SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 25 October 2021
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.
Site updated on 25 October 2021
Sponsor of the day: David Redd
Favreau, Jon
(1966- ) US filmmaker and actor, who has worked his way diligently up the directorial lists by a willingness to take on a wide range of studio projects across a range of fantasy genres. Already an established screen actor by the mid-nineties, he wrote and/or directed a series of films with Vince Vaughn, beginning with Swingers (1996), as well as a number of films and series episodes for television. After a hit with the Christmas comedy Elf (2003), he directed the ...
Neil, John
(? -? ) UK author of at least two sf novels, each published obscurely: The Eye of the Gods (1933 chap); and The Man of Mystery (1934), featuring a surgeon, blinded in World War One, who evolves his "pineal" eye with the idea of beginning a three-eyed race of Supermen. [JC]
First Contact
The most common Communications scenario in sf – often but not always Linguistic in nature – involves the meeting of humans with Aliens. These are generally called first-contact stories, and perhaps the best known of them is "First Contact" (May 1945 Astounding) by Murray Leinster. This poses the problem of contact as a puzzle grounded in mutual suspicion and Paranoia, eventually short-circuited by a gimmick solution. Written in direct response to Leinster, Ivan Yefremov's "Cor ...
Schreiber, Joe
(1969- ) US author mostly of supernatural horror, who has written some Star Wars Ties: of interest is Star Wars: Death Troopers (2009), which conflates the exposing grasp of Horror in SF with the comforting Widescreen Baroque of the Galactic Empire universe of Star Wars, in the story of a Prison ship attacked in empty space by a plague that transforms Rebel inmates and sadistic corrections officers into Zombies. Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown (2014) features a Space-Station ...
Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers
US tv series (1953-1954). Columbia Broadcasting System for CBS-TV. Executive Producer: William Dozier. Produced by John Haggott. Directed by George Gould. Writers included Nelson S Bond, Don Moore. Cast includes Arthur Batanides, John Boruff, Bruce Hall, Cliff Robertson and Jack Weston. 58 30-minute episodes. Black and white. / In the mid-twenty-second century, Rod Brown (Hall) and his fellow Rocket Rangers operate from the base Omega, protecting the universe from hostile Aliens, ...
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 ...