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Wednesday 20 May 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.
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Griffiths, David Arthur
(circa 1918-? ) UK author whose obscurity is only marginally lessened by the knowledge that, while working for Curtis Warren, he invited E C Tubb to write his first novels. Under the Pseudonym David Shaw, Griffiths wrote Laboratory "X" (1950), Planet Federation (1950) and Space Men (1951); under the ...
Forbidden World
Film (1982; vt Mutant). New World. Directed by Allan Holzman. Written by Tim Curnen. Cast includes June Chadwick, Linden Chiles, Dawn Dunlap, Fox Harris, Raymond Oliver and Jesse Vint. 86 minutes. Colour. / This cheap imitation of Alien (1979), from Roger Corman's New World exploitation factory, is distinguished by its gleefully sleazy nature and amusing cynicism. An outer-space troubleshooter (Vint) is ...
Lakin-Smith, Kim
(1972- ) UK author whose first novel, Tourniquet: Tales from the Renegade City (2007), depicts a surrealized urbanized cybergoth Near Future in terms depicted by and entrapping the rock band Origin (see Music); supernatural elements interfuse with music in the Dystopian City at the heart of the tale. The world depicted in Cyber Circus ...
Coneheads
Film (1993). Paramount. Directed by Steve Barron, produced Lorne Michaels. Written by Tom Davis & Aykroyd and Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner. Cast includes Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Michael McKean and Laraine Newman. 82 minutes. Colour. / This gentle and very lightweight Satire, an intermittently amusing comedy, is based on sketches first performed on the US television show Saturday Night Live. Two Aliens (Aykroyd and ...
Coon, Horace C
(1897-1961) US author, usually of nonfiction on cultural and political and business issues, in whose 43,000 Years Later (1958) Aliens come to a Ruined Earth, become intrigued by the civilization that had destroyed itself 43,000 years before (see Ruins and Futurity), and, through records, explore the twentieth-century world to Satirical effect. They spend ...
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 ...