SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 13 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.
Site updated on 8 June 2026
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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 ...
Dean, Roger
(1944- ) UK illustrator. He has worked primarily a commercial designer, especially of posters and record-album covers, which show a strong Fantasy influence; his best-known works in this area are undoubtedly his album covers for the rock group Yes, and he has also done covers for Videogames. On a few occasions he has produced sf and fantasy Illustration, ...
Groc, Léon
(1882-1956) French author of many sf novels, of which only one, L'autobus évanoui (1914; trans Lawrence Shackelford Morris as The Bus That Vanished 1928), has been translated into English; it is a mystery novel involving an energy Ray which causes the eponymous vanishment. [JC]
Darlington, Andrew
(1947- ) UK poet and author, sometimes writing as Andy Darlington, who began to publish work of genre interest with "Stairs and Steps" in Corridor for May-June 1972; a selection of his poetry has been assembled as Euroshima Mon Amour: Poems from the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits (coll 2000 chap) (see Poetry), and a selection of his short fiction as A Saucerful of Secrets (coll 2016). Darlington's sf novel, ...
Masters of Science Fiction
US tv series (2007; vt Stephen Hawking's Sci-Fi Masters). IDT Entertainment, Industry Entertainment, MOSF Productions, Reunion Pictures, for ABC. Producers include Ben Browning, Brendan Ferguson and Adam Goldworm. Directors: Harold Becker, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Petroni, Mark Rydell and Michael Tolkin. Writers: Sam Egan, Harlan Ellison, Josh Olson, Darnell Martin, Michael Petroni and Michael ...
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 ...