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Saturday 14 March 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 March 2026
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Garfield, Richard
(1963- ) US Game designer with a PhD in combinatorial mathematics, inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design Hall of Fame in 1998. Garfield is perhaps the epitome of game designer as celebrity mathematician. He is famous primarily for having invented the modern Collectible Card Game in 1993 with the release of his first published game, Magic: The Gathering (see ...
Carruth, Shane
(1972- ) US filmmaker, with a background in mathematics and software engineering, whose debut feature Primer (2004), a bravura exercise in frugal filmmaking inspired by the $7000 budget claimed for fellow Texan Robert Rodriguez' debut El Mariachi (1992), remains the most complex, oblique, and viewer-challenging Time Travel film yet attempted; that its ...
Gheusi, Pierre-Barthélmy
(1865-1943) French editor, playwright, theatrical director and author, who often gave his name as P-B Gheusi; many of his opera librettos contain elements of fantasy, though no sf. For the Atlantis fantasy Les Atlantes, aventures des temps légendaires (portions in feuilleton form 1904 La Nouvelle Revue; 1905; trans Brian Stableford as The Last Days of Atlantis 2015) with ...
AI
The common acronym for Artificial Intelligence, an item of Terminology used increasingly often in information science, and hence in sf, since the late 1970s. Most writers would agree that for a Computer or other Machine of some sort to qualify as an AI it must be self-aware. There are as yet none such in the real world. Controversy continues regarding the feasibility of "strong AI", the creation of ...
Half Human
Film (1955; vt Half Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman). Original Japanese title Jūjin yuki otoko ["Monster Snowman"]. Toho Film Productions Ltd/Distributors Corporation of America (US). Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka, Robert B Howard (US). Directed by Ishirō Honda, Kenneth G Crane (US). Written by Takeo Murata. Cast includes Morris Ankrum, John Carradine, Robert Karnes, Momako Kochi, Nobu Nakamura, Akemi Negiishi, Akira Takarada and Russell Thorson. ...
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 ...