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Wednesday 13 May 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.
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Suzuki Kōji
(1957-2026) Japanese author and essayist, largely known in English through the Cinema adaptations of several of his books, the international success of which obscured his wide-ranging domestic output. His horror and Equipoisal fiction proceeded in tandem with a wide array (not listed here) of books on young fatherhood and occasional works on motorcycle travel. He was also the translator of Simon Brett's ...
Changewar
Term coined for that special sf brand of War which is fought across Time, usually with each side knowingly using Time Travel, tampering with causality and perhaps setting up destructive Time Paradoxes in an attempt to establish the ascendancy of one or another version of history. Although Fritz Leiber provided the name in his Change War ...
Kaner, H
(1896-1973) Romanian-born UK civil servant and author who published his own books from Llandudno in Wales through The Kaner Publishing Co; it should be noted that his firm also published other writers, including John Russell Fearn. Of his own titles, two full-length novels stand out: People of the Twilight (1946), in which a Lost Race is discovered in a Parallel World, and ...
Ayrton, Michael
UK journalist, broadcaster, sculptor, painter and author born Michael Ayrton Gould (1921-1975), using his father's surname until adolescence, when he took the surname of his mother the politician Barbara Ayrton (1886-1950), also recognizing in this fashion his grandmother the engineer and mathematician Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923); married to Elisabeth Ayrton from 1952 until his death. He was much respected as an illustrator and stage designer; through much of ...
Invisible Avenger
Film (1958; vt The Invisible Avenger; vt Bourbon Street Shadows; vt Terror in the Night). Republic Pictures. Produced by Emanuel Demby and Eric Sayers. Directed by James Wong Howe, Ben Parker and John Sledge. Written by George Bellak and Ruth Jeffries from a story by Walter B Gibson (uncredited). Cast includes Mark Daniels, Steve Dano, Richard Derr, Dan Mullin and Helena Westcott. 60 minutes. Black and white. / Expatriate ...
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 ...