SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 14 July 2025
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 14 July 2025
Sponsor of the day: Glasgow 2024 (Worldcon)
Schoon, Christian
(? - ) US screenwriter and author whose Young Adult Zenn Scarlett sequence comprising Zenn Scarlett (2013) and Under Nameless Stars (2014) focuses on the eponymous teenager, whose love of adventure and practical Xenobiology inspires her to become an "exoveterinarian" in a large Zoo on Mars. It is not certain ...
Swearing
Genre SF authors often depict futuristic swearing, blasphemy and other forms of foul speech, not always with any great conviction. Robert Graves's Lars Porsena; Or, the Future of Swearing and Improper Language (1927 chap; exp vt The Future of Swearing and Improper Language 1936) foreshadows the problem afflicting the SF Magazines for decades after the year of his ...
Sinclair, Quinn
(? - ) US author whose Young Adult tale, The Boy Who Could Draw Tomorrow (1984), features a young lad whose powers of Precognition are expressed visually; his dysfunctional family threatens to darken his own future. [JC]
Beast with a Million Eyes, The
Film (1955; vt The Beast with 1,000,000 Eyes!). San Mateo Productions, American Releasing Corporation (see American International Pictures). Executive producers: James H Nicholson and Samuel Z Arkoff. Produced by David Kramarsky. Written by Tom Filer. Directed by Kramarsky and Roger Corman (uncredited). Cast includes Paul Birch, Dona Cole, Chester Conklin, Dick Sargent (credited as Richard ...
Lost Worlds [comic]
US Comic (1952). Standard Comics. Two issues, numbered #5 and #6 (see Fantastic Worlds for more information). Artists include Ross Andru, John Celardo, Jack Katz, Art Saaf and Alex Toth. Four comic strips and one text story per issue, plus one-page non-fiction strips and a cartoon strip. / In #5's opening story "The City that Escaped Tomorrow" a strange hoop of light appears in a quiet ...
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 ...