SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 24 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 ...
Adams, Scott
(1957-2026) US author and cartoonist best known for the Dilbert strip published from 1989, which when at its best superbly (in terms of concept and accuracy of Satire rather than quality of drawing) satirized contemporary office life and corporate incompetence. As with most ambitious modern comic strips, it segues frequently into sf and fantasy tropes – such as Robot office workers, wish-fulfilling ...
Doney, Nina Murnie
(1884-1958) US author of My Life on Eight Planets; Or, a Glimpse of Other Worlds (1923), an sf tale tinged with an occult aura, whose protagonists enjoy a Fantastic Voyage through the Solar System, taking on a new incarnation upon each planet; each world has a distinct civilization which is described through new eyes, as the travellers undergo a form of Reincarnation at each ...
2000 Plus
US Radio series (1950-1952; vt 2000+; vt Two Thousand Plus). Created by Sherman H Dryer (1913-1989) for the Mutual Broadcasting System. Produced by Robert Weenolsen (1900-1979). Written by Dryer and Weenolsen. Announcer: Ken Marvin. Uncertain number of 30-minute episodes. Perhaps 100 instalments were produced; 32 are known to have survived. / This may have been the first US adult sf Radio drama anthology series, ...
Brex, J Twells
(1873-1920) UK journalist and author, active from the 1890s, some of his work being contributed to Boys' Papers; The Civil War of 1915 (1912) describes a Near Future class war in Britain. "Scare-Mongerings" from the Daily Mail 1896-1914: The Paper That Foretold the War (anth 1914 chap) assembles claimed Predictions of World War One, some ...
Langford, David
(1953- ) UK author, critic, editor, publisher and sf fan, in the latter capacity recipient of 21 Hugo awards for fan writing – some of the best of his several hundred pieces are assembled as Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (coll 1992 chap US; much exp vt The Silence of the Langford 1996; exp 2015 ebook) as Dave Langford, edited by Ben Yalow – plus five Best Fanzine Hugos ...