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Saturday 14 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 ...
Flying Saucers over Istanbul
Turkish film (1955; original title Ucan Daireler Istanbulda). Birsel Film. Directed and written by Orhan Erçin. Cast includes Orhan Erçin, Mirella Monro, Zafer Önen, Türkan Samil and Özcan Tekgül. 73 minutes. Black and white. / A lonely hearts club for rich but unattractive women hires belly-dancers to lure potential husbands to the venue; they are delighted when two men turn up, but the men are Sapsal (Önen) ...
Nichols, Walter
(? - ) UK author of Simon Magus (1947), essentially an historical novel, though at one point suggests that – more than simply levitating, as the feared and revered gnostic magician was reputed to do – Magus is actually responsible for the Invention of an Airship. [JC]
Mills, J M A
(1894-1986) UK author of two novels of the occult, The Tomb of the Dark Ones (1937) and Lords of the Earth (1940), the second being of some sf interest for its sourcing of ancient knowledge and the secret of Immortality in Atlantis. [JC]
Jones, Terry
(1942-2020) Welsh actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and author (of historical as well as comic work) who after appearing in several earlier UK Television comedy series came to considerable prominence as a key member of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974) and was associated with many subsequent Python-team enterprises and performances. In Cinema, he was co-director ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...