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Sunday 22 June 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.
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Forsyth, Frederick
(1938-2025) UK author who gained fame with his first novel, The Day of the Jackal (1971), and whose books are generally political thrillers. The Shepherd (1975 chap), however, is a sentimental Timeslip or ghost fantasy in which a pilot on Christmas Eve 1957 is saved from crashing by a World War Two pilot in an antique bomber: pilot and plane had been shot down on the Christmas Eve of 1943. ...
Wooley, Sheb
(1921-2003) A rodeo rider and character actor particular associated with Western movies, Wooley is included here for his 1958 novelty record "The Purple People Eater"; a bouncy, light-hearted jingle about a space Alien, the "one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater" of the title, who descends to earth hoping to join a rock band, an ambition he realizes, perhaps improbably, at the song's end. According to some accounts this release is MGM's best selling single. ...
Hamilton, M Lynn
(1886-1976) Australian author of The Hidden Kingdom (1932), in which the Utopian community of Ordsborough is discovered in a remote redoubt in northwest Australia. The doctor has been kidnapped and taken there; it is not confirmed whether or not it is the daughter of Colonel Ord with whom he falls in love. [JC]
Patrick, Cat
(? - ) US author whose novels use sf topoi, some of them Clichés, to activate romance plots for Young Adult readers: in Forgotten (2011) it is a daily Memory Edit which imposes an effect state of Amnesia on its young protagonist; in Revived (2012) an experimental Drug ...
Bolt, Morgan J
(1991-2018) US author whose early (and soon fatal) experience with cancer is recorded in Cancer Just Is: Confessions of a 20-Something Exploring His Illness, Faith and Culture (2018). The Young Adult Tamyth trilogy, beginning with The Rise of Gnurlbane (2013), is fantasy, notable for its geographical sweep and a complexly diversified cast. He is of sf interest for The Favored (2018), a ...
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 ...