SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 13 January 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 12 January 2026
Sponsor of the day: Ansible Editions
von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Mercier, Louis-Sébastien
(1740-1814) French playwright and author best known for his sixty or more plays and for his anecdotal journalism; he was active in the French Revolution, being imprisoned during the Terror. He is of interest for his exceedingly popular Proto SF tale, L'an deux mille quatre cent quarante: Rêve s'il en fût jamais (1771 Holland; trans William Hooper as Memoirs of the Year Two Thousand Five Hundred 1772 2vols UK; French text rev ...
Huberath, Marek S
Pseudonym of Polish biophysicist Hubert Harańczyk (1954- ), who as an author entered the Genre SF field with "Wrocieeś Sneogg, wiedziaam ..." (September 1987 Fantastyka; trans Michael Kandel as "Yoo Retoont, Sneogg. Ay Noo" – see Checklist), which won that magazine's second short story competition. It is an intense and existentially frightening meditation on the ...
Trease, Geoffrey Robert
(1909-1998) UK critic and author, mostly of historical fiction for younger and Young Adult readers, publishing 113 books between 1934 and his retirement in 1997. Most of these were historical fiction and manifested his left-wing politics, beginning with the Communist-influenced Bows Against the Barons (1934). There is a strong Utopian element in some of his early novels, including the ...
File 770
US Fanzine since January 1978, edited from Los Angeles by Mike Glyer, roughly bimonthly until 1999 but thereafter publishing three or fewer issues per year until 2016 (see below); the name alludes to the legendary (though only in Fandom) party in Room 770 of the 1951 Worldcon hotel that ran for two days and was a highlight of the event. / A newsletter covering Fandom, with ...
Langford, David
(1953- ) UK author, critic, editor, publisher and sf fan, in the latter capacity recipient of 21 Hugo awards for fan writing – some of the best of his several hundred pieces are assembled as Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (coll 1992 chap US; much exp vt The Silence of the Langford 1996; exp 2015 ebook) as Dave Langford, edited by Ben Yalow – plus five Best Fanzine Hugos ...