SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Wednesday 9 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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Horror in SF
The central premise that sf is a literature of rational, scientifically based extrapolation lies at the heart of many Definitions of SF, but can be misleading when it is argued that sf can only be so described (see Science Fiction for a slightly looser wording). Much sf is anti-science, for reasons partly historic and perhaps partly intrinsic: the relationship of Fantastika to ...
Glass, Mrs Charles Wilder
(1874-? ) US spirit medium and author, whose claim to have co-authored her three novels with a dead doctor whose spirit had been transported to Mars has not been corroborated; these novels, written in the belief that Percival Lowell had demonstrated the existence of canals on Mars, are Ruth's Marriage in Mars: A Scientific Novel (1912), Romance in Starland: A Scientific Novel (1915) and ...
Mechanical Man, The
Italian film (1921). Original title L'Uomo Meccanico. Milano Film. Directed and written by André Deed. Cast includes André Deed, Valentina Frascaroli, Mathilde Lambert and Gabriel Moreau. 60-80 minutes. Black and white (but with colour tinting). About 26 minutes of this movie survive: it had long been considered lost, until parts of the Portuguese version were discovered in Brazil, albeit in poor condition. / When a criminal gang learn a ...
Outer Space
US Comic (1958-1959). Charlton Comics. 9 issues (numbered #17-#25), but see the final paragraph. Artists include Steve Ditko, Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio, Bill Molno and Charles Nicholas. Most of the scripts were by Joe Gill. Usually 4-6 comic strips per issue and a two page text short-story, mainly sf. / Under a banner "The New Frontier!" the first issue (#17) ...
Triple A
Item of Terminology relating to Videogames. Triple A or AAA titles are games released by mainstream developers at the top end of the gaming market. They are highly developed in terms of graphical capability, gameplay and design, and are expected to sell well. Game development companies spend large amounts of time, resources and marketing on these titles, which are often used as flagship titles for their companies and teams. AAA ...
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 ...