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Thursday 15 January 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.
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von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Adams, Scott
(1957-2026) US author and cartoonist best known for the Dilbert strip published from 1989, which when at its best superbly (in terms of concept and accuracy of Satire rather than quality of drawing) satirized contemporary office life and corporate incompetence. As with most ambitious modern comic strips, it segues frequently into sf and fantasy tropes – such as Robot office workers, wish-fulfilling ...
Goll, Reinhold W
(1897-1993) US author of three unremarkable Space Operas for Young Adult readers. Two of these comprise the Veta sequence, beginning with The Visitors from Planet Veta (1961). [JC]
Gospodinov, Georgi
(1968- ) Bulgarian poet, playwright and author, much of whose work portrays modern Europe as a labyrinth riddled by time, some of the narrative elements involved clearly originating in Fantastika. Two of his translated works are of interest. The "pathological empathy" endured by the protagonist of Fizika na tagata (2012; trans Angela Rodel as The Physics of Sorrow 2015) works ...
Stratford, Jordan
(? -? ) Canadian author whose interest in "fringe" Religion seems not directly to impact upon his long involvement with Steampunk as a way of seeing the world with joy and engagement. He is of sf interest for the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency series beginning with The Case of the Missing Moonstone (2015), featuring Mary Shelley ...
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 ...