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Thursday 12 February 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 9 February 2026
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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Moore, Nancy Jane
(? - ) US lawyer and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Change of Command" in Sword and Sorceress VI (anth 1990) edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley, with much of her early work being fantasy of an increasingly demanding nature, as demonstrated by the strong stories assembled in Conscientious Inconsistencies (coll 2008 chap). Changeling (2004 chap) ...
Toy Game
Term used by this encyclopedia to describe a form of Videogame in which, unlike most Games, the player is given no explicit goals to achieve. Such games are typically simulations of a complex technological or sociological system which can be experimented with in the manner of a Toy; the US designer Will Wright has described his own contributions to the form as "software toys". The ...
Hardingham, Edward
(1842-1929) UK poet and author known mainly for Hugh Leventhorpe (1906), a Lost Race romance featuring survivals of the Mayan civilization. [JC]
Allen, Roger MacBride
(1957- ) US author who began writing with the Torch Space-Opera series, The Torch of Honor (1985) and Rogue Powers (1986) – both assembled as Allies and Aliens (omni, rev 1995) – whose considerable impact may seem excessive to anyone familiar only with the books in synopsis, as neither might have appeared to offer anything new. The Torch of Honor begins with a scene all ...
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 ...