SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 12 May 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 11 May 2026
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Suzuki Kōji
(1957-2026) Japanese author and essayist, largely known in English through the Cinema adaptations of several of his books, the international success of which obscured his wide-ranging domestic output. His horror and Equipoisal fiction proceeded in tandem with a wide array (not listed here) of books on young fatherhood and occasional works on motorcycle travel. He was also the translator of Simon Brett's ...
Caselberg, Jay
Working name of Australian author James Caselberg (1958- ), mainly resident in the UK from the 1980s; he began publishing work of genre interest with "Photosynthesis" for The Pedestal Magazine in 2001 as by James A Hartley. Both his surnames are real – the first being Caselberg; on remarriage his mother took the name of Hartley – though he now uses Caselberg only. His Jack Stein sequence – comprising Wyrmhole (2003), ...
Curwen, Henry
(1846-1892) UK critic, journalist and author, in India from 1876, where he became editor of the Times of India. He was an early sympathetic critic of Edgar Allan Poe. Zit and Xoe: Their Early Experience (April-May 1885 Blackwood's Magazine; 1887) is a tale of Prehistoric SF told in terms of the theory of Evolution, in which two advanced apes (see ...
OMPA
Known usually by its acronym, the Offtrails Magazine Publishers Association (1954-1978 or 1979) was an APA formed in the UK by Kenneth Bulmer and A Vincent Clarke, whose founder members included Chuck Harris. OMPA was modelled on FAPA, and was likewise created to facilitate distribution of Fanzines published by and for ...
Wakefield, Tom
(1935-1996) UK teacher and author, who wrote nonfiction about his teaching experiences at special schools in Hackney (an East London borough); his only novel of sf interest, The Love Siege (1979), also reflects his pedagogical experiences through its depiction of a Dystopian Near Future London where all "handicapped" children are condemned to extermination. The staff of the school revolts. ...
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 ...