SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 19 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 14 January 2026
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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 ...
Adams, Scott
(1957-2026) US author and cartoonist best known for the Dilbert strip published from 1989, which when at its best superbly (in terms of concept and accuracy of Satire rather than quality of drawing) satirized contemporary office life and corporate incompetence. As with most ambitious modern comic strips, it segues frequently into sf and fantasy tropes – such as Robot office workers, wish-fulfilling ...
Pyramid Books
US paperback publishing company founded in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers. In its early years it specialized in "racy" novels and Westerns, but it soon began to publish sf, beginning with a reprint of Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1956; vt Tomorrow's World 1956) by Evan Hunter writing as Hunt Collins. Its early offerings were divided between original work and reprints (the latter often with sensational titles ...
Wyman, L P
(1873-1950) US author, mostly of boys' books, including nonfantastic series like The Golden Boys and The Lakewood Boys sequences; he is of sf interest for a late Airplane Boys series, The Hunniwell Boys sequence beginning with The Hunniwell Boys in the Air (1928). Their adventures in an aeroplane powered by electricity are modestly extravagant, and their exploit in The Hunniwell Boys' Nonstop Flight Around the World ...
Princes and Princesses
French animated film (2000). La Fabrique, Les Armateurs, Salud Productions, Studio O. Directed and written by Michel Ocelot. Voice cast comprises Yves Barsacq, Philippe Cheytion and Arlette Mirapeu. 70 minutes. Colour. / Originally an eight-part Television series called Ciné si (1989); the success of Ocelot's animated Fantasy film Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998) resulted in six series ...
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 ...