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Friday 27 May 2022
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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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Knapp, George L
(1872-1950) US journalist and author, whose The Face of Air (1912) is set on an apparently deserted ship "haunted" by an ape whose Invisibility is the result of a chemist's misapplied Invention. [JC]
Reisen, Marx
Pseudonym of the unidentified UK author (? - ) of Before the Beginning (1954 chap), in which a colony planet labours under the threat of Invasion from another planet; Androids and Inventions modestly enrich the tale, which ends in a vast enclave understood to be the Garden for a new Adam and Eve. [JC]
Dath, Dietmar
(1970- ) German editor and author, active from the mid-1990s (see Germany since 1990). Several of his earlier novels contain homages to sf, though sometimes remotely: Am Blinden Ufer ["On the Blind Side"] (2000) alludes within an apocalyptic frame to H P Lovecraft and Michael Moorcock; and Dirac (2006) is an historical/contemporary story attempt to recreate the life – but not quite the actual presence – of the physicist Paul Dirac (1902-1984). More directly ...
Flying Serpent, The
Film (1946; vt Killer with Wings). Producer's Releasing Corporation. Directed by Sam Newfield (credited as Sherman Scott). Produced by Sigmund Neufeld. Written by John T Neville from his original story. Cast includes Eddie Acuff, Hope Kramer, Ralph Lewis, James Metcalfe and George Zucco. 59 minutes. Black and white. / Demented archaeologist Professor Andrew Forbes (Zucco) has made two unlikely discoveries near San Juan, New Mexico. The first is that the Aztec Empire stretched that far north ...
Abnett, Nik
Working name of UK author Nicola Vincent-Abnett (1964- ), married to Dan Abnett, with whom she collaborated on two Warhammer Ties as Nik Vincent [see Checklist below]. She began publishing solo work of genre interest with "Arm Every Woman" in Crises and Conflicts (anth 2016) edited by Ian Whates. In her first non-tie novel, Savant (2016), something like a buzz of Alternate World realities destabilizes the Shield that has protected Earth from Invasion for centuries. ...
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 ...