SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 15 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.
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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 ...
Crow, The
Film (1994). Miramax presents in association with Entertainment Media Investment Corporation an Edward R Pressman film in association with Jeff Most productions. Directed by Alex Proyas. Written by David J Schow and John Shirley, based on the first four issues of the Comic book series The Crow (February-May 1989) by James O'Barr. Cast includes Angel David, Rochelle Davis, Ernie Hudson, David Patrick Kelly, Brandon Lee, ...
Phillips, Helen
(1981- ) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with "The Joined" in The Mississippi Review for Spring 2008. Much of her short fiction, fabulistic and conversant with (though not perhaps deeply penetrating) the toolkit of Fantastika, has been assembled in And Yet They Were Happy (coll 2011) and Some Possible Solutions (coll 2016). Her first novel, The Beautiful Bureaucrat ...
Brain Dead
Film (1989). Concorde/New Horizons. Directed Adam Simon. Written by Charles Beaumont. Cast includes Patricia Charbonneau, Bud Cort, George Kennedy, Bill Paxton, Nicholas Pryor and Bill Pullman. 81 minutes. Colour. / A neurosurgeon (Pullman) is asked to examine a genius (Cort) who has gone mad and killed his family. The surgeon soon finds that his own Identity is being alarmingly eaten away, with his friends, colleagues ...
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 ...