SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 12 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 ...
Lycoris Recoil
Japanese animated tv series (2022). A-1 Pictures. Created by Spider Lily and Asaura. Directed by Shingo Adachi. Written by Asaura. Voice cast includes Chika Anzai, Ami Koshimizu, Misaki Kuno, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Kosuke Sakaki, Yōji Ueda and Shion Wakayama. Thirteen 24-minute episodes. Colour. / The Spider Lily is a plant grown around rice fields to poison pests: its Latin name is Lycoris radiata. / Japan is free of the terrorism and major ...
Hansen, Rob
(1954- ) UK fan, active in Fandom since the mid-1970s, who has edited and co-edited numerous Fanzines including his debut production Epsilon (18 issues 1976-1985) and Pulp (19 issues 1986-1991); his artwork has appeared in many fanzines including his own. He was the 1984 TransAtlantic Fan Fund delegate (see Fan Funds). From 1987 he has released the ...
Lach-Szyrma, W S
(1841-1915) UK Anglican clergyman and author, son of the Polish philosopher and soldier Krystyn Lach Szyrma (1790-1866), who had come to the UK in 1832; Lach-Szyrma (he hyphenated his surname) began writing his series of Scientific Romances (see also Planetary Romance), featuring a Fantastic Voyage around the Solar System by the winged Venusian ...
Nautilus Award
Polish Award – Nagroda Nautilus in Polish – for the best Fantastika written in Polish and published in Poland in the preceding year, established in 2004 by Robert J Szmidt, editor of the magazine Science Fiction. The prize was presented annually in two categories – novel and short story (respectively ...
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 ...