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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 ...
Scorpion, The
US Pulp magazine, one issue, April 1939, published by Popular Publications; edited by Ejler and Edith Jakobsson. The Scorpion was in every respect a sequel to The Octopus, only the alias of the villainous protagonist being changed. The sadistic, borderline-sf feature novel, "Satan's Incubator" by Randolph Craig (Norvell W Page), was reprinted by Robert E ...
Lightner, A M
(1904-1988) US author of much popular-science nonfiction under her married name, Alice L Hopf, beginning with Monarch Butterflies (1965), and of Children's SF and Young Adult fiction as Lightner, beginning with "A New Game" for Boys' Life in 1959. After The Pillar and the Flame (1928), a nonfantastic narrative poem, she began to publish sf novels with the undemanding ...
Godber, Noël
(1881-1953) UK author, in active service during World War One, of several light novels, the first of which, Amazing Spectacles (1931), boasts some sf content: the Invention of a pair of spectacles that allow its wearer to see through clothing, to some erotic effect. [JC]
Red Giant
Performance (2014). Composed by Adam Matlock; libretto by Brian Slattery; directed by Britt Olsen-Ecker. Produced by Rhymes With Opera, featuring Elisabeth Halliday (soprano), Bonnie Lander (soprano), and Robert Maril (baritone). / During their 2013-2014 season Rhymes With Opera produced Red Giant, a chamber opera composed by Adam Matlock for three singers and a small orchestra. Sf author Brian Francis Slattery wrote the libretto; ...
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 ...