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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 ...
Wylwynne, Kythe
Pseudonym of UK journalist and author M E F Hyland (? -? ) whose Lost Race tale, The Dream-Woman: A Tale (1901), employs fantasy-like dreams to convey the nature of life Under the Sea in a recently discovered ancient City. Hyland was female. [JC]
Bionics
The word "bionics" was coined in 1960 as a contraction of "biological electronics". Both inside and outside sf it has become the preferred term for Technologies which repair or augment the human body with greater sophistication than mere inert prostheses. Bionics is the biological aspect of Cybernetics theory. Sf's traditional term for people with mechanical enhancements was Cyborg, as in the title of ...
Gilliatt, Penelope
(1932-1993) UK author best known for her work outside the sf field, including an esteemed screenplay for Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971). Her sf novel, One by One (1965), depicts a Near-Future London hit by a devastating Pandemic. [JC]
Puni Puni Poemy
Japanese original video animation series (2001); original title Puni Puni ☆ Poemii. J.C.Staff. Directed by Shinichi Watanabe. Written by Yōsuke Kuroda. Voice cast includes Yuka Imai, Ryu Itou and Yumiko Kobayashi. Two 30-minute episodes. Colour. / After her parents and Robot dog are crucified by an Alien with odd genitals, schoolgirl Poemi Watanabe (Kobayashi) moves in with her friend ...
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 ...