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Monday 7 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 7 July 2025
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Kelly, David J
(? - ) US author of the routine Killstar sequence of Science Fantasy adventures comprising The Baalbak Quest (1980) and Tower of Despair (1980), in which humanity is saved from a terrible threat. [JC]
Askaripour, Mateo
(? – ) US author whose first novel, the nonfantastic Black Buck (2021), is a exuberant Satire on American racism in the workplace. He is of sf interest for his second novel, This Great Hemisphere (2024), in which the satirical focus on America moves into a Near Future where certain categories of people are deemed Invisible. The ...
Bester, Alfred
(1913-1987) US editor and author, born in New York, his first two sf novels – on which his reputation increasingly depends – both being largely set in a vividly presented future New York. Educated in both humanities and sciences – including Psychology, perhaps the most important "science" in his sf – Bester entered sf when he submitted a story to Thrilling Wonder Stories. Mort ...
Garland, Mark Andrew
(? - ) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with "Zen-Coding" for Nova Express in 1989, most of his later short fiction appearing as by Mark A Garland. With Charles G McGraw, he wrote a Science Fantasy adventure tale, Dorella (1992), set on a world where magic and Technology intersect; and ...
Meyrink, Gustav
Initially the pseudonym of Austrian author Gustav Meyer (1868-1932), resident in Prague from early adulthood until his move to Bavaria in 1906; he took the name legally in 1917. His later portrayals of Prague – clearly influenced by his translation of the works of Charles Dickens (1909-1914 16vols) – transform the City into a hauntingly garish Urban Fantasy [for discussion of this term, as used in the 1990s to ...
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 ...