SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Sunday 7 June 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 2 June 2026
Sponsor of the day: Paul Giamatti
Duffy, Maureen
(1933-2026) UK author several of whose books focused on London, including Capital (1975), a complex set of era-switching meditations – including a Neanderthal man's thoughts about the future – on the deep mythos of the city. The novel influenced Michael Moorcock's Mother London (1988) (as the author acknowledged clearly), and similar later works by Iain ...
Lost Saucer, The
Juvenile tv series (1975). Krofft Entertainment for ABC-TV. Executive producers Sid and Marty Krofft (see The Krofft Brothers). Directors included Dick Dorley, Walter C Miller and Jack Regas. Writers included Barry E Blitzer, John L Greene, and Seaman Jacobs. Cast includes Ruth Buzzie, Jarrod Johnson, Jim Nabors and Alice Playten. Sixteen 30-minute episodes. Colour. / Two friendly Aliens who seem to be ...
Linklater, Thomas H
(1849-? ) UK accountant, possible missionary and translator, whose version of Jules Verne's De la Terre à la Lune: Trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes (1865) and Autour de la Lune: Seconde partie de: De la Terre à la Lune (1870) as From the Earth to the Moon Direct and Around the Moon (1877) remains among the very few Victorian translations of Verne worth keeping in print. In notes to his ...
Battle of the Planets
Animated tv series (1978-1980). Sandy Frank Entertainment. Syndicated. Produced by Alan Dinehart, David E Hanson. Directors included Dinehart and Hanson. Writers included Peter Germano, Howard Post and Harry Winkler among many others. Animation designers included Alex Toth. Cast includes Casey Casem, Alan Oppenheimer, Ronnie Schell, Janet Waldo and Alan Young. 85 30-minute episodes. Colour. / Some time in the future, ...
Hot Gossip
Also known as "Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip". A UK dance troupe, choreographed by Arlene Phillips (1943- ), who appeared on a number of 1970s British television shows. Their 1978 hit single "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", with Sarah Brightman (1960- ) on lead vocals, was released to cash in on the success of Star Wars (1977). It is a catchy though nonsensical piece of space-disco. [AR]
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 ...