SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 19 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.
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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 ...
Star Frontiers
Role Playing Game (1982). Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). Designed by Lawrence Schick, David Cook, others. / The universe of Star Frontiers evokes the romantic Space Opera of the 1950s, and particularly the settings of Andre Norton's sf juveniles, with additional elements drawn from the Star Wars film franchise. Its primary milieu is a ...
Maniac Mansion [tv]
Canadian/US tv series (1990-1993). Atlantis Films for YTV (Canada), The Family Channel (US). Created by Paul Flaherty, John Hemphill, Eugene Levy and Martin Short. Based on the Videogame Maniac Mansion (1987). Produced by David Flaherty and Jamie Paul Rock. Directors included Paul Flaherty, Hemphill and Perry Rosemond. Writers included Bob Carrau, Paul Flaherty, Elena Lesser, Cliff Ruby and Alan Templeton. Cast ...
Conceptual Breakthrough
The legends of Prometheus and of Dr Faustus contain a central image which is still vigorous in sf: the hero in his lust for knowledge goes against the will of God and, though he succeeds in his quest, he is finally punished for his overweening pride and disobedience. Adam eating the forbidden apple is another version of the legend. Its reverberations resonate throughout the whole of literature. / The Faustian version of the quest for knowledge – it lives on in Mary ...
Clute, John
(1940- ) Canadian critic, editor and author, in the UK from 1969; married to Judith Clute from 1964, partner of Elizabeth Hand since 1996. He began to publish work of genre interest with an sf-tinged poem "Carcajou Lament" in Triquarterly for Winter 1960 [ie Autumn 1959]; he began consistently publishing sf reviews in his "New Fiction" column for the Toronto Star (1966-1967), and later in ...