SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 13 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.
Site updated on 13 July 2026
Sponsor of the day: David Cowhig
Künsken, Derek
(1971- ) Canadian author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Tidal Maneuvers" in On Spec for Fall 2006. Most of his later work fits into two connected Hard SF series. The Quantum Universe sequence beginning with The Quantum Magician (January-May 2018 Analog; 2018) follows the life and exploits of a ...
Conviser, Josh
(1974- ) Working name of US screenwriter and author whose Ryan Laing sequence of Near Future thrillers, comprising Echelon (2006) and EMPYRE (2007), posits a world in which contemporary intelligence surveillance has become hugely more sophisticated (capable in effect of not only gathering data but interpreting it). In the first volume, the Cyborg protagonist is instrumental in ...
Patterson, James
(1947- ) US author who has become a chart-dominating best-seller over the past three decades, his greatest success being the Alex Cross sequence of crime thrillers featuring a Black forensic psychologist, where the occasional apparent incursion into the fantastic – such as the vampire cult in Violets Are Blue (2001), and the infernal "Mastermind" whose powers fall short of the supernatural – is found to be an evil but nonfantastic device. ...
Starewicz, Władysław
(1882-1965) Polish-Russian-Lithuanian-French animator, director and etymologist, also known as Ladislas Starevich. He pioneered the use of stop-motion puppetry techniques and would produce over 60 films (mainly shorts) until his death, sometimes combining animation with live action (see Cinema). / Born in Russia of Polish parents from what is now Lithuania, Starewicz worked for Lithuania's Museum of Natural ...
Duke, Madelaine
Pseudonym of Ukrainian-born physician and author Elizabeth Magda MacFarlane (1919-1996), in UK from 1939 or earlier; active under her main pseudonym plus at least two others in a variety of genres including sf novels (which she describes as "cartoons"). Claret, Sandwiches and Sin: A Cartoon (1964 as by Maxim Donne; 1966 as by Duke) depicts a world insecurely amalgamated, after a World War Three that has, in ...
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 ...