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Wednesday 18 February 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 16 February 2026
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Transarctica
Videogame (1993; vt Arctic Baron in the US). Silmarils. Designed by André Rocques. Platforms: Amiga, AtariST, DOS (1993); Mac (1994). / Transarctica is set in the world of La Compagnie des Glaces ["The Ice Company"], a sequence of novels by G-J Arnaud (see France). In Arnaud's fiction, a twenty-first century attempt to mitigate global warming caused by the greenhouse effect (see ...
Halpern, Marty
(? - ) US editor of several genre Anthologies, beginning with The Silver Gryphon (anth 2003) with Gary Turner. Further titles are Witpunk: Stories with Attitude (anth 2003) with Claude Lalumière, the Fermi Paradox-themed Is Anybody Out There? (anth 2010) with Nick Gevers, ...
Gamera
A giant prehistoric turtle who starred in a number of Monster Movies from the Daiei Studios. The first of these was Daikaijū Gamera (1965), in the entry for which are detailed also the other Gamera films. [JGr] links / Internet Movie Database
Macowan, Norman
(1877-1961) UK actor and playwright, whose Near Future play, Glorious Morning: A Play in Three Acts (1938 chap), is set in the Graustarkian (see George Barr McCutcheon; Ruritania) state of Zagnira, where a Joan of Arc figure foments revolution. [JC]
Penguindrum
Japanese animated tv series (2011); original title Mawaru Penguindrum; vt Mawaru Pingudoramu. Brain's Base. Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Written by Takayo Ikami and Kunihiko Ikuhara. Voice cast includes Miho Arakawa, Ryōhei Kimura, Subaru Kimura, Yutaka Koizumi and Marie Miyake. 24 25-minute episodes. Colour. / Himari Takakura (Arakawa) dies shortly after collapsing at an aquarium. As her brothers Shoma (R Kimura) and Kanba (S Kimura) ...
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 ...