SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 15 May 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.
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Fabian, Stephen E
(1930-2025) American artist, sometimes credited as Steve Fabian or simply Fabian. The self-trained Fabian first worked as an electronic engineer, but he began contributing art to Fanzines in the late 1960s and became a full-time professional artist in 1973. He did a number of covers and interior art for SF Magazines, mostly Amazing, Fantastic, and ...
Peters, Alan
(? -? ) UK author of The Secret Formula (1932), a Near Future tale in which a cure for cancer is discovered (see Medicine). [JC]
Franklin, Jay
Pseudonym of John Franklin Carter (1897-1967). a journalist who did intelligence work for the American government in World War Two, and the author of several nonfiction books on American political figures as well as two sf novels, Champagne Charlie (1950), a mild Near Future political Satire, and The Rat Race (8 March-5 April 1947 Collier's Weekly; rev 1950), about a ...
Cherryh, C J
Working name of US author Carolyn Janice Cherry (1942- ), who taught for some years (1965-1976) before becoming a full-time writer; she is married to Jane S Fancher, and is the sister of David A Cherry. Since 1976 – when she won the John W Campbell Award for most promising writer – she has produced more novels than stories, publishing several before ...
Mack, Thomas D
(? -? ) US author of The Greatest Man on Earth (coll 1925), the title story of which features a performer whose heightened senses (see Psi Powers) were created for him by his scientist father. "The Spectre Bullet" (in The Spectre Bullet/The Avenging Note, anth 1932 chap) is a modest contribution to Hugo Gernsback's ...
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 ...