SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 13 May 2025
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 12 May 2025
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Fabian, Stephen E
(1930-2025) American artist, sometimes credited as Steve Fabian or simply Fabian. The self-trained Fabian first worked as an electronic engineer, but he began contributing art to Fanzines in the late 1960s and became a full-time professional artist in 1973. He did a number of covers and interior art for SF Magazines, mostly Amazing, Fantastic, and ...
Scoops
UK small weekly tabloid magazine, 20 issues 10 February to 23 June 1934, published by C A Pearson Ltd, London, in the editorial department of Haydn Dimmock (1895-1955), editor of The Scout, though the managing editor was Bernard Buley (1899-1973). Scoops was intended as a Boys' Paper that would "transport its readers from the everyday happenings into the future"; whatever appeal it might have had for adults was not helped by the decision to use, ...
Closed Universe
This term is in no sense a synonym for Pocket Universe, a literary term which describes a particular kind of story; nor is it here used in its cosmological sense. A closed universe is a work or series whose characters and venues remain strictly under its author's control, and which is not open to fans or others to make uncopyrighted use of in Fanzines. In this sense, a Shared-World enterprise may ...
Martin, Michael A
(? - ) US author, always in collaboration with Andy Mangels, of numerous Ties, most of them contributed to the Star Wars universe. The Roswell sequence, also with Mangels, is tied to the Television series. [JC]
Moltruhn, Maximilian
Pseudonym of the unidentified UK author (? -? ) of a Future War novella, The Other Side at the Battle of Dorking [for full title see Checklist] (1871 chap), in which a German participant in the Invasion of the UK tells his story; the tale preserves the main thrust of the Battle of Dorking scenario: the defeat of the unready British. [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 ...