SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 17 May 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 11 May 2026
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Suzuki Kōji
(1957-2026) Japanese author and essayist, largely known in English through the Cinema adaptations of several of his books, the international success of which obscured his wide-ranging domestic output. His horror and Equipoisal fiction proceeded in tandem with a wide array (not listed here) of books on young fatherhood and occasional works on motorcycle travel. He was also the translator of Simon Brett's ...
Simpson, N F
(1919-2011) UK playwright, screenwriter and author whose relationship to conventional sf is tangential, though several of his plays employ Absurdist SF strategies, including his first, A Resounding Tinkle (performed 1 December 1957 Royal Court Theatre, London; 1958 chap), in which new governments are formed in response to door-to-door enquiries, and a suburban couple is forced to complain when the elephant they had ordered is the wrong size; and ...
Osborne, Karen
(? - ) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with "Retirement" in Aiofe's Kiss for December 2008; her Memory War sequence beginning with Architects of Memory (2020) is a Hard SF Space Opera, containing elements of Military SF. set in an interstellar environment with resemblances to traditional ...
Pringle, David
(1950- ) Scottish editor and author, long resident in England but back in Scotland from 2004, who served as Research Fellow for the Science Fiction Foundation in East London 1978-1979 and as editor of Foundation 1980-1986. With Malcolm Edwards he was one of the prime movers in the eight-strong collective which founded ...
Nelson, Frederick
(? - ) Canadian author who is of some sf interest for his Near Future novella Toronto in 1928 AD (1908 chap), in which a mildly fictionalized narrative illustrates how progress – signalled by Transportation advances and the explosive growth of suburbs – has transformed the titular City (see ...
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 ...