SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 28 April 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 21 April 2025
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Broderick, Damien
(1944-2025) Australian author, editor and critic; he had a PhD in the semiotics of fiction, science and sf with special reference to the work of Samuel R Delany. He edited four anthologies of Australian sf: The Zeitgeist Machine (anth 1977), Strange Attractors (anth 1985), Matilda at the Speed of Light (anth 1988) and Centaurus: The Best of Australian Science Fiction (anth ...
Parkin, Lance
(1971- ) UK author associated with the Doctor Who universe, beginning with contributions to Doctor Who Fanzines, moving on to nonfiction books about the universe, such as A History of the Universe (1996), and concentrating subsequently on fiction, beginning with Doctor Who: The Missing Adventures: Cold Fusion (1996). Other nonfiction books include ...
Flinn, Denny Martin
(1947-2007) US author of a Star Trek Tie, Star Trek: The Fearful Summons (1995); he also co-scripted, with Nicholas Meyer, the screenplay for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). [JC/DRL]
Iced Earth
US metal band formed in Tampa, Florida in 1984, led by guitarist and songwriter Jon Schaffer (1968- ). Their Something Wicked Saga, comprising three albums, has nothing to do with Ray Bradbury, but does form an overarching sf concept about a race called the Setians who were the original inhabitants of Earth, directly descended from the creator of the universe. Humanity arrives on Earth seeking the secret of the Setians' knowledge ...
Cloaking Device
Term for an Invisibility screen used by Spaceships, popularized by Star Trek. It first appears as a Romulan Invention in the original-series episode "Balance of Terror" (1966), and continues to be used by Romulans and later Klingons (though not, for treaty reasons, the USS Enterprise itself) in later Star Trek incarnations. [DRL]
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 ...