SF Encyclopedia Home Page
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
Sponsor of the day: Paul Giamatti
Armageddon
Film (1998). Touchstone Pictures (see The Walt Disney Company) presents a Jerry Bruckheimer production in association with Valhalla Motion Pictures. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay, Gale Anne Hurd. Directed by Michael Bay. Written by Jonathan Hensleigh, J J Abrams, Tony Gilroy, Shane Salerno, Robert Roy Pool. Cast includes Ben Affleck, ...
Goodwin, John C
(1891-1951) UK author, after active service during World War One, of several popular books on crime and criminals, and of The Rainbox (1935), an Invention tale about a rain-making device. [JC]
Transgender SF
In the real world, Gender reassignment surgery dates back to around 1930 as a technique; an earlier operation, in 1918, involved only removal of breasts and ovaries. The full procedure only became widely known to the general public, however, after the media blitz that surrounded Christine Jorgensen's transition in 1953. For reasons which may possibly have nothing to do with social attitudes (but almost certainly do), there seems to be no genuine early sf example of an ...
Seksmisja
Film (1984; vt Sex Mission). Zespóły Filmowe. Directed by Juliusz Machulski. Written by Machulski, Jolanta Hartwig, Paweł Hajny. Cast includes Olgierd Łukaszewicz, Bogusława Pawelec, Bozena Stryjkówna and Jerzy Stuhr. 121 minutes. Colour. / A solemn adventurer and a jolly wastrel volunteer for a Cryonics experiment and wake up fifty years later (see Sleeper Awakes), after atomic ...
Crimes of the Future
Film (1970). Emergent Films. Produced, directed, written and photographed David Cronenberg. Cast includes Jon Lidolt, Jack Messinger, Ronald Mlodzik and Tania Zolty. 70 minutes. Colour. / This cheaply made, inventive Canadian film, something between an underground and a commercial movie, is chiefly of interest as ushering in – along with Stereo (1969) – Cronenberg's distinguished, eccentric and ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...