SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Wednesday 16 July 2025
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.
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Grant, Michael
Pseudonym of US author Michael Reynolds (1954- ), married to K A Applegate, with whom he has collaborated uncredited on titles in her Animorphs sequence (see her entry for details). Of sf interest is his Gone sequence of Near Future Young Adult tales, set in a shattered Dystopian America, and comprising Gone (2008), ...
Fichman, Frederick
(? - ) US author whose SETI (1990) pits its teenaged hero against both US and Soviet governments – whose representatives are envious of his freelance initiatives – in the race to make First Contact (see also SETI). The teenager does very well. The SETI sequence is continued in self-published sequels: see Checklist below. [JC] see also: ...
Tarzan and the Super 7
Animated tv series (1979-1980). Filmation Associates for CBS-TV. Produced by Don Christensen. Directors unknown. Writers include Gerry Bordreau and Buzz Dixon. Based on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Bob Kane, Dixon, Michael Weaver and others. Cast includes Melendy Britt, Kim Hamilton, Ty Henderson, Robert Ridgley, Joe Stern, Joan van Ark, Burt Ward and Adam West. 33 episodes overall, whose individual ...
Lombardi, Tom
(? - ) US author of a Young Adult novel, My Summer on Earth (2008), in which an Alien named Clint is sent to Earth to persuade another alien, disguised as a film actor whose first name is Clint, to come back home; the tale is spoofish but frequently sharp. [JC]
Independent Games
Independent Games can be defined as games owned by their creators, rather than by a large development or publishing company which exerts some degree of control over the design. Such games are often also published by the individuals who designed them. This definition is difficult to apply precisely; games may be developed and published independently and then rereleased by a major publisher, for example. In practice, however, the distinction between games which are developed independently and ...
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 ...