SF Encyclopedia Home Page
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 ...
Lauria, Frank
(1935-2022) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with Doctor Orient (1970), opening the Dr Owen Orient sequence of occult thrillers in urban-fantasy vein, in which the eponymous investigator – gifted with Psi Powers – tangles with such expected menaces as Vampires, voodoo, Werewolves and Zombies, these threats often taking ...
Daugherty, Michael
(1954- ). US experimental classical composer, with a pronounced interest in sf as well as more general pop culture. His early symphony Metropolis Symphony for Orchestra (1988-1993) is based on the Superman comics; UFO for Solo Percussion and Orchestra (1999) was inspired by the 1947 Roswell incident (see UFOs); and Time Machine (2003) is scored for three orchestras, ...
Kahn, Herman
(1922-1983) American mathematician, political scientist and high-profile practitioner of Futures Studies. He worked 1947-1959 with the RAND (Research and Development) Corporation, and was subsequently director of the Hudson Institute, a body devoted to forecasting, and producing political, economic and military scenarios of the future. In his day Kahn was one of the most influential and best-known workers in this area, though many argued that the kind of ...
Bull Spec
US professional Slick Print Magazine of Speculative Fiction – technically a Semiprozine – which is also available online, founded and edited by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn of Durham, North Carolina. It debuted in Spring 2010 and was initially published thrice yearly, the print edition being in slick letter-size format. The editor keeps his definition ...
Nicholls, Peter
(1939-2018) Australian editor and author, primarily a critic and historian of sf through his creation and editing of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction [see below]; resident in the UK 1970-1988, in Australia from 1988; worked as an academic in English literature (1962-1968, 1971-1977), scripted television documentaries, was a Harkness Fellow in Film-making (1968-1970) in the USA, worked as a publisher's editor (1982-1983), often broadcast film and book reviews on BBC Radio from 1974 and ...