SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 8 February 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.
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Sarrantonio, Al
(1952-2025) US editor and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Ahead of the Joneses" in Asimov's for March 1979. Much of his work was horror, sometimes tinged with sf (see Horror in SF), including his first novel, The Worms (1985), a Gothic tale set in Massachusetts with hints of H P Lovecraft; and the Equipoisal Moonbane ...
Green, Joseph
(1931- ) US author of sf and technical journalism who also worked for NASA, and who began publishing sf with "The Engineer" for New Worlds in February 1962. An Affair with Genius (coll 1969) assembles some of his better early work. Since 1989 he has also published short fiction in Analog, F&SF and other magazines as by Francis Marion Soty. Although many of his 70-plus ...
Wertenbaker, G Peyton
(1907-1968) US editor and author, one of the pioneers of Hugo Gernsback's development of Scientifiction. Wertenbaker came from a literary and professional family; his brother Charles Wertenbaker (1901-1955) was a renowned journalist and his niece is the noted playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker (1946- ). His first story, written when he was still fifteen, "The Man from the Atom" (August 1923 ...
Snyder, Cecil III
(1948- ) US author of The Hawks of Arcturus (1974), in which a lone Earthman defies the eponymous Aliens in their attempt to find the secrets of an ancient Galaxy-ruling race (see Forerunners). He should not be confused with his father, Cecil K Snyder Jr (1927- ), also an author. [JC]
Hammill, Peter
British composer and musician, best known as the lead singer of Van der Graaf Generator. His solo releases, most of them similar to the prog-rock complexities of his group work, have been varied and, often, rather wayward. Popular success has eluded him although he inspires great devotion in his fans. "Imperial Zeppelin", on Hammill's first solo album Fool's Mate (1971), is an unusual example of steampunk SF-pop, possibly indebted 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 ...