SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 15 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 ...
West, Nathanael
Pseudonym of US screenwriter and author Nathan Weinstein (1903-1940), perhaps best known for the non-fantastic Miss Lonelyhearts (1933), active from the early 1920s. He adapted his mother's maiden name on at least one occasion to sign himself Nathan von Wallenstein Weinsten (he added the "von"), but his first novel, The Dream Life of Balso Snell (1931 chap), was signed Nathanael West, as was everything he wrote from this point. Balso Snell, much indebted to ...
Wagner, Z M
(? - ) US author of an sf Satire, One Nation Under George (2005), set in a very Near Future America (2004-2008) responding, under the leadership of George W Bush, to the post 9/11 world in terms of a (to outsiders) surreal exceptionalism. As with most satires of American Politics, reality outstripped the jokes. [JC]
Sawyer, Walter Leon
(1862-1915) US journalist and author, usually for younger readers; the Jack Lorimer series, all as by Winn Standish, focused on sporting feats. Of sf interest is An Outland Journey (1896), in which a young lad finds himself in "Fairyland", which takes the form, strictly (if absurdly), of a rule-bound Utopia. But it is all a dream. [JC]
Chaviano, Daína
(1957- ) Daína Chaviano is one of the most relevant Cuban authors today. Her career as a writer begun in sf and fantasy, but after moving to Miami in 1991 she became mostly a mainstream writer. However, she has never abandoned her commitment to fantasy, and has re-edited all her sf works outside of Cuba. / In 1979, Chaviano became the first author to win the sf edition of the prestigious David Award for new writers with the collection ...
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 ...