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Saturday 27 July 2024
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.
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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
Ball, Brian N
(1932-2020) UK author, until 1965 a teacher and lecturer, subsequently freelance, who began publishing sf with "The Pioneer" for New Worlds in February 1962, soon after editing a juvenile anthology, Tales of Science Fiction (anth 1964). His first novel, Sundog (1965), is one of his better books, tinged with Space Opera, in which – though restricted by incomprehensible and uncomprehending ...
Space Is the Place
US film (1974). North American Star System. Directed by John Coney. Written by Sun Ra and Joshua Smith. Cast includes Raymond Johnson and Sun Ra. 85 minutes. Colour. / Having found an idyllic planet "without the sound of anger, guns, frustration", Sun Ra decides to set up a colony for black people there (see Colonization of Other Worlds) and reflects on the possible transportation options, settling on ...
Orbit Science Fiction
US Digest-size magazine, published by Hanro Corp, New York; edited by Jules Saltman. Five issues [Fall] 1953 to November/December 1954, the first two undated. All stories were chosen by Donald A Wollheim, uncredited. Orbit Science Fiction was a middling-quality magazine that fell victim to the inundation of the market with too many sf magazines in the early 1950s. A story in the Tex Harrigan series by August ...
Lafferty, Mur
Working name of US podcaster, journalist and author Mary Lafferty (1973- ), active in the former capacity from around 2004; after audio release of some fiction, she began publishing work of genre interest with "Rex the Dog" in Murky Depths for June 2008. The issuing of her first novel, Playing for Keeps (2008), marks her sophisticated use of contemporary media: the tale was first published as an audio book, then as an ebook, then in print form: the ...
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 ...