SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Friday 10 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 7 July 2026
Sponsor of the day: Andy Richards of Cold Tonnage Books
Palmer, Jessica
(1953- ) US journalist and author of two fantasy series – Dark Lullaby and Renegade World, see Checklist for titles – and the Space Opera Factor sequence, comprising Random Factor (1994), Human Factor (1996) and Random Factor (1997), about a cruel war fought in interstellar space by opposing forces of Clones governed by a central ...
El Hazard The Magnificent World
Japanese Original Video Animation (OVA) (1995-1996). Original title Shinpi no Sekai Eru Hazādo. AIC, Pioneer LDC. Directed by Hiroki Hayashi. Written by Ryoe Tsukimura. Voice cast includes Yuri Amano, Kouji Ishii, Tomoko Ishimura, Tetsuya Iwanaga, Rio Natsuki, Ryotaro Okiayu, Ryūzaburō Ōtomo, Tomo Sakurai and Yoko Sawami. Seven 30-45 minute episodes. Colour. / Makoto Mizuhara (Iwanaga) accidentally activates an artefact found ...
Steffens, Arthur Joseph
(1873-1939) UK author of fiction for boys, who also wrote as by Arthur S Hardy; most of his adventure tales are nonfantastic, though Azar the Mighty (1931 chap) as by Arthur S Hardy features a Tarzan hero, an Apes as Human sidekick, and Imperialist sentiments about matters of race. [JC/RR] see also: Boys' Friend Library; ...
Wolf, Christa
(1929-2011) German author, most of whose creative life was spent in East Germany, where her career was difficult but ultimately – though perhaps not until her last decade – recognized in moat-defensive reunited Germany as triumphant. "Selbstversuch" ["Self-Experiment"] (February 1973 Sinn und Form), filmed for Television as Selbstversuch (1990) directed by Peter Bird, is a radical exercise in ...
Envoy Extraordinary, An
Pseudonym of the unidentified author (? -? ) of King Squash of Toadyland (1890), a Satirical portrait of Britain during the course of which party politics are eliminated and the King deposed, creating something like a Utopia. Any presumption that the tale is set in the Near Future because it is not Queen Victoria who loses the throne perhaps insists too strongly ...
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 ...