SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 7 December 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.
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Compton, D G
(1930-2023) UK author, born of parents who were both in the theatre; he increasingly lived in the USA after 1981. As Guy Compton, he published some unremarkable detective novels, beginning with Too Many Murderers (1962), and as by Frances Lynch produced some nonfantastic Gothics throughout his career; but soon turned to sf with tales almost always set in the Near Future, and anatomizing moral dilemmas within that arena: the future is very clearly ...
Bolton, Charles E
(1841-1901) US businessman, philanthropist and author, married to the poet and writer on temperance issues, Sarah Knowles Bolton (1841-1916); his posthumously published sf novel, The Harris-Ingram Experiment (1905), conflates capitalist accomplishments, romantic love, a genius inventor and Utopian experiments. [JC]
Futurama
US animated tv series (1999-2003; 2010-2013; 2023-current). The Curiosity Company, 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Television Animation. Created by Matt Groening and David X Cohen. Producers include Groening and Cohen. Writers include Cohen, Kristin Gore, Groening, Eric Horsted, Ken Keeler and Jeff Westbrook. Directors include Peter Avanzino, Dwayne Carey-Hill, Bret Haaland, Ron Hughart, Rich Moore, Brian Sheesley, and Gregg Vanzo. Cast includes John Di Maggio, Phil ...
Shatner, William
(1931- ) Canadian actor from 1952, and author, long resident in the USA, where he gained fame as Captain Kirk in the Star Trek television series, going on to star in all the film sequels; he also directed the disappointing Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), about which he wrote, with Lisbeth Shatner, ...
Harsh Mistress
US Semiprozine published by DNA Publications, Greenfield, Massachusetts and edited by Warren Lapine with Kevin Rogers and Tim Ballou. Its title was taken from Robert A Heinlein's novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (December 1965-April 1966 If; 1966); this gave the impression to many that it was a bondage magazine rather than sf, which may have affected ...
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, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its listing of Pseudonyms. ...