SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 5 October 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 5 October 2026
Sponsor of the day: Andy Richards of Cold Tonnage Books
Morpuss, Guy
(1969- ) UK barrister and author in whose first novel, the Near Future Five Minds (2021), a kind of solution has been found to rampant Overpopulation: individual "Identities" are enabled to time-share single bodies, the resulting "communes" allotted a much increased lifespan, at the cost of experiences akin to schizophrenia. There are resemblances to Philip ...
Conquest, Joan
(1883-1941) Pseudonym of UK author Mary Eliza Louise Cooke (Mrs Leonard Cooke), born Mary Eliza Gripper and also known as Sister Martin-Nicholson following her first, brief marriage in 1907 to Allen Martin Reuben Nicholson (1883-1915); she married Leonard Cooke in 1915. She is known for floridly euphemistic (though superficially daring) novels of high romance, typical of which are Leonie of the Jungle (1921), whose eponymous heroine escapes the ...
Super 8
Film (2011). Amblin Entertainment/Bad Robot Productions for Paramount Pictures. Produced by J J Abrams and Steven Spielberg. Directed by Abrams. Written by Abrams. Cast includes Gabriel Basso, Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney, Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich, Elle Fanning, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills and Glynn Turman. 112 minutes. Colour. / Summer, 1979. Teenage high-school friends are making an amateur ...
Powell, Van
(1886-? ) US screenwriter and author of some sf interest for at least two of his series of adventures for boys: the Mystery Boys series of adventures for boys, all five volumes – including The Mystery Boys and the Inca Gold (1931), a Lost Race tale – being published simultaneously; and the Sky Scout Airplane Boys sequence beginning with The Mystery Crash ...
Lang, Andrew
(1844-1912) Scottish anthropologist, man of letters and author, active from around 1870; well known for a wide range of literary activity, including novels, poetry, belles-lettres, children's books and (perhaps most familiar to current readers) Anthologies of traditional fables and tales retold for children, with some added hagiographical and historical material, much of the editorial work being done without clear acknowledgement by his wife, Leonora Blanche ...
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 ...