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Thursday 22 January 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 19 January 2026
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von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Adams, Scott
(1957-2026) US author and cartoonist best known for the Dilbert strip published from 1989, which when at its best superbly (in terms of concept and accuracy of Satire rather than quality of drawing) satirized contemporary office life and corporate incompetence. As with most ambitious modern comic strips, it segues frequently into sf and fantasy tropes – such as Robot office workers, wish-fulfilling ...
Graham, Jo
(1968- ) US author, whose early work, beginning with Black Ships (2008), which is based on Virgil's Aeneid (circa 29-19 BC), and is fantasy, as is Lost Things (2012) with Melissa Scott, which seems to be the first volume of a series of fantasies set in a modestly Steampunk 1920s, where gods and goddesses are discovered beneath Lake Nemi. Of sf interest is a series of ...
Oldest Profession, The
French/German anthology film (1967; original title Le Plus Vieux Métier du monde). Rialto Films, Films Gibs. First segment "L'Ère préhistorique" directed by Franco Indovina, written by Ennio Flaiano. Final segment "Anticipation" written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast includes Jacques Charrier, Anna Karina, Michèle Mercier, Enrico Mario Salerno, Gabriele Tinti and Marilù Tolo. 119 ...
Mayer, Bob
(1959- ) US soldier and author who has published military novels under his own name, often utilizing his experiences as a Green Beret, and whose works of sf interest have been published under two pseudonyms, Robert Doherty and Greg Donegan. As Doherty – after The Rock (1996), a Time Travel thriller set at Ayers Rock in the Australian outback – he published the Area 51 sequence of thrillers, beginning with ...
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...