SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 19 April 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 April 2026
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Watson, Ian
(1943-2026) UK teacher and author who lectured in English in Tanzania (1965-1967) and Tokyo (1967-1970) before beginning to publish sf with "Roof Garden Under Saturn" for New Worlds in 1969; he then taught Future Studies for six years at Birmingham Polytechnic, taking there one of the first academic courses in sf in the UK; he became a full-time writer in 1976, publishing around 200 short stories since 1969 at a gradually increasing tempo and with visibly ...
Conquest, Robert
(1917-2015) UK-born Anglo-American author, poet, critic and editor, in the US from 1981; he was a member of the Diplomatic Corps 1946-1956, and was later literary editor of the Spectator. He was made an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1956 and a CMG (Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George) in 1996, and as an esteemed Conservative controversialist was awarded the American Presidential Medal of Honour in 2005. As an sf figure he was most active as an ...
Top-Notch Comics
US Comic (1939-1942). 27 issues (#1-#27). M.L.J. Magazines Inc.. Artists include Al Camy, Warren King, Ed Smalle and Lin Streeter. Scriptwriters include Jack and Otto Binder (see Eando Binder), Joe Blair, Bob Montana and Harry Shorten. 68 pages. Usually 9 long strips, early issues also had a short text story; plus occasional short strips and non-fiction pieces as filler. Became Top-Notch Laugh Comics (1942-1944), 18 issues (#28-#45), discussed below. / ...
Dragon Ball
Japanese animated tv series (1986-1989). Based on the Manga by Akira Toriyama (1955-2024). Toei Animation. Directed by Daisuke Nishio and Minoru Okazaki. Written by Toshiki Inoue and Takao Koyama. Voice cast includes Takeshi Aono, Shigeru Chiba, Toshio Furukawa, Shōzō Iizuka, Masako Nozawa, Osamu Saka, Mayumi Sho, Naoki Tatsuta and Hiromi Tsuru. 153 24-minute episodes. Colour. / One day Old ...
Saga of Tanya the Evil, The
Japanese animated tv series (2017). Original title Yōjo Senki. Based on the Light Novel and Manga written by Carlo Zen, illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuk and Chika Tōjō respectively. NUT studio. Directed by Yutaka Uemura. Written by Kenta Ihara. Voice cast includes Hideaki Tezuka, Nobuo Tobita, Kôsuke Toriumi and Aoi Yûki. Twelve 24-minute episodes (plus a recap episode ...
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 ...