SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 20 August 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 17 August 2026
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Crowley, John
(1942-2026) US teacher and author who also worked in documentary films and television for some time beginning in 1966. His sf novels have had a considerable impact on the field, and his fantasies established him as a figure whose work courteously but deeply stretched the boundaries of genre literature. / His first novel, The Deep (1975), is set on a flat discworld (see Flat Earth) resting on a pillar that extends beyond measurement into the ...
Herzog, Arthur
(1927-2010) US editor and author who also worked with the Peace Corps and as a political manager. Several of his sf novels focus on Disasters, beginning with his first, The Swarm (1974), which convincingly posits an ecological catastrophe when the African honey-bee mutates and invades North America (see Ecology; Hive Minds), eventually besieging New York. It was ...
Brown, Molly
(? - ) Working name of American-born UK stand-up comedienne and author Doris Mary Brown, who began publishing work of genre interest with "Bad Timing" (December 1991 Interzone); this won the BSFA Award for best short story of that year. The black humour of the tale – its inept Time-Travelling protagonist basically leaves the woman whose photograph he has ...
Berry, Kevin
(1965- ) New Zealand author, whose collaborations with his wife Diane Berry are jointly signed K D Berry. Their work together is fantasy. Teleport (2017) mildly engages with Telepathy. [JC]
Ultrawave
A once fairly common item of sf Terminology, denoting Imaginary Science radio-like Communications operating Faster Than Light. This sf coinage seems to have been first used in Lester del Rey's "Habit" (November 1939 Astounding); it appears in E E Smith's ...
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 ...