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Monday 29 May 2023
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 29 May 2023
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Marathon Trilogy
Videogame series (from 1994). Bungie Studios (BS). / The Marathon Trilogy is a series of First Person Shooters with a common player character, a twenty-eighth-century Cyborg security officer. The first game, Marathon (1994 BS, Mac; 2011 iOS) designed by Alex Seropian, Jason Jones, begins with an attack by the alien Pfhor on the Marathon, a gigantic interstellar ...
Robots
The word "robot" first appeared in Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. (1920; trans 1923), and is derived from the Czech robota (statute labour), making it clear that Čapek intended his drama to comment on Slavery (see Imperialism), class, race (see Race in SF), and social revolution. What he called robots are artificial human beings of organic ...
Idler, The
UK general interest magazine, one of the first to appear following the enthusiastic reception of The Strand, but not a slavish imitation. It was founded by Robert Barr and William Dunkerley (better known as John Oxenham) with Jerome K Jerome as the initial editor. It ran from February 1892 to March 1911, monthly, missing just two months. Robert ...
Guitton, Gustave
(1859-1918) French author born Gustave Léon Guiton, of sf significance for his collaborations with Gustave Le Rouge, the senior partner in their work together, who see for details; their collaborations began with La Conspiration des milliardaires ["The Billionaires' Conspiracy"] (1899-1900 3vols; cut vt L'Empereur des Dollars ["The Dollar Emperor"] 1914; trans Brian Stableford as ...
On the Beach
1. BBC Radio dramatization by Mike Walker in the Classic Serial anthology programme, as On the Beach (1957). / 2. Film (1959). Lomitas Productions/United Artists. Directed by Stanley Kramer. Written by John Paxton, based on On the Beach (1957) by Nevil Shute. Cast includes Fred Astaire, Guy Doleman, Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck and Anthony Perkins. 134 minutes. Black and white. / ...
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 ...