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.
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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 ...
Phantom from 10,000 Leagues, The
Film (1955). Milner Brothers Productions, American Releasing Corporation (see American International Pictures). Produced by Jack Milner. Directed by Dan Milner. Written by Lou Rusoff from an original story by Dorys Lukather. Cast includes Rodney Bell, Cathy Downs, Norma Hanson (uncredited), Vivi Janiss, Phillip Pine, Helene Stanton, Kent Taylor and Michael Whalen. 80 minutes. Black and white. / Bodies are washing up on a ...
Yerxa, Leroy
(1915-1946) US author for the Pulp magazines, particularly the Ziff-Davis productions Amazing and Fantastic Adventures. He published under his own name and under some pseudonyms, the main one being Elroy Arno; others included Lee Francis which evolved into a House Name after his death (see also Frances Yerxa below as possible author under ...
Gloag, John
(1896-1981) UK author, whose World War One experiences in the trenches – he was gassed by his own side – deeply affected his work. Though he wrote several novels, he was primarily active, from 1921, in the fields of social history, architecture and design, and his first work of sf interest was the nonfiction Artifex; Or, the Future of Craftsmanship (1926 chap), an early contribution to its publisher's To-day and To-morrow ...
Britton, David
(1945-2020) UK publisher and author, founder with Michael Butterworth (and briefly Charles Partington) of Savoy Books in 1976 in Manchester, whose early list included works by Michael Moorcock, Charles Platt and Jack Trevor Story. With Butterworth, he edited The Savoy Book (anth 1978) and ...
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 ...