SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 27 July 2024
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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 25 July 2024
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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
Cast, Kristin
(1986- ) Nigerian-US author, almost exclusively of Young Adult fantasy, much of it with her mother P C Cast, most prominently their House of Night sequence beginning with Marked (2007), set in an Alternate History version of America inhabited by both homo sapiens and "vampyres" (see Vampires), the latter being genetic ...
George, Brian
(? - ) UK author in whose sf novel, Atom of Doubt (1959), a fake hormonal treatment which ostensibly makes women irresistible to men turns out to be real, and causes some chaos; there are elements of Satire in the tale. [JC]
McKeone, Lee
(1937-2007) US author of the Ghoster sequence of Space Operas – Ghoster (1988), Backblast (1989) and Starfire Down (1991) – set in undemanding interstellar venues where human entrepreneurs may comically flourish. McKeone subsequently concentrated on Ties, including the Birthright sequence tied to the Role Playing Game and signed ...
Merle, Robert
(1908-2004) Algerian-born French author, in France from 1918, recipient of the Prix Goncourt in 1949, known primarily for his work outside the sf field. His Un animal doué de raison (1967; trans Helen Weaver as The Day of the Dolphin 1969) is an ingenious examination of scientific and political ethics following the main character's breakthrough in Communication with dolphins, along the lines promulgated by John C Lilly ...
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 ...