SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 11 December 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 8 December 2025
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Jarry, Alfred
(1873-1907) French author who carried the fruits of his scientific education into his surreal avant-garde writing, particularly the influence of the French evolutionary philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941). Jarry's famous play Ubu roi [for subtitle see Checklist] (performed 1896; 1896; trans 1951) and its several sequels including "Ubu enchaîné" (1900 Revue Blanche; trans B Keith and G Legman as King Turd 1953) – helped found the ...
Quantum Leap
1. US tv series (1989-1993). Universal/MCA for NBC. Created and produced by Donald P Bellisario. Supervising producer Deborah Pratt. Directors include David Hemmings, Aaron Lipstadt, James R Whitmore, Gilbert Shelton, Christopher Welch, Joe Napolitano, Michael Watkins and Michael Zinberg. Writers include Bellisario, Pratt, Beverly Bridges, Paul Brown, Chris Ruppenthal, Scott Shepherd and Tommy Thompson. Cast includes Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Five seasons to May 1993; 95 ...
Schroeder, Andreas
(1946- ) German-born poet, broadcaster and author, in Canada from 1951; much of his work skirts various regions of Fantastika, including the fabulistic tales and parables assembled in The Late Man (coll 1972), his first volume of fiction, some of which are sf, and the more organized of which convey some of the surreal fixity of gaze of Franz Kafka. The protagonist of Dustship Glory ...
Holberg, Ludvig
(1684-1754) Danish playwright, essayist and historian. Born in Bergen, Norway, Holberg studied at Copenhagen and settled permanently in Denmark, where he was appointed professor at Copenhagen University, first of philosophy, later of metaphysics and of Latin rhetoric, and finally of history in 1730. A prolific author, he published several voluminous poems, including Peder Paars (1719; trans Bergliot Stromsoe 1962), which describes the ...
Kane, Wilson
A House Name used by Ziff-Davis on four stories 1958-1959 in Amazing and Fantastic; at least one, "Hungarian Rhapsody" (June 1958 Fantastic), was by Robert Bloch. [PN]
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 ...