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Friday 23 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 ...
Brazier, Paul
(1950-2016) UK editor and graphic designer, active in Fandom since the early 1980s with reviews in Vector, from 1990 also reviewing for Interzone. He edited and published the three issues of the Brighton-based UK SF Magazine Nexus (which see) from 1991 to 1993; in October 1994 this Semiprozine was merged into ...
Ebenbach, David
(1972- ) US academic, poet and author, active from around 2000; He began publishing work of genre interest with "Team Orderly Mars" in Not One of Us for October 2016, his earlier short stories, variously assembled, are nonfantastic. He is of sf interest for his third novel, How to Mars (early version May/June 2021 Analog; 2021), in which a cadre of scientists, on a publicity-shaped mission to Mars, ...
Dernier Combat, Le
Film (1983; vt The Last Battle). Films du Loup. Directed by Luc Besson. Written by Besson, Jolivet. Cast includes Jean Bouise, Pierre Jolivet and Jean Reno. 92 minutes. Black and white. / Made by Besson (later one of the best-known French directors of his generation) when only 23, the arty but vigorous Le Dernier Combat is low-budget and photographed in black-and-white Cinemascope, and has no dialogue at all. A young man (Jolivet) in an unspeaking ...
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 ...