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Thursday 12 March 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 9 March 2026
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Arnold, Alan
(1922-1987) UK Cinema publicist and author who in the former capacity worked on the promotion of Billion Dollar Brain (1967) (see Len Deighton), Phase IV (1974), Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Brazil (1985), Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) ...
Firth, N Wesley
Working name of UK author Norman Firth (1920-1949), who in fact had no middle name. He began his career during World War Two writing Pulp Westerns and thrillers. He wrote stories variously as Rice Ackman, Earl Ellison, Jackson Evans, Leslie Halward, Olga Hendry, Joel Johnson and perhaps other names; his first sf publication was almost certainly "Obscene Parade" (1946 Weird Story Magazine #2). His first novel, Terror Strikes ...
Hao Jingfang
(1984- ) Chinese author whose writing displays a poignant Sense of Wonder at the meteoric development that China has seen during her own lifetime (compare to Guo Xiaolu), and a recurring interest in what she herself has termed "the history of inequality". As a child, Hao was inspired to become a scientist by reading the educational magazine Shiwan ge Weishenme ["100,000 ...
Carnell, John
(1912-1972) UK editor, anthologist and literary agent who worked usually as John Carnell and sometimes as E J Carnell; he was known to his friends as Ted. A prominent member of UK Fandom, Carnell took over the editorship of Novae Terrae, an early Fanzine, in 1939, retitling his issues (#29-#33) New Worlds. He began his professional career as editor in 1946 when ...
Psi World
Role Playing Game (1984). Fantasy Games Unlimited. Designed by Delbert Carr, Cheron. / Psi World is characteristic of many early RPGs in its brevity and emphasis on rules over setting. The basic scenario is the same as that seen in many sf novels dealing with Espers. On a planet that is, or is similar to, near future Earth part of the population is evolving into a separate ...
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 ...