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Thursday 10 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.
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Muir, Willa
(1890-1970) Scottish poet, translator and author, most of whose translations, like those of Franz Kafka, were done in collaboration with her husband Edwin Muir [who see for further details]; she also published some solo translations as by Agnes Neill Scott. It has been plausibly argued that she was the senior figure in the Muirs' career as translators, certainly on grounds of technical facility. On the basis of their ...
Arlen, Michael
(1895-1956) UK-Bulgarian-Armenian author, born Dikran Kouyoumdjian, in the UK from 1901, not allowed to enlist in World War One because of his confused national status; naturalized in 1922 under the name Michael Arlen (which he then took by deed poll). Initially as Dikran Kouyoumdjian, he was active from 1916, writing as Arlen from about 1920. He is mainly remembered for The Green Hat: A Romance for a Few People ...
York, J Steven
(1957- ) US author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Starbird" (in L Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume V, anth 1989, ed Algis Budrys), and who concentrated on Ties for various enterprises: for the Marvel Comics Generation X series beginning with Generation X: Crossroads (1998); for the ...
Rifbjerg, Klaus
(1931-2015) Danish poet and author, who has published at least 100 books since 1956; in his sf novel, De Hellige Aber (1981; trans Steve Murray as Witness to the Future 1987), two adolescents are transported almost half a century forward from 1941 (see Time Travel; World War Two), but find little in the year 1988 to give them joy about Progress. [JC]
Kincaid, Robin
(? - ) US author who began to publish work of Fantasy interest with "The Forging" in Swords Against Darkness IV (anth 1979) edited by Andrew J Offutt; his Time Travel story "We're Working on It" appeared in Analog for March 1981. Novel-length work comprises two contributions to Offutt's Spaceways sequence of ...
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 ...