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Sunday 19 May 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.
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Corman, Roger
(1926-2024) US film-maker, a number of whose films are sf. Born in Los Angeles, he graduated in engineering from Stanford University in 1947, and spent a period in the US Navy and a term at Oxford University before going to Hollywood, where he began to write screenplays; his first sale was Highway Dragnet (1954), a picture he coproduced. He soon formed his own company and launched his spectacularly low-budget career. From 1956 he was regularly associated with ...
Rodney, George Brydges
(1872-1950) US soldier and author, mostly of Westerns, though Edge of the World (1931) is a Lost World novel featuring hostilities between a Roman legion and Mayans before the "discovery" of America; and Beyond the Range (1934) describes the discovery of a Lost Race in more conventional mountainous backlands. [JC]
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
US Serial Film (2008). Timescience Bloodclub/Mutant Enemy. Directed by Joss Whedon. Written (including songs) by Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, & Jed Whedon; lyrics by Joss Whedon, Tancharoen, and Jed Whedon; music by Joss Whedon and Jed Whedon. Cast includes Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion, Neil Patrick Harris and Simon Helberg. 3 episodes; 42 minutes total. Colour. / Written during the 2007-2008 ...
Weapons
In the catalogue of possible technological wonders offered in the New Atlantis (bound in with Sylva Sylvarum 1626; 1627 chap), Francis Bacon included more powerful cannon, better explosives and "wildfires burning in water, unquenchable". Such promises could not be left out if his prospectus were to appeal to the political establishment – his most important predecessor as a designer of hypothetical machines, ...
James, Roby
Pseudonym of US scriptwriter, spiritual adviser and author Rhoda Blecker (? - ); the Starfire sequence, comprising Commencement (1996) and Commitment (1997), features a young woman with Psi Powers who, after being trained to use them for evil by an interstellar government, learns to use them for good, which benefits all. Beyond the Hedge (2006) is fantasy. [JC]
Nicholls, Peter
(1939-2018) Australian editor and author, primarily a critic and historian of sf through his creation and editing of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction [see below]; resident in the UK 1970-1988, in Australia from 1988; worked as an academic in English literature (1962-1968, 1971-1977), scripted television documentaries, was a Harkness Fellow in Film-making (1968-1970) in the USA, worked as a publisher's editor (1982-1983), often broadcast film and book reviews on BBC Radio from 1974 and ...