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Saturday 8 August 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.
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Follett, Ken
Working name of UK author Kenneth Martin Follett (1949- ), not to be confused with his cousin James Follett. He is best-known for extremely successful thrillers like Storm Island (1978; vt The Eye of the Needle 1978), but under pseudonyms has also written some sf, mostly in his apprentice years. The Power Twins and the Worm Puzzle: A Science Fantasy for Young People (1976; vt ...
Schwob, Marcel
(1867-1905) French author whose fantasies were influential on authors like Jorge Luis Borges; it is not known if Clark Ashton Smith read his work, though resemblances in tone and venue make this not unlikely. For his story "La Mort d'Odjigh" ["The Death of Odjigh"] (1892; in Le roi au masque d'or et autres nouvelles, coll 1893; trans by Iain White in The King in the Golden Mask, coll ...
Infodump
An item of sf Terminology commonly used to designate chunks of technical discourse inserted into fictional texts, usually texts described as Hard SF, which are based (or claim to be based) on non-fantasized understandings of Technology and science. It is therefore often safe to assume that the infodump itself, certainly in the hard sf context, is a condensation of non-fantasized knowledge, and that it is ...
Winawer, Melodie
(circa 1968- ) US neurologist, research scientist and author whose first novel, The Scribe of Siena (2017) is a Timeslip tale whose protagonist, a neurosurgeon, is transported into fourteenth century Siena, her transposition triggered by the sight of her face on a painting by the (fictional) Gabriele Accorsi. It is just before the Black Death savagely afflicts the affluent, bustling City. ...
Ship, Reuben
(1915-1975) Canadian Radio scriptwriter and author; in US from 1939 to 1953, when he was deported after refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (as what is known in America as a premature anti-fascist, he had staged leftist plays before 1939); from 1956 until his death he lived in the UK. Though he was active in radio and Television in his later career, he remains best known for his ...
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 ...