SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 17 July 2025
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 16 July 2025
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Williams, Tess
(1954-2025) UK-born teacher, editor and author, in Australia for many years, there receiving a degree in literature from Curtin University and an MA in creative writing from the University of Western Australia. She began publishing work of genre interest with "The Padwan Affair" in She's Fantastical (anth 1995) edited by Judith Raphael Buckrich and Lucy Sussex. Of sf interest are two novels: Map of Power (1996), set mostly in a ...
Lightman, Alan
(1948- ) US physicist and author, currently a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is relevant to sf for four reasons. First, he is best known for his novels, especially Einstein's Dreams (1993), which is of associational interest because it fictionalizes Albert Einstein's experiences while he was working on his groundbreaking theories (see Relativity), sometimes describing dreams with fantastic elements. ...
Tale of Circulation
In the eighteenth century, tales tracing the circulation or "adventures of" of an object from its original manufacture or discovery through various owners in various walks of life were not uncommon. A cumulative vision of life in contrasting regions of the world was normally achieved, often serving as a natural engine for Satire, with this category of tale normally focusing on the figures and scenes encountered, not the object in transit. Children's tales heavily ...
Andromeda Breakthrough, The
UK tv serial (1962). A BBC TV production. Produced by John Elliot, written Fred Hoyle, Elliot. Six episodes, five at 45 minutes, the sixth 50 minutes. Black and white. The cast included Peter Halliday, Mary Morris, Barry Linehan, John Hollis, Susan Hampshire. / In this sequel to A for Andromeda the android woman built according to instructions from the stars is played by Susan ...
Wolf's Call, The
French film (2019; original title Le Chant du Loup). Pathé, Trésor Films, Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, Les Productions Jouror. Directed and written by Antonin Baudry. Cast includes Paula Beer, Jean-Yves Berteloot, François Civil, Reda Kateb, Mathieu Kassovitz, Alexis Michalik, Omar Sy. 115 minutes. / Savant "acoustic warfare analyst" Chanteraide (Civil) hesitates in a tense confrontation ...
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 ...