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Friday 13 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.
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Prugovečki, Eduard
(1937-2003) Romanian-born physicist and author, in Canada from 1965; of sf interest are his two Utopias, Memoirs of the Future (2001), which rather abstractly describes a good and a bad world to come, affirming throughout the value of science when applied correctly; and Dawn of the New Man (2002), set in a vaguely-described distant Near Future where the good and the less good are described in terms of an ...
MacDonald, William Colt
(1891-1968) US author of many Westerns from 1929; of sf interest is The Singing Scorpion (1934), an early title in his Three Mesquiteers sequence about three footloose adventurers; in this case an ancient relic – the emerald eyes of Zeronteotl, an Indian god – leads to the discovery of a Lost World. [JC]
Towers, Ivar
A Fictioneers Inc House Name (1940-1942), used once by Harry Dockweiler, C M Kornbluth and Richard Wilson for "Stepsons of Mars" (April 1940 Astonishing Stories) – Kornbluth's first story – and once by Wilson alone for "The Man Without a Planet" (November 1942 Super Science Stories). ...
Williams, Nick Boddie
(1906-1992) US newspaperman – he was with the Los Angeles Times 1931-1971, serving as its chief editor from 1958 – and author who contributed short Genre SF stories to various Slicks; he reported having published his first sf story pseudonymously in Weird Tales in the late 1920s, but could recall neither title nor pseudonym. The Atom Curtain (1956 dos) is set in a thoroughly ...
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Japanese synth-pop band, comprising Haruomi Hosono (1947- ), Yukihiro Takahashi (1952- ) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952- ). They are regarded by some as nothing more than a long-lived novelty act, and it is true that the group have produced their fair share of jaunty, disposable electronic pop; but there is spine of significant and influential music-making running along their career. As with many post- ...
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 ...