SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Friday 18 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 14 September 2026
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Gold, Joe
(1960- ) US author of The Lamp Post Motel (2006), a Time Travel novel in which Anthropologists from the future punitively transfer the mind of a motel owner into the bodies of those he himself is accustomed – as though he were an anthropologist himself – to observe. [JC]
Pomerleau, Luc
(1955- ) French-speaking Canadian physics graduate, technical translator, editor of the French-language Quebec sf magazine Solaris since 1986, and sf and comics critic. He wrote the section on Francophone sf in the Canada entry of this encyclopedia's second edition. [PN]
Salonen, Esa-Pekka
(1958- ) Finnish classical musician and composer. Though better known as an orchestral conductor, Salonen has composed a number of sf-influenced works, amongst them ... auf den ersten blick und ohne zu wissen ... ["... at first sight and without knowing ..."] (1980) based on the work of Franz Kafka (from whose Der Prozess [1925; trans as The Trial 1937 UK] its title is quoted), and most notably ...
Ultraviolet
UK tv series (1998). Channel 4, World Productions. Directed by Joe Ahearne. Written by Joe Ahearne. Cast includes Colette Brown, Jack Davenport, Idris Elba, Susannah Harker, Stephen Moyer, Philip Quast and Corin Redgrave. Six 50-minute episodes. Colour. / London detective Michael Colefield (Davenport) is co-opted into a covert task force investigating crimes committed by a group of Secret Masters, never explicitly identified, but unmistakably ...
Platt, Marc
(1953- ) UK author associated mainly with the Doctor Who universe, for which he has written Ties in various media; books of interest begin with Doctor Who – Ghost Light (1990) and conclude with Doctor Who: The New Adventures: Lungbarrow (1997). [JC]
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 ...