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 ...
Haberfield, Bob
(1938-2021) Australian-born artist, long in the UK, sometimes wrongly credited as Bob Habberfield; first active in the early 1960s with record sleeve design and Illustration for the UK-based World Record Club. He was best known for his striking cover artwork for sf, fantasy and Science Fantasy titles published by the London-based Mayflower Books and Granada Publishing/Panther (the latter acquiring the former as an imprint ...
Asterley, H C
(1902-1973) UK author of one 1930s detective novel with no element of the fantastic and of Escape to Berkshire (1961), set in a Post-Holocaust London after a nuclear war and an Invasion have destroyed English decencies; the tales uncertainly conveys echoes of H G Wells and John Wyndham at their grimmest, but ends in hope. ...
Johnston, William
(1924-2010) US author, journalist and disk jockey who served in the US Navy Air Corps during World War Two, whose work consists primarily though not exclusively of Ties to various media productions; he wrote more than a hundred such novelizations and original tied novels, beginning to publish work of genre interest with the well-received Get Smart! (1965) and eight further ties to the Television "spy-fi" spoof ...
Stoppard, Tom
Working name of Czech-born playwright and screenwriter Tomáš Straussler (1937- ), in the UK since 1946, the Stoppard surname being acquired from his stepfather when his widowed mother remarried in 1945. His early dramatic work was characterized by extravagant wit and wordplay, and an Absurdist application of logic to surreal or insane situations. Following the broadcast of several Radio plays, his ...
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 ...