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Monday 28 September 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 28 September 2026
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May, Peter
(1951-2026) Scottish journalist, screenwriter and author, active from around 1970; resident in France from around 2000. During the first twenty-five years of his career as a screenwriter, he was involved in something like 1,000 television productions, all seemingly nonfantastic. He began to publish fiction with The Reporter (1978), which he serialized for the BBC; most of his later novels were crime thrillers, including the China Thrillers beginning with ...
Man Made Monster
US film (1941; vt Atomic Monster). Universal Pictures. Associate Producer Jack Bernhard. Directed by George Waggner. Written by Waggner from the story "The Electric Man" by Harry Essex (credited as H J Essex), Sid Schwartz and Len Golos. Cast includes Frank Albertson, Lionel Atwill, Lon Chaney Jr, Samuel S Hinds and Anne Nagel. 59 minutes. Black and white. / "Big" Dan McCormick (Chaney) – a carnival sideshow performer as Dynamo Dan, the Electric Man – survives a ...
Smith, Russell J
(1972- ) UK author of The Phenomenon (2007), a Near Future sf tale set in a world already beset by Climate Change, which is afflicted by a "disease" whose victims broadcast their thoughts (see Telepathy) involuntarily. [JC]
Space Master X-7
Film (1958). Regal Films. Directed by Edward Bernds. Written by Daniel Manwairing, George Worthing Yates, and Edward Bernds (uncredited). Cast includes Joan Barry, Robert Ellis, Paul Frees, Moe Howard, Lyn Thomas, Bill Williams and Rhoda Williams. 71 minutes. Black and white. / An unmanned space probe returns to Earth containing samples of an Alien lifeform. When Scientist Charles Pommer (Frees) begins studying the samples at ...
Matthews, Rodney
(1945- ) British illustrator. After he studied at the West of England College of Art from 1961 to 1962, Matthews initially worked in advertising, while also drumming for the rock group Squidd. In 1970, he left advertising to focus on doing art for album covers, which has remained one of his primary avocations; perhaps his best known effort in this area is his cover for Nazareth's No Mean City (1979), depicting a menacing humanoid monster on a barren ...
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 ...