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Friday 23 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 19 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 ...
Lenkov, Peter M
(1964- ) Canadian television and film producer, screenwriter and author, in the USA from about 1990, when he began writing and producing various television segments, episodes and films, sometimes acting simultaneously in both capacities. Among these productions were several of genre interest, including the Universal Soldier (1992) sequels Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998) and ...
Transcendence [film]
American film (2014). Alcon Entertainment/DMG Entertainment/Straight Up Films. Directed by Wally Pfister. Written by Jack Paglen. Cast includes Paul Bethany, Clifton Collins Jr, Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall, Cory Hardrict, Cole Hauser, Falk Hentschel, Kate Mara and Cillian Murphy. 119 minutes. Colour. / Brilliant Computer Scientist Will Caster (Depp), one of several researchers intent upon developing an ...
Living Worlds
The notion that a planet might be a living creature is a rather startling one; indeed, it was initially used purely for its shock value. In R A Kennedy's remarkable philosophical extravaganza The Triuneverse (1912), Mars begins to reproduce by binary fission and its daughter cells devour much of the solar system. In "When the World Screamed" (25 February-3 March 1928 Liberty; April-May 1928 ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...