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Wednesday 11 February 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 February 2026
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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Sokołowski, Krzysztof
(1957- ) Polish critic, translator and editor, author of the Poland entry in the 1993 edition of this encyclopedia. A graduate of Warsaw University, Sokołowski is well known for his critical pieces on US-UK sf in the magazine Fantastyka. Since its foundation in 1990 until it ceased in 2001 he was editor of Fenix, the first professional science fiction and ...
Secret of NIMH, The
US animated film (1982). United Artists, Aurora Productions, Don Bluth Productions. Based on the novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971) by Robert C O'Brien. Directed by Don Bluth. Written by Don Bluth, Will Finn, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy. Voice cast includes Hermione Baddeley, John Carradine, Dom DeLuise, Elizabeth Hartman, Derek Jacobi, Arthur Malet and Paul Shenar. 82 minutes. Colour. / In a society of anthropomorphized ...
Bierce, Ambrose
(1842-circa 1914) US journalist, poet and author of short stories and Satires, deeply affected by his four years in the American Civil War (he enlisted as a private in 1861, was breveted major for bravery, and was wounded twice). Like Bret Harte and Mark Twain (who were both resident in London in the 1870s, as for shorter periods was Joaquin Miller), he soon went ...
Vallance, Karl
Pseudonym of the unidentified UK author (? - ) of Global Blackout (1954), a Near Future Disaster tale in which the world is suddenly blacked out. The cause is unknown. The protagonists of the tale survive social breakdown. [JC]
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 ...