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Saturday 27 July 2024
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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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
Alien Nation
1. Film (1988). Twentieth Century Fox. Directed by Graham Baker. Produced by Gale Anne Hurd, Richard Kobritz. Written by Rockne S O'Bannon. Cast includes James Caan, Mandy Patinkin and Terence Stamp. 90 minutes. Colour. / Los Angeles (see California), 1991. The Newcomers, or "Slags", are 300,000 humanoid Aliens, Genetically Engineered for hard ...
Beck, Clyde F
(1912-1986) US fan and critic who wrote the first work of criticism devoted to American sf: Hammer and Tongs (coll 1937 chap). This is assembled from four essays and reviews contributed to The Science Fiction Critic – an early Fanzine edited by Beck's brother Claire P Beck – with a newly written author's preface. Beck also contributed occasionally to other sf/fantasy magazines such as the ...
Sixbury, Glenn R
(? - ) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with "Circles" in Four Moons of Darkover (anth 1988) edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley. His sf novel, Legacy (2002) is a Tie to the Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict Shared World sequence (see ...
Madách, Imre
(1823-1864) Hungarian playwright and parliamentarian, chiefly known for his verse play Az ember tragédiája (1861; trans Charles Henry Meltzer and Paul Vajdatrans as The Tragedy of Man: A Dramatic Poem in Fifteen Scenes 1933 Hungary; preferred trans George Szirtes 1988 Hungary). This philosophical, rather pessimistic fantasy about the destiny of mankind focuses on Adam (an optimist) and Eve (see ...
Nicholls, Peter
(1939-2018) Australian editor and author, primarily a critic and historian of sf through his creation and editing of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction [see below]; resident in the UK 1970-1988, in Australia from 1988; worked as an academic in English literature (1962-1968, 1971-1977), scripted television documentaries, was a Harkness Fellow in Film-making (1968-1970) in the USA, worked as a publisher's editor (1982-1983), often broadcast film and book reviews on BBC Radio from 1974 and ...