SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Friday 23 January 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 19 January 2026
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von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Adams, Scott
(1957-2026) US author and cartoonist best known for the Dilbert strip published from 1989, which when at its best superbly (in terms of concept and accuracy of Satire rather than quality of drawing) satirized contemporary office life and corporate incompetence. As with most ambitious modern comic strips, it segues frequently into sf and fantasy tropes – such as Robot office workers, wish-fulfilling ...
Marvel Super Heroes, The
Animated tv series (1966-1967). Grantray-Lawrence Animation/Krantz Films/Marvel Enterprises. Produced by Steve Krantz and Robert L Lawrence. Syndicated. Directors included Shamus Culhane, Chuck Harrison, Sid Marcus, Jerry Siegel, and Kay Wright. Writers included Jim Carmichael, Don Christensen, Stan Lee, June Patterson, and Jewell Schubel. Based on characters created by Bill Everett, Don Heck, Larry Leiber, Lee, John Romita ...
Burgess, Eric
(1912-1995) UK author, always in collaboration with Arthur Friggens, of several sf novels for Robert Hale Limited, none being remarkable in content. Anti-Zota (1973) revolves around conflict between the short-lived and the long-lived (see Immortality) in the Far Future. Arguably the Mortorio books – Mortorio (1973) ...
Hemming, Norma K
(1928-1960) UK-born sf fan and author, in Australia from 1949; she began publishing work of genre interest, usually as N K Hemming, with "Loser Take All" (Winter 1950/1951 Science Fantasy #3) and "Death Ray for Roma" (October 1951 Thrills Incorporated #16), releasing about twenty further stories before her early death, including "Amazons of the Asteroids" (November 1951 ...
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 ...