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Friday 4 September 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 31 August 2026
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Murray, Will
Working name of US author William Patrick Murray (1953-2026), who showed an interest throughout his career in Superheroes of the Pulp tradition (on which he was a known authority) such as Doc Savage, about which figure he wrote the nonfiction Secrets of Doc Savage (1981 chap). In this context he had been literary agent for Lester Dent's estate since 1979. ...
Nolan, Christopher
(1970- ) Anglo-American filmmaker (with dual citizenship) known for his audacious experiments in film narrative form, as well as for his more conventionally shaped but thematically ambitious work on Warner's revived Batman franchise. A director, producer, and screenwriter, he often works in tandem with his wife Emma Thomas (1971- ), his screenwriter brother Jonathan Nolan (1976- ), the film composer ...
Rocklynne, Ross
Working name of US author Ross Louis Rocklin (1913-1988) for his sf stories, most of which appeared in such magazines as Astounding from the mid-1930s up to 1947, beginning with "Man of Iron" for Astounding in 1935. He specialized in Space-Opera plots constructed around sometimes ingenious "scientific" problems, such as how to escape from the centre of a hollow planet in "At the Center of Gravity" (June 1936 ...
Southall, Ivan
(1921-2008) Australian soldier and author, of sf interest for the Simon Black Young Adult sequence, beginning with his first published book, Meet Simon Black (1950; cut 1957), in which Squadron Leader Black leaves the service after World War Two and creates a Rocket-powered supersonic VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Land) aircraft (see Inventions); ...
Bone, J F
(1916-2006) US veterinarian, in the US Veterinary Corps for many years until 1976; subsequently a professor of veterinary medicine and author who began publishing sf with "Survival Type" in Galaxy for March 1957. His first sf novel, The Lani People (1962), is his most memorable, perhaps especially for the guilty and/or atavistic pleasures afforded male readers through his depiction of the Alien Lani, human-like females only ...
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 ...