SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 5 October 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 5 October 2026
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Light, John
(1943- ) UK poet and author, who began publishing sf for Robert Hale Limited with the Annals of Lavandrei sequence comprising The Well of Time (1981), The Lords of Hate (1997) and Conspiracy of the Dead (2004), Space Opera adventures consistent with Hale's requirements. In the Melgor Erdin sequence comprising No Space in Time ...
Phillips, Michael J
(1879-1932) US soldier, editor and author, active contributor of fiction to magazines from 1903 to around 1926; in his Future War tale, In Our Country's Service (1909), the war of 1938 between an augmented America – the Invasion of Canada has led to its being "annexed" in 1928 – and a powerful Japan (see Yellow Peril) ends in the latter's swift defeat, due to the ...
Starforce: Alpha Centauri
Board and counter Wargame (1974). Simulations Publications Inc (SPI). Designed by Redmond Simonsen. / Probably the first widely popular science fiction Wargame, Starforce is a game of non-lethal interstellar combat, played on a hexagonal grid map with cardboard counters. The game is set in a detailed Future History which features frequent ...
Brown, Harrison
(1917-1986) US scientist and author whose nonfiction The Challenge of Man's Future (1954) combines demographical, ecological and energy concerns in a pioneering work of great admonitory influence. His sf novel, The Cassiopeia Affair (1968) with Chloe Zerwick, treats fictionally the same problems through a story about a possibly bogus message from the stars that may keep mankind from destroying itself in a terminal conflagration. ...
Psi World
Role Playing Game (1984). Fantasy Games Unlimited. Designed by Delbert Carr, Cheron. / Psi World is characteristic of many early RPGs in its brevity and emphasis on rules over setting. The basic scenario is the same as that seen in many sf novels dealing with Espers. On a planet that is, or is similar to, near future Earth part of the population is evolving into a separate ...
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 ...