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Sunday 12 July 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.
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Shared Worlds
Stories and novels written by different hands but sharing a setting are in this encyclopedia called shared-world stories. They are usually (but not always) published as contributions to original-Anthology series, in turn usually (but not always) edited by the creator(s) of the original setting, who also controls the "bible". This "bible" is a set of rules controlling a shared world by defining the roles, actors, venues, genres, plots and significance of any story ...
DeCandido, Keith R A
(1969- ) US author and book-packager, almost all of whose work has consisted of Ties to various enterprises, including (in chronological order) {Spider-Man}, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), Star Trek, the Resident Evil (2004) film franchise, World of Warcraft (see Online Worlds) and ...
Thien, Madeleine
(1974- ) Canadian author, active from 2000 or before; her early work, all nonfantastic, established her as an author of cultural significance whose novels – like Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) – feelingly and with a mature grasp of storytelling unpack the complex quasi-diasporal life of the vast cohort of people who must braid multi-cultural lives in lands that are "theirs" but not theirs. Thien herself is ...
Stanford, J K
(1892-1971) UK civil servant, solider and author, in active service during World War One. Most of his fiction is humorous, including his first book, The Twelfth (1944 chap; vt The Twelfth and After: Being the Life and Death of George Hysteron-Proteron 1964), a spoofish fantasy whose hunter protagonist is turned into a bird, and organizes his new kin to avoid being shot. His sf Satire, ...
Puzo, Mario
(1920-1999) US author, best known for The Godfather (1969); he is of sf interest for The Fourth K (1990), a Near Future political thriller in which President Francis Xavier Kennedy takes the opportunity of the partial destruction of Manhattan (see New York) by Islamic terrorists to introduce authoritarian measures, ostensibly in order to save America. Puzo also co-wrote the screenplays for ...
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 ...