SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 13 July 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 13 July 2026
Sponsor of the day: David Cowhig
Venus Wars
Japanese animated film (1989). Original title Vinasu Senki. Based on the Manga by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Kugatsusha. Directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Written by Yūichi Sasamoto and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Voice cast includes Eriko Hara, Yuko Sasaki, Kaneto Shiozawa and Katsuhida Uekusa. 103 minutes. Colour. / In 2003 Venus was hit by an ice Comet, losing its atmosphere but ...
Breuer, Miles J
(1889-1945) US physician and author of Czech origin who studied in Austin, Texas and Chicago, Illinois, was in active service during World War One in the US Medical Corps, and spent the majority of his life as a medical doctor in Nebraska. He began publishing work of genre interest with "The Adventures of the Bronze Mahadeva" for 10 Story Book in 1909, an early Pulp magazine. In the ...
Smith, Titus K
(1859-1936) US author of Altruria (1895), a Utopia couched in the form of a letter from a resident of the ideal City of Altruria, whose name specifically relates to William Dean Howell's ironic A Traveler from Altruria: Romance (November 1892-October 1893 Cosmopolitan; 1894), Smith's presentation, which lacks irony, jumbles together Howells and ideas from Edward ...
Farncombe, Frank E
(1880-1929) UK author of two sf novels, both with Robert L Hadfield: the Near Future Ruled by Radio (1925), in which a "Z" Ray threatens radio-mediated world peace in 1930; and Red Radio (1927), in which similar conspiracies take even more convoluted twists. [JC/MA]
Full Motion Video
Term used to refer to pre-recorded film footage used in a Videogame, as opposed to two or three-dimensional graphics generated by the game as it is being played. Such footage can be produced by computer animation or by filming live actors on physical sets. It is typically used for "cut scenes", short video segments which establish a frame narrative (see Interactive Narrative) for the game or advance a linear narrative over ...
Clute, John
(1940- ) Canadian critic, editor and author, in the UK from 1969; married to Judith Clute from 1964, partner of Elizabeth Hand since 1996. He began to publish work of genre interest with an sf-tinged poem "Carcajou Lament" in Triquarterly for Winter 1960 [ie Autumn 1959]; he began consistently publishing sf reviews in his "New Fiction" column for the Toronto Star ...