SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 12 July 2025
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 7 July 2025
Sponsor of the day: Ansible Editions
Herbert, Edward G
(1869-1938) UK author of Newaera: A Socialist Romance, with a Chapter on Vaccination (1910). This novel describes a socialist Utopia which is founded on an isolated Island, but tragically fails. [JC]
Phantom from 10,000 Leagues, The
Film (1955). Milner Brothers Productions, American Releasing Corporation (see American International Pictures). Produced by Jack Milner. Directed by Dan Milner. Written by Lou Rusoff from an original story by Dorys Lukather. Cast includes Rodney Bell, Cathy Downs, Norma Hanson (uncredited), Vivi Janiss, Phillip Pine, Helene Stanton, Kent Taylor and Michael Whalen. 80 minutes. Black and white. / Bodies are washing up on a ...
Leyton, E K
A House Name of the London publishing imprint W H Allen/Star, used for reprinted novelizations of classic Universal horror films – two by Ramsey Campbell and one by Walter Harris – previously published in the USA under the Berkley Medallion house name Carl Dreadstone. [DRL]
Mercier, Lewis Page
(1820-1875) UK minister, schoolmaster and translator, signing as Mercier Lewis and Louis Mercier; it has been surmised that a combination of career and financial difficulties forced him into the translation trade, and these pressures plus ill health may explain the occasional shoddiness of (and frequent cuts to) his translations of Jules Verne novels; the frequency with which they were reprinted remains anomalous. The degree to which his translations were ...
Wesso, H W
Working name of German-born American artist Hans Waldemar Wessolowski (1894-1948), sometimes credited solely as Wesso. He completed his education at the Berlin Royal Academy before moving to America in 1914, and was soon doing covers and interior illustrations for a variety of Pulp magazines. He began his sf career by doing a few covers for Amazing Stories and Amazing Stories Quarterly after Hugo ...
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 ...