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Wednesday 11 February 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 9 February 2026
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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Norman, Barry
(1933-2017) UK journalist, television personality specializing in film criticism, and author whose sf novel is End Product (1975), a Near-Future Satire in which Blacks are lobotomized at birth and provide the civilized world with ample meat. The allegorical and political (see Race in SF) messages of the novel, which are both highly loaded, tend to clash. [JC]
Chapdelaine, Perry A
Pseudonym used for sf by US author, mathematician, research psychologist and director of an author's publishing co-op, Anthony di Fabio (1925-2015). He legally adopted his stepfather's surname at age 21. His first published sf was "To Serve the Masters" in If for September 1967. His first sf novel, Swampworld West (1974), routinely explores a Colonization scenario involving problems between native ...
Takami Kōshun
Working name of Hiroharu Takami (1969- ) a Japanese author whose sole work to date has been much refashioned and adapted across several media. A graduate of Osaka University's Literature department, where he specialized in the aesthetics of fine arts, Takami worked for several years as a journalist for the provincial newspaper Shikoku Shinbun. His debut novel, the Satire Battle Royale (1999) was ...
McLaren, Colin Andrew
(1940- ) UK archival librarian, playwright and author, in Scotland from 1969. Most of his novels are Young Adult historical tales; of sf interest is Rattus Rex (1978), set in an 1860s London plagued by a sudden infestation of strangely well-disciplined Rats (for As Above So Below and Urban Fantasy see The ...
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 ...