SF Encyclopedia Home Page
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 ...
Bethke, Bruce
(1955- ) US author best known for his short stories, in particular his first professional publication, "Cyberpunk" in Amazing for November 1983, which appeared there after circulating in manuscript and almost certainly inspiring Gardner Dozois's use of the term Cyberpunk to designate the new movement, in an exclamatory fashion ironically distinct from Bethke's own jaundiced view ...
Miller, Jon de Burgh
(? - ) UK author associated almost exclusively with the Doctor Who universe, for which he has written several Ties, including Doctor Who: The New Adventures: Bernice Summerfield: Twilight of the Gods (1999) with Mark Clapham and Doctor Who: Dying in the Sun (2001). He also contributed Time Hunter: Deus Le Volt (2006) to the ...
Wandering Jew
This undying vagrant is an Icon of Fantasy who appears or is alluded to in a number of sf stories, usually exemplifying the notion of Immortality as a curse rather than a blessing [for comments under Accursed Wanderer, Flying Dutchman and Wandering Jew see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]. According to legend, the Wandering Jew – ...
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 ...