel, Cancroregina (1950 chap; trans Jack Murphy 1950 in ...
Magnetism
While Gravity was long understood as a force that attracted people to the ground, it was accepted as a logical consequence of Earth's position at the center of the universe – as explained by Aristotle; but when it was discovered in ancient times that lodestones – naturally occurring magnets – could attract pieces of iron, the phenomenon seemed more mysterious and suggested the possibility of other strange attractive or repellent forces. Thus, ...
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 ...