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Saturday 8 August 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 3 August 2026
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Burton, S H
(1919-2005) UK author – principally of school textbooks – and anthologist, of sf relevance for his compilation Science Fiction (anth 1967). This includes an introductory essay and a glossary, and is intended for high-school students. Selected stories range from Robert A Heinlein's "Requiem" (January 1940 Astounding) to John Brunner's "The Windows of Heaven" (May 1956 ...
Ikenberry, Kevin
(? - ) US author, who began to publish work of genre interest with "Illegal" in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine for May 2012; much of his output has been Military SF, often couched in the form of Alternate Histories. The time-travelling (see Time Travel) protagonist of his first series, ...
Smith, William Augustus
(? -? ) US author of His Pseudoic Majesty; Or, the Knights of the Fleece (1903), a Near Future novel whose sf underpinnings – in the main an idealized description of a hierarchical America free of the depredations of capitalism – are obscured by the allegorical recounting of the tale. [JC]
Fire Maidens from Outer Space
UK film (1956; vt Fire Maidens of Outer Space). Criterion Films. Directed and written by Cy Roth. Cast includes Owen Berry, Paul Carpenter, Jacqueline Curtis, Anthony Dexter, Susan Shaw and Richard Walter. 80 minutes. Black and white. / Following the discovery of the Earth-like 13th moon of Jupiter, a nuclear-powered Rocket ship lifts off from the American-British Astronomical Station in Surrey; the five-man crew is led ...
Klaatu
Canadian pop band, most famous for their song "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft", on the album 3:47 EST (1976), which was notably covered by the Carpenters. More interesting is the band's second release, Hope (1977), a concept album about humanity's near-future encounter with the last survivor of the ancient Venusian "Politzanian" empire. After providing a rapid tour of the cosmos (track 3 is called "Around the Universe in Eighty Days") this survivor dies, ...
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 ...