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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 ...
Stuff, The
Film (1985). Larco/New World. Produced by (with Peter Sabiston) and directed by Larry Cohen. Written by Cohen. Cast includes Andrea Marcovicci, Michael Moriarty, Garrett Morris and Patrick O'Neal. 87 minutes. Colour. / The Stuff is an addictive, gooey fast food which, though passive, is in all other respects a traditional Monster; this Monster Movie is, in the Cohen manner, an atypical ...
Mason, Eveleen Laura
(1838-1914) US author whose Utopia, Hiero-Salem: The Vision of Peace [for full title see Checklist below] (1889), presents spiritualist doctrines within an sf frame: the eponymous communitarian settlement in Wisconsin is inhabited by the "dualized", human beings who have shed all male or female characteristics (see Feminism; Gender). Mason's later works – most vividly ...
Mannheim, Karl
Pseudonym of the unidentified UK author (? - ) of two sf Space Operas forming the short Venus series: When the Earth Died (1950) and Vampires of Venus (1950). They are modestly competent but hasty. [JC]
Avenger, The [2]
US Comic (1955). Magazine Enterprises. Four issues. Artists include Dick Ayers, Fred Guardineer and Bob Powell. Script writers include Gardner F Fox and Paul S Newman. 36 pages per issue, with four (#1-#3) or three (#4) long strips, all featuring The Avenger; #4 was padded out with a short text story and four one-page non-fiction articles on recent technology, including what proved to be an overly optimistic piece on the ...
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 ...