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Saturday 8 August 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 3 August 2026
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Architectural Metaphor
US space-rock band, formed in the Boston area in Summer 1984, whose pretentious name well suits the ramblingly overweening sf stylings of their albums. On Studio Galacti (1994) and Creature of the Velvet Void (1997) swirling synthesizers and elaborately played guitars do little to enliven various Pulpish Genre SF Clichés. [AR] see also: ...
Garnett, Edward
(1868-1937) publisher's reader, journalist, playwright and author, well known in the first capacity for his early advocacy of many writers who would become famous, those with entries in this encyclopedia including Joseph Conrad, E M Forster and W H Hudson; son of the librarian and author Richard Garnett, husband of the translator Constance Garnett (1862-1946), ...
Davis, Gerry
(1930-1991) UK author, primarily for television, who collaborated with Kit Pedler in the creation of the menacing Cybermen for the Doctor Who storyline The Tenth Planet; these inimical Cyborgs became one of the series' most popular recurring foes. Davis was involved with fifteen Doctor Who episodes between 1966 and 1975, all of them concerning the Cybermen. Though his five Doctor Who ...
Tobor the Great
Film (1954). Dudley Pictures Corporation. Produced by Richard Goldstone. Directed by Lee Sholem. Written by Philip MacDonald from a story by Carl Dudley. Tobor designed by Robert Kinoshita. Cast includes Karin Booth (Janice Roberts), Billy Chapin, Charles Drake, Steven Geray, Taylor Holmes and J Lewis Smith (uncredited). 77 minutes. Black and white. / The US government wants to attempt manned Space Flight, but Dr ...
Graham, J M
(? - ) UK author of a routine sf novel for Robert Hale Limited, Voice from Earth (1972), in which a returning Spaceship finds Earth is now depopulated; issues of Relativity are invoked. [JC/DRL]
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 ...