SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 3 October 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 ...
Roy, Archie
Working name of Scottish professor of astronomy Archibald Edmiston Roy (1924-2012), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and researcher into the paranormal. His nonfiction was welcomed in 1950s UK SF Magazines, in particular his substantial twelve-part series The Way to the Planets for Authentic Science Fiction (June 1955-May 1956); a few such pieces were collaborations with Donald ...
Valentine, Genevieve
(1981- ) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with "29 Union Leaders Can't be Wrong" in Strange Horizons for June 2007; most of her work has been fantasy, including her first novel, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti (2011), where acrobats acquire exquisitely light steel skeletons through Magic, set in a world whose Steampunk atmosphere is ...
Laser Books
Canadian sf imprint initiated in 1975 by Harlequin Books, the US publisher of Mills & Boon romances, under the editorship of Roger Elwood. The books were restricted to a formula which specified a male protagonist, an upbeat ending, no sex or atheism, and a minimum of long words. All Laser Book covers were the work of Frank Kelly Freas. The series was suspended early in 1977 after fifty-seven books had appeared. The Laser ...
Harrison, Niall
(1980- ) UK medical writer, editor and author, active from around 2003, both in Fandom and as a reviewer and critic. He served as Features Editor of Vector (2006-2011), and more demandingly for Strange Horizons as Reviews Editor (2006-2010) and as Editor-in-Chief (2011-2017). A large selection from the critical and review work he published during this period has been assembled as ...
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 ...