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Tuesday 17 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 16 March 2026
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Dietz, William C
(1945-2026) US author who began to publish sf with War World (1986; vt Galactic Bounty 1997), the first volume of his Sam McCade sequence of sf adventures about an interstellar bounty hunter, which continued with Imperial Bounty (1988) and two further titles. The galactic venue of the series exhibits some interesting kinks, and McCade himself gradually gains individuality. Although the angle of approach differs – the protagonist this time ...
Blake, Stacey
Working name of Francis William Stacey Blake (1873-1964), UK journalist, author and water-colour artist whose fiction consists almost exclusively of adventure stories for boys, such as "The Derelict Hunters: A Thrilling Story of the Dread Sargasso Sea" (29 April 1908 Chums) as by Stacey-Blake. His three book-length tales of sf interest are Beyond the Blue: The Story of a Great Adventure (December 1914-June 1915 London Magazine; 1920), a ...
Tytania
Japanese animated tv series (2008-2009). Produced Artland. Directed by Noboru Ishiguro. Script by Kenichi Kanamaki. Music by Hiroshi Takaki. Adapted from the novels of the same name by Yoshiki Tanaka. Voice cast includes Katsuyuki Konishi, Takashi Kondō, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Daisuke Kishio, Taketora and Sayuri Yahagi. 26 25-minute episodes. Colour. / Tytania is adapted from the eponymous light novel series ...
Gordon, Joan
(1947- ) US editor and academic, currently a professor of English at Nassau Community College in New York, whose writing career began with Joe Haldeman (1980 chap), a serviceable introductory study of the work of Joe Haldeman. Her next book, Gene Wolfe (1986), comprises an early attempt to present the work – up to and including The Book of the New Sun – of perhaps the most difficult of all sf ...
Land, Jon
(1957- ) US author, frequently of Technothrillers that maintain an edgy proximity to full sf, particularly in the Blaine McCracken series beginning with The Omega Command (1984) and ending with Dead Simple (1998), the last being typical in its use of an Invention just beyond current Technology – in this case a new explosive – to ...
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 ...