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Sunday 12 July 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.
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Brainticket
Minor European prog-rock group founded by Belgian/Swiss musician Joel Vandroogenbroeck. Psychonaut (1973) seems to develop some sort of Inner Space sf theme, although the lyrics are hard to follow. The concept-album Celestial Ocean (1974) gives uninspiring musical life to the genre cliché that the Ancient Egyptians were also interstellar astronauts (see Ancient Egypt in SF; ...
Mills, C J
(1944- ) US author known only for her Winter World sequence of Planetary Romances – beginning with Winter World (1988) and ending with Winter World #5: Zjhanne's Book (1992) – featuring various adventures on a strife-beset frozen world; marital conflicts are focused upon. [JC]
Slipstream
Film (1989). Entertainment Film Productions. Produced by Gary Kurtz. Directed by Steven M Lisberger. Written by Tony Kayden, based on a story by Bill Bauer. Cast includes Kitty Aldridge, Eleanor David, Mark Hamill, Ben Kingsley, Bill Paxton and Bob Peck. 102 minutes. Colour. / Unspecified ecological rape has led to great earthquakes and geological changes all over the world. A strong, constant "river" of wind, the Slipstream, blows always in one direction across a scarred landscape ...
Mahaffey, Bea
(1928-1987) Familiar name of US Magazine editor and fan Beatrice Mahaffey, who nominally coedited but was often the de facto editor of Raymond A Palmer's sf publications, in which any traces of higher quality and editorial care are generally attributed to Mahaffey. She worked on Other Worlds as managing editor May 1950 to October 1952 and as coeditor November 1952 to July 1953 and May 1955 to ...
Friedberg, Gertrude
(1908-1989) US author who also taught. Her career as a playwright began early, with Three Cornered Moon (1933), which was later filmed, but she began publishing sf only in April 1963, with "The Short and Happy Death of George Frumkin" for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Her fine sf novel The Revolving Boy (1966) strikingly tells the story of a child sensitive from his unique birth in free fall to signals, possibly ...
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 ...