SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 18 July 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 14 July 2026
Sponsor of the day: Ansible Editions
Schmidt, Dennis
(1939-2003) US author who restricted himself almost exclusively to series during his short active career; although he began publishing work of genre interest with "Seeker of the Way" in Galaxy for October 1976, the tale was a prelude to the three volumes of the Kensho sequence – Way-Farer (1978), Kensho (1979), Satori (1981) and Wanderer (1985) – which features a protagonist who combines Zen ...
Pärn, Priit
(1946- ) Estonian director, writer and animator; originally a plant ecologist, who in 1974 or shortly afterwards joined Joonisfilm, the animation division of the state-run Tallinnfilm film studios. / Estonian animators have been a major influence on Soviet Bloc animation, in part due to their country's proximity to Finland and its television signals, allowing a wider pool of inspiration. Pärn is probably the most important of these ...
Mercer, Harold
(1882-1952) Australian author, mostly of short fiction, whose Amazon Island (1933) is a Utopia set on an Island in the Pacific inhabited by a Lost Race where sex-roles (see Gender; Sex Women in SF) have been reversed, more or less to the benefit of all. [JC]
Jacobs, Harvey
(1930-2017) US author whose work, much of it taking on a Magic-Realist glow, generally focused on the nature and fate of the urban Jew, especially in New York. He began publishing work of some genre interest with "A Wind Age" for Tomorrow in 1951; his more fable-like tales, many of which appear in The Egg of the Glak and Other Stories (coll 1969) and My Rose & My Glove: Stories (Real and Surreal) ...
Space Ship Sappy
Short US film (1957). Columbia Pictures. Directed by Jules White. Written by Jack White. Cast included Doreen Woodbury, Benny Rubin, Marilyn Hanold, Lorinne Crawford, Harriet Tyler, Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe Besser. 16 minutes. Black and white. / The Three Stooges (at the time Howard, Fine and Besser), in need of work, are hired by Scientist A J Rimple (Rubin), though they are unaware he will be taking them on a ...
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 ...