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Sunday 7 December 2025
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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Stoppard, Tom
Working name of Czech-born playwright and screenwriter Tomáš Straussler (1937-2025), in the UK since 1946, the Stoppard surname being acquired from his stepfather when his widowed mother remarried in 1945. His early dramatic work was characterized by extravagant wit and wordplay, and an Absurdist application of logic to surreal or insane situations. Following the broadcast of several Radio plays, his ...
Cinemagic
Letter-size saddle-stapled special effects Cinema magazine. Originally a Fanzine issued by Don Dohler (1946-2006) for 11 photocopied issues from 1972 to 1979. Relaunched in 1979 by O'Quinn Publications. Edited by Dohler and others. 36 issues from 1979 to 1987; the publication schedule was roughly quarterly. / This was the first US magazine to offer instructions on how to create special effects for amateur films. It began as a ...
Starforce: Alpha Centauri
Board and counter Wargame (1974). Simulations Publications Inc (SPI). Designed by Redmond Simonsen. / Probably the first widely popular science fiction Wargame, Starforce is a game of non-lethal interstellar combat, played on a hexagonal grid map with cardboard counters. The game is set in a detailed Future History which features frequent ...
Abrashkin, Raymond
(1911-1960) US film director, screenwriter, and author. His best-known film was The Little Fugitive (1953). For his collaborative work on the Danny Dunn series of sf juveniles (see Children's SF), see his co-author Jay Williams. [JC]
Muir, Edwin
(1887-1959) Scottish poet, translator and author, prevented by ill health from active service in World War One, though his early poetry reflects upon the consequences of that disaster for the world. He is best known for the translations with his wife Willa Muir of very nearly the entire works of Franz Kafka, introducing that central figure to the English-language world. It has been suggested that ...
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 ...