SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 15 March 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 March 2026
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Strobl, Karl Hans
(1877-1946) Austrian author, editor and publisher who sometimes wrote as K H Strobl; a war correspondent during World War One; once highly regarded for Horror tales whose influences included Edgar Allan Poe, such as "Der Kopf" ["The Head"] in his early collection Aus Gründen und Abgründen. Skizzen aus dem Alltag und von drüben ["For Reasons ...
Djerassi, Carl
(1923-2015) Austrian-born Bulgarian chemist, author and playwright, in the US from December 1939; recipient of many scientific awards and honours; best known for his work on oral contraceptives, leading to his being termed the father of the birth control pill (which if not strictly accurate has a substantial core of truth). Four of his five novels and most of his plays centre upon science and Scientists against a real-world background – a subgenre sometimes ...
Cho, Elaine U
(? - ) US musician, journalist and author whose Alliance sequence beginning with Ocean's Godori (2024) is an interplanetary Space Opera sequence built around South Korea's active presence in the Solar System. Elements of dynasty-adjacent romance and Military SF cohabit. An heir to a great space family is falsely accused of murder. He is ...
Communications
Many aspects of communication in sf are dealt with under separate entries in this volume. The most familiar form of communication is through language, for a discussion of which see Linguistics (also Universal Translator). Devices allowing communication at a distance, besides those discussed in the next paragraph, include the Videophone. For the perennially popular theme of opening ...
Escape from LA
Film (1996). Paramount Pictures in association with Rysher Entertainment. Directed by John Carpenter. Written by Carpenter, Debra Hill, & Russell, based on characters by Carpenter & Nick Castle. Cast includes Steve Buscemi, Bruce Campbell, Peter Fonda, Valeria Golino, Pam Grier, Stacy Keach, Cliff Robertson and Kurt Russell. 101 minutes. Colour. / Sixteen years after the events of Escape from New York ...
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 ...