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Sunday 9 August 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 3 August 2026
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Grautoff, Ferdinand Heinrich
(1871-1935) German historian, newspaper editor and author, known in English for two pseudonymous works of fiction. In "1906" – Der Zusammenbruch der alten Welt (1905; trans G Herring as Armageddon 190- 1907) as by Seestern, the USA instigates a Future War with Germany which is catastrophic for Europe but beneficial for Russia and the USA. Bansai! (1908; trans anon as Banzai! ...
Tinckner, Mary Agnes
(1833-1907) US author whose work of sf interest is San Salvador (1892), a Utopia set in a secret Italian location (see Ruritania) where, under a wise and Christ-embodying monarch whose ancestry is of Lost-Race antiquity, citizens manufacture their beautiful but practical wares by hand, after the model recently promulgated in William Morris's ...
Howes, Katelyn Monroe
(? - ) US documentary and Television producer, all of nonfantastic work, and author whose first novel, The Awoken (2022), re-invokes a question often found in the SF Megatext: why would anyone awoken from Suspended Animation be welcome in the new world? In this case, the protagonist has been re-activated into an estranging ...
Longueville, Peter
Pseudonym of the unidentified author (? -? ) of The Hermit: Or, the Unparalled [sic] Sufferings and Surprising Adventures of Mr. Philip Quarll, an Englishman: Who was lately discovered by Mr. Dorrington a Bristol Merchant [for full title see Checklist below] (1727), a Satire on Daniel Defoe's ...
Jakes, John
(1932-2023) US author initially best known for sf and fantasy, under his own name and various pseudonyms including Alan Henry, Jacob Johns, Alan Payne, Jay Scotland and Alan Wilder, before launching his Bicentennial series of novels, which traces the fictional history of a US family over the past 200 years. It achieved extraordinary bestsellerdom, undoubtedly justifying, at least financially, his decision to retire from the genre. Most of his shorter work, beginning with "The Dreaming ...
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 ...