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Monday 5 October 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 5 October 2026
Sponsor of the day: Andy Richards of Cold Tonnage Books
Arnold, Jack
(1916-1992) US film-maker, born Jack Arnold Waks, who made a number of sf films during the 1950s. In World War Two, while in the Army Signal Corps, which was producing training films, Arnold found himself working with the great documentary maker Robert Flaherty and received an invaluable crash course in film-making. After World War Two he made several successful documentaries. This led to an offer from Universal Studios to direct feature films, beginning with Girls in the Night ...
Dunne, Thomas L
(1946- ) US author whose first novel, The Scourge (1978), is a medical sf thriller (see Medicine) in which a cancer plague causes widespread Disaster, a Pandemic which devastates much of the western world. [JC]
John Carter: Warlord of Mars
Board and counter Wargame (1979). Simulations Publications Inc. Designed by Mark Herman, Eric Goldberg. / While most easily classified as a Wargame, John Carter is actually a fusion of several types of game which have followed generally separate paths of development since its release. Specifically, it combines many of the attributes of Board Games, Wargames and ...
Tomahawk [character]
DC Comics hero, created by Joe Samachson and Edmond Good in 1947; he was long featured as a supporting character in Star Spangled Comics and World's Finest Comics, and he starred in his own title that lasted from 1950 to 1972. Tomahawk – his real name reported to be either Tom Hawk or Thomas Haukins – was obviously inspired by the legendary Daniel Boone, as they were both frontiersmen fighting for ...
Real Genius
Film (1985). Tri-Star/Delphi III. Directed by Martha Coolidge. Written by Neal Israel, Pat Proft, Peter Torokvei, based on a story by Israel and Proft. Cast includes William Atherton, Gabe Jarret, Val Kilmer, Michelle Meyrink and Robert Prescott. 106 minutes. Colour. / Genius students at a college for advanced science are manipulated into designing a high-power laser by their corrupt professor (Atherton), who unknown to them is supplying it to a cold-blooded government agency as a ...
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 ...