SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Wednesday 15 January 2025
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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 13 January 2025
Sponsor of the day: Joe Haldeman
Oram, John
Working name of Welsh author John Oram Thomas (1906-1992) for his two Ties in the Man from U.N.C.L.E. Television sequence (see The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), The Copenhagen Affair (1965) and The Stone-Cold Dead in the Market Affair (1966), the latter – unusually – being set in Wales. [JC]
Wason, Sandys
Working name of Leighton Sandys Wason (1867-1950) UK editor, Church of England cleric and author. In 1892 he founded and edited The Spirit Lamp: An Oxford Magazine Without News, which was short-lived but influential. As Parish Priest of Cury and Gunwalloe in the Diocese of Truro 1905-1919, he controversially, as a declared Anglican Catholic, engaged in disputes about the use of incense in church rituals, and was deprived of his parish. Magenta Minutes: Nonsense Verse (coll ...
Bush, Catherine
(1961- ) Canadian author, most of whose work is nonfantastic, including her best-known novel, The Rules of Engagement (2000). She is of sf interest for Blaze Island (2020), set in an Alternate History whose Near Future is not easily distinguishable from consensus reality. An unprecedentedly severe hurricane (at least Category Five) devastates ...
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, ...
I Love Maria
Hong Kong film (1988; vt Roboforce). Directed by David Chung. Written by Yuen Kai Chi. Cast includes Lam Ching-ying, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Paul Chun, Tsui Hark, Ben Lam, John Shum and Sally Yeh. 96 minutes. Colour. / A large, hulking Robot, Pioneer I, robs a bank; before flying off it announces that the Hero Gang has declared war on Hong Kong and will control the City within a month. ...
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 ...