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Friday 4 September 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 31 August 2026
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Murray, Will
Working name of US author William Patrick Murray (1953-2026), who showed an interest throughout his career in Superheroes of the Pulp tradition (on which he was a known authority) such as Doc Savage, about which figure he wrote the nonfiction Secrets of Doc Savage (1981 chap). In this context he had been literary agent for Lester Dent's estate since 1979. ...
Emmerich, Roland
(1955- ) German filmmaker. His first three features were made in Germany: the cold-war Space Station thriller Das Arche Noah Prinzip (1984; vt The Noah's Ark Principle US), supernatural fantasy Joey (1985; vt Making Contact), and mining-planet action piece Moon 44 (1989). The last featured US actor Dean Devlin, who would go on to write and produce on ...
Blackman, Malorie
(1962- ) UK screenwriter and author, prolific in several genres and for various age levels, though she is almost certainly best-known for the Young Adult Noughts & Crosses sequence beginning with Noughts & Crosses (2001) [for vts see Checklist below], which is set in an Alternate World called Zafrica where whites are oppressed and Blacks are in charge (see ...
Kajio Shinji
(1947- ) Japanese author, recipient of several Seiun Awards, much of whose career in the twentieth century was a sideline to his role in the family business, the Kajio petrol station franchise. Then the youngest member of the Uchūjin authors' group, Kajio approached Cryonics as a form of very slow Time Travel in "Mia e ...
Holmes, F Ratcliffe
Working name of Frederick William Ratcliffe-Holmes (circa 1878-1952) UK naturalist, film-producer and author whose The Secret People: Adventure in Africa (1928) is a Lost Race tale set in Africa, where an Ancient Egyptian civilization is discovered by the Young Adult protagonists. [JC]
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 ...