SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 9 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.
Site updated on 8 June 2026
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Duffy, Maureen
(1933-2026) UK author, active from around 1950, several of whose books focused on London, including Capital (1975), a complex set of era-switching meditations – including a Neanderthal man's thoughts about the future – on the deep mythos of the city. The novel influenced Michael Moorcock's Mother London (1988) (as the author acknowledged clearly), and similar later works by Iain ...
Hutchison, Don
(1931- ) Canadian cinematographer, editor, journalist and author, also long involved in sf Fandom in Canada; his fiction of interest is limited to one story, "Let the Serpent Beguile" (Trumpet #6 1967). The Great Pulp Heroes (1995) is a useful nonfiction study, occasionally breezy. He remains best known for his Northern Frights Original Anthology sequence beginning with ...
Rocketman
US Comic (1952). One issue. Farrell Comics Inc. Artists include the Iger Shop, Henry Kiefer and Charles Quinlan Jr. 36 pages: four long strips (three featuring Rocketman), two short humorous strips and a two-page text story. This comic is an interesting example of a publisher reworking older material: except for the cover and perhaps the text story, the contents are refurbished from 1940s comics (discussed below). / Rocketman is "a young, American space pilot ...
Challenging Destiny
Canadian Small Press low-paying magazine of science fiction and fantasy, published by Crystalline Sphere Publishing, St Marys, Ontario; edited throughout by David M Switzer, initially with Graham D Wall (issues 1 and 2) and then Robert P Switzer (#3-#12). It ran for 25 issues between May 1997 to December 2007, as a Print Magazine until #17 (December 2003) and thereafter as an ...
Wilbrandt, Conrad
(1832-1921) German economist, politician and author, whose possible relationship to Adolf von Wilbrandt is undetermined; of sf interest is Des Herrn Friedrich Ost Erlebnisse in der Welt Bellamy's: Mittheilungen aus des Jahren 2001 und 2002 (1891; trans Mary J Stafford as Mr East's Experiences in Mr. Bellamy's World: Records of the Years 2001 and 2002 1891), one of many negative responses to Edward ...
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 ...