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Tuesday 13 January 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.
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von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Pittock, Mrs M A Weeks
(1856-1915) US author of a Feminist Utopia, The God of Civilization: A Romance (1890), in which mutual false "gods" – the rigid ideals that define and divide the sexes – are transcended; something like sexual freedom ensues. [JC]
Wheeler, Thomas Gerald
(? - ) US physician and author whose Young Adult sf novel Lost Threshold (1968) is a very late Lost-World story, in which a secret Underground passage leads the hero through a portal or gateway to another world of uncertain location whose pre-industrial people have access to unlimited supplies of gold which they regard as almost worthless but ...
EC Comics
Company founded in 1945 by M C Gaines (1896-1947), creator of the format of the modern Comic book and original partner in the company that became DC Comics. The initials stood for both Educational and, later, Entertaining Comics. After Gaines's death the company passed to his son, William M Gaines (1922-1992), who revamped the line to his own taste. Educational Comics was wound down and Entertaining Comics was transformed into a line of ...
Rocket Attack U.S.A.
Film (1961; vt Five Minutes to Zero). Exploit Films/Joseph Brenner Associates. Produced by Barry Mahon. Directed by Mahon. Written by uncertain, possibly by Mahon. Cast includes Monica Davis and John McKay. 68 minutes. Black and white. / US special agent John Manston (McKay) is sent to the Soviet Union to find out how much data the Soviets have obtained from their Sputnik One satellite. Deposited by plane in a remote area, he makes his way to Moscow by foot and teams up with ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...