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Saturday 27 July 2024
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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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
Dent, John Charles
(1841-1888) UK-born author in Canada from early childhood, of whose The Gerrard Street Mystery and Other Weird Tales (coll 1888) the title story – "The Gerrard Street Mystery" (May 1877 Belford's Monthly) – is a tale of Precognition. Of the other three long tales, "The Haunted House on Duchess Street" is a ghost story. [JC]
Mroƶek, Slawomir
(1930-2013) Polish cartoonist, playwright and author, most of his output being absurdist dramas (see Fabulation) beginning with Policja ["The Police"], published in 1958. Several of these are assembled in Six Plays (coll trans N Bethell 1967); a further play, Vatzlav: Sztuka w 77 odstonach (first performed 1970; trans Ralph Manheim as Vatzlav: A Play in 77 Scenes 1970 chap), is set in a mythical ...
Hyams, Edward S
(1910-1975) UK translator and author, active in various genres, fiction and nonfiction, from before World War Two. Although not widely known for his speculative work, he published several novels of sf interest. The Wings of the Morning (1939) is a discussion novel in the style of the Scientific Romance, set as a Future War, whose description does not very accurately anticipate the reality to come, is ignited ...
Harper, George W
(1927- ) US science author who specialized in astronomy, and author, contributing nonfiction pieces to the "Science Fact" department of Analog from May 1963; he began to publish fiction of genre interest with "A Twice-Toed Tale" in Analog for May 1979. His first sf novel, Gypsy Earth (1982), is a full-flung Space Opera in the manner of the pre-World War Two masters of that ...
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 ...