SF Encyclopedia Home Page
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
Sponsor of the day: Paul Giamatti
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 ...
Hall, Desmond W
(1911-1992) Australian-born New Zealand author and editor, in US from early adulthood; he served as assistant editor of Astounding Stories of Super Science (see Astounding Science-Fiction) under Harry Bates 1930-1933, also collaborating with Bates as a writer under the pseudonyms H G Winter and, more famously, Anthony Gilmore; as Gilmore they produced the popular Hawk Carse series, which ...
Maddock, Larry
Pseudonym of Jack Owen Jardine (1931-2009), a creative director in radio, for his Agent of T.E.R.R.A. series, speedy Time Operas starring Hannibal Fortune and an Alien sidekick, agents of the eponymous Time Police engaged in a prolonged Changewar to save Earth from her enemies. The series comprises The Flying Saucer Gambit (1966), ...
Chapman, Edgar L
(1936-2019) US academic and sf critic, with the English Department at Bradley University (Peoria, Illinois) 1963-2002, then professor emeritus at Bradley until his death. His solo works include studies of Philip José Farmer and Robert Silverberg: The Magic Labyrinth of Philip José Farmer (1984 chap) and The Road to Castle Mount: The Science Fiction of Robert Silverberg (1999). ...
Ape Man, The
US film (1943). Banner Productions. Directed by William Beaudine. Written by Barney Sarecky, supposedly based on Karl Brown's story "They Creep in the Dark" (claims that this appeared in The Saturday Evening Post remain unverified). Cast includes Louise Currie, Wallace Ford, Henry Hall, Emil Van Horn, Ralph Littlefield, Bela Lugosi and Minerva Urecal. 64 minutes. Black and white. / Dr. Randall (Hall) ...
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 ...