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Sunday 14 June 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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Duffy, Maureen
(1933-2026) UK author, active from around 1950, several of whose books focused on London, including Capital (1975), a complex set of era-switching meditations – including a Neanderthal man's thoughts about the future – on the deep mythos of the city. The novel influenced Michael Moorcock's Mother London (1988) (as the author acknowledged clearly), and similar later works by Iain ...
EVE Online
Videogame (2003). CCP Games (CCP). Designed by Reynir Harðarson. Platforms: Win (2003); Lin, Mac (2007). / EVE Online is perhaps best described as a Massively Multiplayer Online Space Sim (see Massively Multiplayer Online Games). While the game has role-playing elements, including the ability to improve the skills of player characters, it could ...
Lafferty, Mur
Working name of US podcaster, journalist and author Mary Lafferty (1973- ), active in the former capacity from around 2004; after audio release of some fiction, she began publishing work of genre interest with "Rex the Dog" in Murky Depths for June 2008. The issuing of her first novel, Playing for Keeps (2008), marks her sophisticated use of contemporary media: the tale was first published as an audio book, then as an ebook, then in print form: the ...
Wilkes, Marilyn Z
(? - ) US author of the C.L.U.T.Z. sequence of sf tales for the youngest of Young Adult readers, beginning with C.L.U.T.Z. (1982). The titular acronym stands for Combined Level Unit Type Z, and is the name of an obsolescent Robot who befriends and is befriended by the young protagonist in the distant Near Future. Hi-jinks ensue. [JC]
Sidney, A
(? -? ) UK author of Destination Unknown (1928), a Lost Race tale set in Africa. [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 ...