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Tuesday 24 June 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.
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Ballantyne, R M
(1825-1894) Scottish author whose family fortunes were blighted by the bankruptcy of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) in 1826: his uncle owned the Ballantyne Press, Scott's printer, and his father transcribed Scott's manuscripts in order to preserve their anonymity. His professional experiences in Canada with the Hudson's Bay Company, which began in his teens, shaped his first book, the non-fiction Hudson's Bay; Or, Every-Day Life in the Wilds of North America (1848). Most of his ...
Rolls, Brian
(? - ) Author whose single sf novel for Robert Hale Limited is Something in Mind (1973), in which an experimental Drug sends its users on mind-trips through Time and space. [DRL]
Nelson, Ray Faraday
Working name of US author Radell Faraday Nelson (1931-2022), who also wrote as R F Nelson and R Faraday Nelson, sex books as M R N Elson ("Mr Nelson"), and once under the House Name Jeffrey Lord. He was active in both sf and detective genres, beginning to publish sf with "Turn off the Sky" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for August 1963. His short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" ...
Hayward, Abraham
(1801-1884) UK lawyer, man of letters and translator, well known for biographical and critical essays, and for an early (but prose) translation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust (1808; 1832; trans Hayard 1833). Of sf interest is The Second Armada: A Chapter of Future History (22 June 1871 The London Times; 1871 chap; vt [for full title see Checklist] 1871 chap) anonymous, a Future War tale in which ...
Noy, John
(1892-1964) UK author, whose childhood paralytic illness kept him from service in World War One. Most of his tales are nautical/Airship thrillers for the Children's SF market, including at least three volumes in the Red Devil of the Air Force series beginning with Red Devil of the Air Force (1937), which feature Technologies impossible in the year ...
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 ...