SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 24 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.
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Deighton, Len
Working name of UK illustrator and author Leonard Cyril Deighton (1929-2026), mostly not resident in Britain after 1969; author of spy novels, cookery books and some other nonfiction, but still perhaps best known for early espionage thrillers like The Ipcress File (1962), the first of the Secret File sequence which features the same undisciplined and unnamed secret agent, and the subsequent Funeral in Berlin (1964). The fourth volume of the series, ...
Roberts, Adam
(1965- ) UK academic (currently Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London) and author who began his two intertwined writing careers – as an sf novelist and as a critic – in the same year with the release of his first work of fiction, Salt (2000), and his first work of scholarship, Science Fiction (2000; rev vt Science Fiction: Second Edition 2006). He has perhaps become better ...
First Contact
The most common Communications scenario in sf – often but not always Linguistic in nature – involves the meeting of humans with Aliens. These are generally called first-contact stories, and perhaps the best known of them is "First Contact" (May 1945 Astounding) by Murray Leinster. This poses the problem of contact as a puzzle ...
La La
Pen-name of Zhong Xin (1977- ), a technician in a broadband internet company who won a Best Newcomer prize at the 2003 Yinhe Awards for his short story "Chun Ri Ze: Yun Meng Shan: Zhong Kun" ["Spring Sun Spring: Yun Meng Mountain: Elder Brother"] (2002 venue unknown). / His Yinhe-winning "Yongbu Xiaoshi de Dianbo" ["The Perpetual Electric Wave"] (December 2007 Kehuan Shijie; trans Petula Parris-Huang as ...
Foss, Chris
(1946- ) Working name of British artist Christopher F Foss. Foss studied architecture at Cambridge University, and he has worked in sf Illustration since 1970, primarily as a cover artist; he uses brush and airbrush to excellent effect. Foss's smooth, representational style, demonstrated on hundreds of covers, spearheaded a revolution in British sf paperback design in the 1970s, and the artist's success inspired many imitators, creating ...
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 ...