SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 20 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.
Site updated on 19 January 2026
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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 ...
Invisible Avenger
Film (1958; vt The Invisible Avenger; vt Bourbon Street Shadows; vt Terror in the Night). Republic Pictures. Produced by Emanuel Demby and Eric Sayers. Directed by James Wong Howe, Ben Parker and John Sledge. Written by George Bellak and Ruth Jeffries from a story by Walter B Gibson (uncredited). Cast includes Mark Daniels, Steve Dano, Richard Derr, Dan Mullin and Helena Westcott. 60 minutes. Black and white. / Expatriate ...
McNelly, Willis E
(1920-2003) US academic, sf critic and editor long based at California State University at Fullerton, where he gave what were among the earlier sf classes in the USA. His anthologies include the Mars-themed Mars, We Love You (anth 1971; vt The Book of Mars 1976) edited with Jane Hipolito, Above the Human Landscape: A Social Science Fiction Anthology (anth 1972) edited with Leon E Stover and ...
Roberts, Charles G D
(1860-1943) Canadian poet and author, important in Canada's literary history, prolific in several modes from 1880 to 1941, brother of Theodore Goodridge Roberts; the posthumous collapse of his reputation came about partly because of the unyielding conservatism of his poetry (now forgotten except for warhorses), but also because his racism about Native Canadians (and others) has worn poorly. ...
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 ...