SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 10 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 3 August 2026
Sponsor of the day: Andy Richards of Cold Tonnage Books
Silicon Dreams
Videogame series (from 1983). Level 9 Computing (L9). / The Silicon Dreams trilogy is a series of text-based science fiction Adventures. The first game, Snowball (1983 L9, Atari8, C64, Spectrum; 1984 Amstrad, MSX) designed by Mike Austin, Nick Austin, Pete Austin, is set aboard a slower than light colony starship (the "Snowball 9") approaching its destination in the solar system of 40 Eridani A. The ship ...
Smith, D Alexander
(1953- ) US investment banker and author who served as Treasurer of Science Fiction Writers of America 1987-1990 and has written several articles on Wargame strategy. The Marathon sequence comprising Marathon (1982), Rendezvous (1988) and Homecoming (1990) analyses in some depth a First Contact event, depicting with very considerable ...
Allen, F M
Main pseudonym of Irish author and publisher Edmund Downey (1856-1937), in London for much of his working life after 1878 until 1906; he also wrote as by William D Hayes. In a sense, his fiction was self-published, as he owned the firms that published his books as by Allen; but both Downey & Co and Ward & Downey had reputable lists of authors beyond Downey himself. His short Disaster sequence, set in Ireland – ...
Firestarter
Film (1984). Universal. Directed by Mark L Lester. Written by Stanley Mann, based on Firestarter (1980) by Stephen King. Cast includes Drew Barrymore, Freddie Jones, David Keith, Heather Locklear, George C Scott and Martin Sheen. 114 minutes. Colour. / The novel is not one of King's best, but it hardly deserved this messy adaptation. A young girl, Charlie (Barrymore), has pyrotic powers and can start fires by mental concentration alone. ...
Strieber, Whitley
(1945- ) US author, much better known for horror novels – like The Wolfen (1978) (see Horror in SF; Werewolves) and the Hunger sequence beginning with The Hunger (1981) (see Vampires) – than for his sf, though he has continued to produce the latter intermittently throughout his career, with an emphasis on the ...
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 ...