SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 15 July 2025
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 14 July 2025
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Solarpunk
Term used to describe a school of sf writing that developed during the 1980s and has grown in popularity since the late 2000s. The word originated from an anonymous 2008 blog post in which the author advocated for a new literary genre which explores the revival of old Technology to solve modern problems, citing Songs from the Stars (1980) by Norman Spinrad as the genre's first text. Spinrad's novel takes place ...
Atlantis
The legend of Atlantis, an advanced civilization on a continent (or large Island) in the middle of the Atlantic which was overwhelmed by some geological cataclysm, has its earliest extant source in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias (circa 350 BCE). The legend can be seen as a parable of the Fall of Man, and writers who have since embroidered the story have generally shown less interest in the cataclysm itself than ...
Gernsback, Hugo
Working and perhaps eventually legal name of Luxembourg-born US inventor, author, editor and publisher Hugo Gernsbacher (1884-1967), who emigrated to America in 1904 to market his various minor inventions. A successful catalogue of radio parts led to a focus on publishing magazines, mostly dealing with practical science or sf, though his most popular magazine may have been the mildly scandalous Sexology. Gernsback made important contributions to the growth and development of modern sf as ...
Carpenter, Scott
(1925-2013) US astronaut, second American to orbit the Earth, US Navy aquanaut, and author of several nonfiction books. His Technothriller, The Steel Albatross (1991), features a very Near Future conflict Under the Sea between America and the Soviets (thus very near future indeed), involving Weapons capable of devastating the planet; the titular US ...
George, Brian
(? - ) UK author in whose sf novel, Atom of Doubt (1959), a fake hormonal treatment which ostensibly makes women irresistible to men turns out to be real, and causes some chaos; there are elements of Satire in the tale. [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 reviews on BBC Radio from 1974 and ...