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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.

Site updated on 3 February 2025
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Sarrantonio, Al

(1952-2025) US editor and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Ahead of the Joneses" in Asimov's for March 1979. Much of his work was horror, sometimes tinged with sf (see Horror in SF), including his first novel, The Worms (1985), a Gothic tale set in Massachusetts with hints of H P Lovecraft; and the Equipoisal Moonbane ...

Kummer, Frederic Arnold, Jr

(1913-1990) US author, son of Frederic Arnold Kummer, Sr, who sometimes varied his first name, also spelling it Frederick or Fredric; he published at least one story as by Martin Vaeh. Kummer began to publish work of genre interest with "The Medici Cup" in The Evening Standard Book of Strange Stories (anth 1934), edited anonymously; as an sf author, his career was short, with a few stories before 1939, at least sixteen that year, eighteen ...

Swamp Thing, The

Created by writer Len Wein and artist Berni Wrightson in DC Comics's House of Secrets #92 (July 1971), the Swamp Thing is a Monster whose moss- and muck-encrusted body is formed entirely of vegetable matter. In that original short graphic story, as a result of a scientific "accident" arranged by his jealous assistant Damian Ridge, Dr Alex Olsen is killed and subsequently resurrected in mutated form ...

Sellings, Arthur

Pseudonym of UK bookseller and author Arthur Gordon Ley (1921-1968), who began publishing sf stories with "The Haunting" for Authentic Science Fiction in October 1953; the best of his output of about thirty tales was assembled in Time Transfer (coll 1956; with five stories cut 1966) and The Long Eureka (coll 1968). In the 1960s his productivity increased; he died (suddenly, of a heart attack) just as he was ...

Ship of Fools

A traditional Fantasy theme dating back to medieval times, in which a ship – the Narrenschiff or Ship of Fools – carries all sorts of persons on an endless voyage in search of Utopia, providing an easily visualizable literal vehicle for allegorical Satire on the follies of humanity, the most famous such vehicle probably being "The Ship of Fools" (before 1500) by Hieronymus Bosch ...

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 ...



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