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Tuesday 18 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.
Site updated on 17 August 2026
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Crowley, John
(1942-2026) US teacher and author who also worked in documentary films and television for some time beginning in 1966. His sf novels have had a considerable impact on the field, and his fantasies established him as a figure whose work courteously but deeply stretched the boundaries of genre literature. / His first novel, The Deep (1975), is set on a flat discworld (see Flat Earth) resting on a pillar that extends beyond measurement into the ...
Hayles, N Katherine
(1943- ) US academic and Postmodern literary critic, professor and director of graduate studies in literature at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. As a critic, Hayles is concerned to explore the links between science, literature and Technology. Her Chaos Bound: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science (1990) contains much of genre interest. It was followed by ...
Science and Sorcery
Item of Terminology introduced in this encyclopedia for the genre-blending juxtaposition of sf and Fantasy settings, often presented as Parallel Worlds between which crossings may be made, and distinguished therefore from Equipoisal tales where any "crossings" tend to be integrated into the address of the tale, rather than working as transitions. (This use of crossings ...
Wellman, Wade
(1937-2018) US author, son of Manly Wade Wellman, who began to publish work of genre interest with the two poems " A Ballad of Despair" and "On the Staircase" in Fire and Sleet and Candlelight (anth 1961) edited by August Derleth. He collaborated with his father on the short stories – beginning with "The Adventure of the Martian Client" (December 1969 F&SF) – assembled ...
Lamplugh, Lois
(1921-2013) UK editor and author whose Mandog (1972) novelizes Peter Dickinson's script for his six-part Television tale for children, produced in 1972. [JC]
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...