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Tuesday 21 July 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 July 2026
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Storr, Catherine
(1913-2001) UK doctor and author, for many years a psychotherapist, after 1963 a prolific author of journalism, children's books – most famously Marianne Dreams (1958; vt The Magic Drawing Pencil 1960), in which physical and mental malaises are incarnated in a fantasy world; it was adapted by Moira Buffini as the play Marianne Dreams (first performed 2007; 2007) – and an sf novel, Unnatural Fathers ...
Setlowe, Richard
(1933-2022) US naval officer and author whose first novel, The Brink (1976), though not fantastic, explores the complex events (and paranoias) that might lead the world to the verge of World War Three. Of more direct sf interest is The Experiment (1980), a Near Future tale in which a man terminally ill with lung cancer (see Medicine) is given a chance to live through ...
Carter, Carmen
(1954- ) US author who has been primarily associated with Star Trek, writing one solo tie for Star Trek itself, Dreams of the Raven (1987), and three for Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Children of Hamelin (1988), with Michael Jan Friedman, Peter David and Robert Greenberger, ...
Organlegging
A virtually self-defining sf term based on "bootlegging" and denoting the illicit acquisition of and dealing in human organs and other bodily parts. It was coined by Larry Niven in early stories of his Known Space series, in particular those collected in The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton (coll 1976), beginning with "The Organleggers" (January 1969 Galaxy; vt "Death by Ecstasy" in The Shape of Space, coll ...
VR.5
Tv series (1995; vt VR5). Samoset Productions with Rysher Entertainment for the Fox Television Network. Created by Jeannine Renshaw. Produced by Adam Cherry, Jack Clements, others. Directors include Rob Bowman, Jim Charleston and Michael Katleman. Writers include Naomi Janzen, Renshaw and John Sacret Young. Cast includes Michael Easton, Louise Fletcher, Anthony Head, David McCallum, Tracy Needham, Will Patton and Lori Singer. 13 45-minute episodes. Colour. / The central ...
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 ...