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Saturday 6 June 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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White, Ted
Working name of US editor and author Theodore Edwin White (1938-2026), who also wrote as by Ron Archer, Norman Edwards and William C Johnstone. He was co-editor 1958-1969 of the noted Fanzine Void founded by Gregory Benford and Jim Benford. After working as assistant editor for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1963-1968, he became the sometimes ...
Merrill, Harrison R
(1884-1938) US poet, academic and author of Ko-i-Chito: The Indian Boy (1937), a tale for children set in what would become Utah, mixing together Lost Race and Prehistoric SF influences. [JC]
Bennett, Harve
(1930-2015) US film/tv producer and screenwriter, Harve Bennett was an almost legendary figure in sf television production and writing, and fulfilled both those roles on The Invisible Man (1975-1976), The Bionic Woman (1976-1978), Gemini Man (1976) (see The Invisible Man), The ...
Valley of Gwangi, The
Film (1969). Morningside/Warner-Seven Arts. Produced by Charles H Schneer. Directed by James O'Connolly. Written by William E Bast, with additions by Julian More. Dinosaur animation by Ray Harryhausen. Cast includes Richard Carlson, James Franciscus, Gila Golan and Laurence Naismith. 95 minutes. Colour. / Cowboys discover a hidden valley in Mexico where surviving Dinosaurs still live. They capture Gwangi, an allosaur, ...
Eschatology
Eschatology is the class of theological doctrine pertaining to death and the subsequent fate of the soul, and to the ultimate fate of the world. Stories of the Far Future, the End of the World and the End of Time can be categorized as eschatological, but are considered separately; this section deals mainly with the idea of personal survival after death. / The survival of the individual ...
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 ...