SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 15 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.
Site updated on 9 February 2026
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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 ...
Walton, Barbara E
(? - ) US author of a Shared World Tie to the Television series Quantum Leap, Quantum Leap: Odyssey (1995), whose storyline reflects the general bent of, but does not duplicate any episode in, the actual series. [JC]
Finney, Jack
Working name of US author Walter Braden Finney (1911-1995), whose career began when he was 35; he published his first work in the genre, "Such Interesting Neighbors" for Collier's Weekly, 6 January 1951. Although he is as well known for sf as for anything else, he did not specialize in the field, adapting his highly professional skills to mysteries and general fiction as well. Stories from his first years as a writer of sf can be found in ...
Eisenstein, Alex
(1945- ) US author and illustrator whose fiction has been exclusively in collaboration with his wife, Phyllis Eisenstein, beginning with "The Trouble with the Past" for New Dimensions 1 (anth 1971) edited by Robert Silverberg; although only between five and ten stories are bylined with both names, their collaborative efforts extend throughout her work. Eisenstein is specifically ...
Buckner, Robert
(1906-1989) US journalist, screenwriter, producer and author of one sf novel, Starfire (19 March-2 April 1960 Saturday Evening Post as "Moon Pilot"; 1960; vt Moon Pilot 1962). This deals with the misadventures of a US astronaut scheduled for the first ever manned Space Flight to the Moon; it was filmed by Disney as Moon Pilot ...
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 ...