SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 14 July 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.
Site updated on 7 July 2025
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Gibbons, Gavin
(1922-1978) UK publisher and author of both nonfiction and fiction; of the latter, By Space Ship to the Moon: A Tale of Adventure in Outer Space for Boys (1958), a Young Adult tale whose modestly familiar contents are hinted at in the full title. Other titles with a sound of sf – like The Coming of the Space Ships (1956) or They Rode in Space Ships (1957) – are in fact UFO books, and ...
Third Alternative, The
UK Semiprozine published by TTA Press, Ely and edited by Andy {Cox}; 42 issues, #1 [January] 1994 to Summer 2005. After a two-year hiatus it was reborn as the dark fantasy and horror magazine Black Static. The first ten issues were in A5 size, but from issue #11 (Winter 1996/1997) switched to A4 format; Black Static retained this format from #1 (September 2007) to #28 (April/May 2012) and from #29 (July/August 2012) changed – with what was now ...
Wells, Basil
(1912-2003) US author in various genres, including detective stories and Westerns, who began publishing sf with "Rebirth of Man" as Basil E Wells in Super Science Stories for September 1940, and became a frequent contributor to Planet Stories. His generally workmanlike short fiction is assembled in Planets of Adventure (coll 1949) and Doorways to Space (coll ...
Patchin Review, The
US Amateur Magazine of science-fiction criticism and controversy, edited by Charles Platt from Patchin Place, New York (hence the title). Seven saddle-stitched Digest-sized issues, typically 56pp plus card covers, dated July 1981 to March 1985. / The Patchin Review was intended to address what its editor saw as worrying trends in 1980s sf publishing, in particular the growing ...
Walker, Hugh
Pseudonym of Austrian author Hubert Straßl (1941- ), whose Magira sequence – featuring a character who first creates a Wargame and then becomes absorbed within it – begins with Reiter der Finsternis (1975; trans Christine Priest as War-Gamers' World 1978), Das Heer der Finsternis (1975; trans Christine Priest as Army of Darkness 1979), Boten der Finsternis ...
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 ...