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Monday 5 June 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 5 June 2023
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Jepson, Selwyn
(1899-1989) UK screenwriter and author, son of Edgar Jepson; most of his novels are mysteries, though The Death Gong: A Chivalrous Outburst (1927), in which vibrations from the eponymous gong kill scientists, is marginal sf. [JC]
Night of the Blood Beast
Film (1958). Balboa, American International Pictures. Directed by Bernard Kowalski. Written by Martin Varno, based on a story by Gene Corman. Cast includes John Baer, Michael Emmet and Angela Greene. 65 minutes. Black and white. / In this typically cheap 1950s Corman production (the executive producer was Roger Corman; his brother Gene produced it from his own story), a ...
Brydges, Harold
Working name of UK author James Howard Bridge (1856-1939), in USA from early manhood, whose A Fortnight in Heaven: An Unconventional Romance (1886) conflates sf and the occult in a manner common to much late nineteenth-century work. Able to send his spirit through Time and space, Captain Grizzle visits the planet Jupiter a century hence, finding the civilization there to be an expanded version of life on Earth, with ...
Dibell, Ansen
Pseudonym of US author Nancy Dibble (1942-2006) whose sf sequence, the Strange and Fantastic History of the King of Kantmorie, comprises five Planetary Romances, though only the first three – Pursuit of the Screamer (1978), Circle, Crescent, Star (1981) and Summerfair (1982) – have appeared in their original language. For English readers, the outcome of the sequence will remain unclear, along ...
Ditmar Award
The Australian SF Awards, familiarly known as the Ditmars, were first given in 1969 and are presented in various categories for sf, fantasy and horror-related work by Australians. Voting resembles the system used for the Hugos but is associated with membership of the annual Australian National Convention ("Natcon") rather than the Worldcon. There have been many category changes over the years, some ...
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 ...