SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 20 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 ...
Files, Meg
(1946- ) US academic, poet and author whose Meridian 144 (1991) follows the complex life of its protagonist after a world-decimating accidental nuclear Holocaust – she had been scuba-diving in the South Seas at the time – interweaving memories of her stressed earlier life and action decisions necessary in the Post-Holocaust world as she attempts to create an ...
Fulton, John P
(1902-1966) Pioneering special effects photographer. Moving from Nebraska to California in 1914, Fulton worked for a time as a land surveyor due to his father's strong opposition to his becoming involved with the Cinema industry. He started work for D W Griffith as an assistant cameraman in the 1920s, then moved to Universal Pictures after more experience learning the basics of optical composition, and traveling matte photography. His first genre credit was ...
Jennings, Humphrey
(1907-1950) UK documentary film maker and editor, a co-founder of Mass Observation in 1936; his thirty films have gained increasing renown since his early death from a fall in Greece while scouting locations for a new film. Of sf interest is his Hitler Wins Alternate History short film, The Silent Village (1943), which is shot in documentary style. Much of his energy in ...
Kilpatrick, Florence A
(1888-1968) UK playwright and author best known for her Elizabeth sequence of spoofish adventures featuring a slapstick but spunky Cockney lass; of sf interest in the series is Elizabeth in Africa (1940), where she runs across a Lost Race of Egyptians who remain hidden in a remote valley. Luckily for Elizabeth, the Mtangulizis have already been taught English by a previous visitor. [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 ...