SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 23 September 2023
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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Ubukata Tow
(1977- ) Pen-name of a Japanese author and scriptwriter who often writes the prose and Anime or Manga versions of his stories, and who maintains strong connections to the world of computer games. Raised largely in Singapore and Nepal, Ubukata returned to his native Japan to complete his education in his teens. He dropped out of Waseda University's department of literature shortly after winning ...
Wrightson, Patricia
(1921-2010) Australian author, whose significant oeuvre of Young Adult fiction is mostly definable as fantasy [for extended entry on Patricia Wrightson see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below], with tales like The Nargun and the Stars (1973) markedly innovative (from a perspective half a century on). They are particularly notable for their attempts unencroachingly to represent ...
Wheeler, Paul
(1934- ) Jamaican-born UK author in whose The Friendly Persuaders (1968) benign-seeming Aliens from the planet Tarax appear in London and, offering promises of universal peace and free love, are soon swept into governmental power by a surge of popular acclaim. Inevitably this low-key Invasion conceals a more sinister agenda; one man's dogged resistance leads to revelations ...
Odom, Mel
(1957- ) US author of many novels since 1988, many of them being Ties like his contributions to the Mack Bolan thriller series as by Don Pendleton, after that author had franchised himself as a House Name; he has also written several series, usually fantasy, including numerous contributions to the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer universe [associational or fantasy ties and ...
Whitham, John W
(1868-1952) US author of Interworld (1932), a tale set in a not clearly delineated Near Future where Homo sapiens remain backward on the home planet, but other civilizations flourish on Mars, which boasts high Technology and universal peace, and elsewhere. [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 ...