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Friday 13 February 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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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Rutman, Leo
(1935- ) US playwright and author. Spear of Destiny (1988) is an occult fantasy set in the Spanish Civil War, about the spear that pierced Christ's side, and which may remain magically potent. Of sf interest is Clash of Eagles (1990), a Hitler Wins tale set some years after its Jonbar Point, the surrender of Great Britain in 1941. America has been ...
Sher, Antony
(1949- ) South African-born actor and author, mostly in UK from 1968; of his four novels, The Feast (1998) incorporates sf elements into a complexly Equipoisal narrative set in an unnamed Near Future African state after its brutal dictator has been deposed and (seemingly) killed. This profound disruption to the reality structure of the fragile state causes literal convulsions in the ...
Godfrey, Hal
Pseudonym of Irish journalist and author Charlotte O'Conor Eccles (1863-1911), who began to publish nonfiction work on Feminist issues in Irish periodicals, and whose later career was centred on London; she normally used her actual name. Her sf novel, The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore: A Farcical Novel (1897), seemingly her only work as by Godfrey, very alertly describes the Time in Reverse life experienced by the ...
Battle of the Planets
Animated tv series (1978-1980). Sandy Frank Entertainment. Syndicated. Produced by Alan Dinehart, David E Hanson. Directors included Dinehart and Hanson. Writers included Peter Germano, Howard Post and Harry Winkler among many others. Animation designers included Alex Toth. Cast includes Casey Casem, Alan Oppenheimer, Ronnie Schell, Janet Waldo and Alan Young. 85 30-minute episodes. Colour. / Some time in the future, ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...