SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 10 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
Sponsor of the day: Andy Richards of Cold Tonnage Books
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 ...
New York
Great Cities may seem immemorial, but normally boast at least one named founder. Romulus and Remus founded Rome, or so the story tells us. Frankus, who was of Trojan birth, founded Paris, it is said. The Yellow Emperor, who revered the earth beneath his feet, founded Beijing 5,000 years ago. London was traditionally founded, or its founding was attended, by the giants Gog and Magog, first instanced as the single giant Gogmagog or Goemagot ...
Lowndes, Robert A W
(1916-1998) US author and editor, often referred to as "Doc" Lowndes, a member of the Futurians fan group and collaborator on several stories with other members of the group under the names Arthur Cooke, S D Gottesman, Paul Dennis Lavond and Lawrence Woods. After a spoof article, "Report of the Plutonian Ambassador by Sir Doc Lowndes" (September 1935 ...
Thrilling Wonder Stories
US Pulp magazine, a continuation of Wonder Stories, but with a sufficiently significant policy change to require separate treatment. 111 issues, August 1936 to Winter 1955. Published by Standard Magazines, New York under their subsidiaries, Beacon Magazines, August 1936 to June 1937, and Better Publications October 1937 to August 1943; before switching to Standard Magazines Fall 1943 to Winter 1955. Edited by Mort ...
Cole, Charles
(? -? ) US author of Visitors from Mars: A Narrative (1901), whose protagonist, frustrated after the failure of his Invention, a heavier-than-air plane, to win earthly success, is approached by a small man from Mars, who persuades him to visit. On arrival, the protagonist is made welcome to the Martian Utopia, whose inhabitants are vegetarian, atheist, extremely ...
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 ...