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Thursday 5 November 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 2 November 2026
Sponsor of the day: Paul Giamatti
Ackerman, Wendayne
(1912-1990) German-born translator, in the US for many years before her death; married to Forrest J Ackerman from 1949 to 1957, and his companion in later years. She translated Stanisław Lem's Niezwyciȩżony i inne opowiadania (Warsaw, Poland: Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, 1964) as The Invincible (1973), from the German translation of the original; and ...
Homer
(circa 800 BCE-circa 700 BCE) The most famous of early Greek poets, whether or not one or more individuals, or a guild of homers who recited poetry, and whose birth and death dates remain speculative; his or their birth and death may have occurred between the dates given above. Samuel Butler, in The Authoress of the Odyssey (1897), argued for female authorship of the Odyssey, and Robert ...
Elements
Although little excitement is now aroused by the addition of yet another short-lived heavy element to the Periodic Table of Physics [see links below], new elements with extraordinary properties used to be highly popular sf devices. Public awareness of radioactivity led to much fictional exploitation of unstable, Ray-emitting nuclides, especially radium itself, and reawakening of interest in the old theme of ...
Hamlin, V T
(1900-1993) US Comics writer and artist who created the Alley Oop (which see) comic strip in 1932, initially as Prehistoric SF but later ranging much more widely via Time Travel, beginning with Alley Oop: The First Time Travel Adventure (6 March 1939-23 March 1940 Alley Oop; graph 2013); there is even a trip to the Moon in ...
Dare, Bill
Working name of UK author, comedian and Radio/television producer William Dare Jones (1960-2025), who is of sf interest for the Satirical BBC Radio 4 series Brian Gulliver's Travels (2 seasons, 2011 and 2012) which he created and co-wrote, and whose titular Gulliver character describes his experiences in various countries of the undiscovered continent Clafrenia. Targets include the medical ...
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 ...