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Wednesday 18 February 2026
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for what we mean by Science Fiction; here for the masthead; here for some Statistics; here for the 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 16 February 2026
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Stabenow, Dana
(1952- ) US author now best known for a nonfantastic private-investigator series, the Kate Shugak sequence set in the author's native Alaska. Her first fiction, however, was sf: the Star Svensdotter sequence comprising Second Star (1991), A Handful of Stars (1991) and Red Planet Run (1995), which describes the fraught Near Future expansion of Homo sapiens starwards, thwarted by ...
Maruyama Kugane
(? - ) Pen-name of a Japanese author, whose works, as by "Puririn Muchimuchi" until 2012, first appeared as online serials before migrating to the semi-pro Shōsetsuka ni Narō website for Light Novels, and ultimately to print in a path to publication mirroring that of other 2010s successes such as Gengen Kusano and Mamare ...
Higgins, C A
(circa 1991- ) US author whose Lightless sequence, comprising Lightless (2015), Supernova (2016) and Radiate (2017), combines family romance – the protagonist's terrorist putative father's sister is a dangerously charismatic rebel – and a Hard SF Near Future exploration of the nature of AI. Aboard an experimental ...
Tucker, James B
(1922- ) UK teacher and author of Not an Earthly Chance (1970), a Space Opera for Robert Hale Limited in which Aliens from the Moon plan to take over our world. [JC/DRL]
Return of the Ape Man
US film (1944). Banner Productions. Directed by Philip Rosen. Written by Robert Charles. Cast includes Ernie Adams, Michael Ames, John Carradine, Mary Currier, Judith Gibson, Bela Lugosi, Frank Moran and George Zucco. Zucco, playing the ape man, fell ill during shooting and was replaced by Moran for most of the film. 60 minutes. Black and white. / A newspaper reports the disappearance of local tramp Willie the Weasel (Adams), last seen being driven ...
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 ...