SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 13 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 12 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 ...
Aaron, Rachel
(1982- ) US author who also writes under her married name Rachel Bach, her husband and occasional collaborator being Travis Bach (? - ), and who initially became known for the Legend of Eli Monpress fantasy sequence beginning with The Spirit Thief (2010). Her first work of sf interest was the Paradox series – comprising Fortune's Pawn (2013), Honor's Knight (2014) and ...
Douglas, Iain
(? - ) UK author of whom nothing is known beyond his authorship of four sf adventures for Robert Hale Limited, beginning with Point of Impact (1979). [JC]
Hardisty, Paul E
(? - ) Canadian engineer, environmental scientist and author, in Australia for some years; perhaps best-known for the Claymore Straker sequence of detections, beginning with The Abrupt Physics of Dying (2014), whose focus on Ecological crises brings the series close to the fantastic [the series is listed below for convenience]. Hardisty is of direct sf interest for The Forcing sequence beginning with ...
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Polish/Japanese animated online tv series (2022). Studio Trigger. A prequel to the Videogame Cyberpunk 2077 (2020) created by CD Projekt Red, with Mike Pondsmith. Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. Writers include Jan Bartkowicz, Łukasz Ludkowski, Masahiko Ōtsuka, Bartosz Sztybor and Yoshiki Usa. Voice cast includes Kazuhiko ...
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 ...