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Sunday 12 April 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 6 April 2026
Sponsor of the day: Paul Giamatti
Testament des Dr Mabuse, Das
Film (1933; vt The Last Will of Dr Mabuse, 1943) Nero-Film AG. Directed by Fritz Lang. Written by Thea von Harbou, loosely based on Norbert Jacques's then-unpublished fragment «Mabuses Kolonie» ["Mabuse's Colony"] (written circa 1930). Cast includes Oscar Beregi Sr, Gustav Diessl, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Wera Liessem, Otto Wernicke. 122 minutes. Black and ...
Gottfried, Chet
(1947- ) US author who began publishing work of genre interest with "The Steel Works" in Asimov's for Summer 1977. His sf novel, The Steel Eye (1984), somewhat uneasily combines sf and mystery genres, and features a Robot detective. The Gilded Basilisk (2014) and the Einar sequence opening with Einar and the Cursed City (2014) are fantasy, the latter for ...
MacArthur, David
(? - ) UK author of an sf novel for older children, The Thunderbolt Men: A Tale for Children (1947), a surprisingly archaic narrative in which two young protagonists discover a Mad Scientist on a remote Island who plans to destroy the world with his Inventions; but pluck wins the day. [JC]
Constantine, Storm
(1956-2021) UK author whose name, initially a pseudonym, became her legal name for all purposes. Her most successful work was perhaps the Wraeththu trilogy which began her career: The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit (1987; rev 2003), The Bewitchments of Love and Hate (1988; rev 2003) and The Fulfilments of Fate and Desire (1989; rev 2003), all three assembled as Wraeththu (omni 1993; rev vt ...
Shelton, Frederick William
(1814/1815-1881) US minister and author whose first book, The Trollopiad; Or, Travelling Gentleman in America (1837) as by Nil Admirari, Esq, is an essentially nonfantastic verse Satire on Frances Trollope (1780-1863). Of very moderate sf interest is Salander and the Dragon: A Romance of the Hartz Prison (1850), a Lost Race tale unduly reminiscent of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678). ...
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 ...