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Friday 22 September 2023
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.
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Kerr, A W
(1848-1934) Scottish author of Space: A Mirage (1913), in which an extremely early version of the Galactic Empire is sketched, though in allegorical terms involving spiritually advanced "celestials" who watch and ward over Earth, despite opposition from the Sardonics who inhabit a planet of that name. [JC]
Knott, William C
(1927-2008) US teacher and author, who also wrote as by Bill J Carol, Taylor Evans and Bryan Swift; most of his novels are either sports stories or nonfantastic Westerns, some of the latter dark in tone. Of sf interest is Journey Across the Third Planet (1969), a Young Adult tale of First Contact told from the viewpoint of a young humanoid Alien forced to ...
Spy-Rays
Traditional item of sf Terminology for various surveillance mechanisms employing some kind of Ray that can penetrate most forms of matter, conferring the power of undetectable eavesdropping upon its operator. E E Smith uses the term throughout his Lensman series and seems to have coined it in the original magazine version of Triplanetary (January-April 1934 Amazing; ...
Priest
Film (2011). Screen Gems presents a Michael De Luca Productions, Stars Road Entertainment and Tokyopop production in association with Buckaroo Entertainment. Directed by Scott Stewart. Written by Cory Goodman from the Korean Graphic Novel series Priest (1998-2007 16vols) by Min-Woo Hyung. Cast includes Paul Bettany, Lily Collins, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Christopher Plummer and Karl Urban. 87 minutes. Colour. / A priest (Bettany) ...
SuperMarionation
Animated puppet technique devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and used in a sequence of television shows of which most were sf: Four Feather Falls (1960) (fantasy in a US Western setting), Fireball Xl5 (1962-1963), Stingray (1964-1965), Thunderbirds (1965-1966), ...
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 ...