SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 12 February 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 9 February 2026
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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Cowboy Bebop
Japanese animated tv series (1998-1999). Sunrise, Bandai Visual. Directed by Shinichirō Watanabe. Written by Keiko Nobumoto and others. Voice cast includes Megumi Hayashibara, Unshō Ishizuka and Kōichi Yamadera. 26 episodes of 25 minutes. Colour. / In the year 2071, the Solar system is home to a colourful melting-pot (but largely Chinese) diaspora, made possible by localized Hyperspace gateways. Earth, however, ...
Andromeda Breakthrough, The
UK tv serial (1962). A BBC TV production. Produced by John Elliot, written Fred Hoyle, Elliot. Six episodes, five at 45 minutes, the sixth 50 minutes. Black and white. The cast included Peter Halliday, Mary Morris, Barry Linehan, John Hollis, Susan Hampshire. / In this sequel to A for Andromeda the android woman built according to instructions from the stars is played by Susan ...
Gardner, Erle Stanley
(1889-1970) US lawyer and author, most famous for the eighty-two volume Perry Mason detective series beginning with The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933). He had been extremely prolific from the start of his career around 1921, publishing at least 60 stories and a novel in Pulp magazines in 1933 alone; he spent almost no time at all on sf. His first story of genre interest was "Rain Magic" for (20 October 1928 Argosy ...
McQueen, Ronald A
(? - ) UK author known only for several Space Operas written for Robert Hale Limited, beginning with The Cosmic Assassin (1980) [JC]
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 ...