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Wednesday 22 April 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 20 April 2026
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Watson, Ian
(1943-2026) UK teacher and author who lectured in English in Tanzania (1965-1967) and Tokyo (1967-1970) before beginning to publish sf with "Roof Garden Under Saturn" for New Worlds in 1969; he then taught Future Studies for six years at Birmingham Polytechnic, taking there one of the first academic courses in sf in the UK; he became a full-time writer in 1976, publishing around 200 short stories since 1969 at a gradually increasing tempo and with visibly ...
Salamander
Japanese Original Video Animation (OVA) (1988-1989). Studio Pierrot. Loosely based on Salamander (vt Life Force; vt Raifu Fōsu) and Gradius, scrolling shooter arcade Videogames created by Konami. Directed by Hisayuki Toriumi. Written by Kazusane Hirashima. Voice cast includes Noriko Hidaka, Kazuhiko Inoue, Sumi Shimamoto, Hirotaka Suzuoki and Koji Tsujitani. Three episodes of circa 53 minutes. ...
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Animated film (2001). Walt Disney Animation Studios (see The Walt Disney Company). Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Written by Tab Murphy and David Reynolds based on a story by Murphy, Trousdale, Wise, Bryce Zabel and Jackie Zabel. Cast includes Michael J Fox and Cree Summer. 96 minutes. Colour. / It took 64 years and 41 films for Disney to produce their first arguably ...
Cunha, Fausto
(1923-2004) Brazilian author and well-known literary critic, whose full name is Fausto Fernandes da Cunha. He is one of the central figures of the GRD generation of the 1960s, i.e., those writers published by Gumercindo Rocha Dorea, and is best known for his collections As noites marcianas ["Martian Nights"] (coll 1960) and O dia da nuvem ["The Day of the Cloud"] (coll 1980). His other sf works ...
Spaced Invaders
Film (1989). Smart Egg Pictures. Directed by Patrick Read Johnson. Written by Johnson, Scott Alexander. Cast includes J J Anderson, Fred Applegate, Douglas Barr, Gregg Berger, Royal Dano and Ariana Richards. 100 minutes. Colour. / This spoof, obviously made for younger viewers, starts promisingly with the premise that the diminutive crew of a Martian Spaceship, in the middle of a battle, pick up the radio signal of Orson ...
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 ...