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Wednesday 15 January 2025
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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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Monster Movies
A term colloquially used for a very specific genre of film, usually borderline sf. A monster movie – sometimes called a Creature Feature – must contain the unexpected appearance, normally in a serene setting, of a creature (or many creatures) hostile to humanity. The nature of the creature is usually revealed gradually, and its attacks normally increase in severity. It may be a mutated animal or human (see Mutants), an Alien, a ...
Chan Koonchung
(1952- ) Chinese author, editor, journalist, screenwriter and producer, sometimes billed as John Koon or John Chan, a key figure in the modern history of many media in Chinese, but known in the sf genre for a single work. Born in Shanghai but raised in Hong Kong, he completed his education in Boston before returning to Hong Kong in 1976 as the founding editor of Hao Wai ["City Magazine"]. He wrote and produced several films since the ...
Yourell, Agnes Bond
(1864-? ) US author whose A Manless World (1891) speculates about what might happen to the human species were an interstellar gas to have destroyed "animal desire" (see Sex; Feminism) in everyone except – it is mooted – the Jews (see Race in SF), who might find an elixir: riots and pogroms would occur; the race would vanish. In a manner not uncommon to ...
Helluva Boss
US animated webseries (2019-current). Spindle House. Created and directed by Vivienne Medrano. Written by Vivienne Medrano and Brandon Rogers. Voice cast includes Richard Horvitz, Erica Lindbeck, Vivian Nixon, Bryce Pinkham and Brandon Rogers. Eight 11- to 22-minute episodes (including the pilot). Colour. / Imps (see Supernatural Creatures) are on the lower rungs of society in Hell (see Eschatology); however ...
Cat-Women of the Moon
Film (1953; vt Rocket to the Moon). Z-M Productions. Directed by Arthur Hilton. Writers Jack Rabin and Al Zimbalist (story); Roy Hamilton (screenplay). Cast includes Victor Jory, Sonny Tufts and Marie Windsor. 64 minutes. Black-and-white. / Pioneering astronauts led by captain Laird Grainger (Tufts) land on the far side of the Moon, whereupon they promptly discover a cave with a breathable atmosphere and a civilization of beautiful, seductive women ...
Clute, John
(1940- ) Canadian critic, editor and author, in the UK from 1969; married to Judith Clute from 1964, partner of Elizabeth Hand since 1996. He began to publish work of genre interest with an sf-tinged poem "Carcajou Lament" in Triquarterly for Winter 1960 [ie Autumn 1959]; he began consistently publishing sf reviews in his "New Fiction" column for the Toronto Star (1966-1967), and later in ...