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 ...
Ōshima Yumiko
(1947- ) Japanese comics artist whose influence in visual media greatly outstrips her relatively modest publishing output. With her debut with the non-genre "Paula no Namida" ["Paula's Tears"] (1968 Margaret), Ōshima became one of the pioneer female artists taking control of the girls' comics medium from the male creators who had previously dominated it (see Year 24 Group). / Joker e ["To ...
Hyphen
Northern Irish Fanzine (1952-1965) edited from Belfast by Walt Willis, with Chuck Harris and later Ian McAuley. 36 issues duplicated on UK quarto paper, May 1952 to February 1965, plus a single-issue revival in 1987 [see below]. / Hyphen is probably the most famous of humorous fanzines. Although production standards (especially for early issues) were less than impressive, the quality and ...
Reizin, P Z
(? - ) UK Television and print journalist and author whose first novel, the Near Future Happiness for Humans (2018), explores the increasingly invasive interface between Homo sapiens and AIs, whose access to their human "users" is shown as having grown exponentially, with dangerous consequences when (as here) the AI in question gains consciousness. ...
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 ...