SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 16 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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Sokołowski, Krzysztof
(1957- ) Polish critic, translator and editor, author of the Poland entry in the 1993 edition of this encyclopedia. A graduate of Warsaw University, Sokołowski is well known for his critical pieces on US-UK sf in the magazine Fantastyka. Since its foundation in 1990 until it ceased in 2001 he was editor of Fenix, the first professional science fiction and ...
Gilford, C B
(1920-2010) US teacher and scriptwriter and author – sometimes under pseudonyms not used for work of genre interest – whose sf novel, The Liquid Man (September 1941 Fantastic Adventures; 1969), features a biologist and a problem in undesired metamorphosis, the nature of which is clear from the title. In The Crooked Shamrock (1969) – which has a Ruritanian flavour though the ...
Kohout, Pavel
(1928- ) Czech poet, playwright, author and, since his emigration in 1978, émigré activist; his relations with post-Communist Czech culture have not been easy, and he remains in Vienna. Though his early poetry had been pro-Communist, his politics changed and his work remained unpublished in Czechoslovakia in the period 1968-1989; some was published there in 1990. His sf novel, which deals with the political ...
Punchatz, Don Ivan
(1936-2009) US designer, animator and illustrator who concentrated in the latter capacity on fantasy, though he executed numerous sf covers, sometimes signing his name Don-Ivan Punchatz or just Don Punchatz. His work appeared frequently in Slick magazines like Omni, Playboy and Rolling Stone, and for such publishers as Ace Books, Avon, Dell, ...
Batman
This Comic-book crimefighter, the archetypal masked avenger (though influenced by earlier such figures, notably The Shadow), nicknamed "The Caped Crusader" and "The Dark Knight", has become a twentieth-century Icon. He is not a Superhero in the strictest sense, since he is represented as having no superhuman abilities; however, his near-impossible strength, stamina and athletic ...
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 ...