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 ...
Kesteven, G R
Pseudonym of UK teacher and author Geoffrey Robins Crosher (1911-1990), some of whose stories for children were published under his own name. Of sf interest are two Young Adult novels: The Pale Invaders (1974), a Ruined Earth tale set in the Far Future and describing the effect upon an isolated valley culture of the discovery of Technologies which reveal ...
Bhatia, Gautam
(1988- ) Indian lawyer, essayist and author, resident in the UK; author of studies in Indian jurisprudence including Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Freedom of Speech Under the Indian Constitution (2015). He is of direct sf interest for the Chronicles of Sumer sequence beginning with The Wall (2020), set in an Earth-like venue at some indeterminate time in what could be the Far Future, where a vast circular ...
Avoledo, Tullio
(1957- ) Italian author (see Italy) whose first novel, L'elenco telefonico di Atlantide ["The Atlantis Telephone Directory"] (2003), is a Satire of the modern commercial world set partly in a conspiracy-choked Atlantis; the influence of Thomas Pynchon may be detected. La ragazza di Vajont (2008; trans Gillian Ania as ...
Mecha
In this encyclopedia, a pilotable or remote-operable machine, often bipedal or otherwise humanoid in form, encompassing the city-stomping war machines of Anime and the Powered Armour suits of numerous sf shows. / Strictly speaking, the term mecha originates in Japanese from the English "mechanism", and refers to any form of machinery. A concentration on the workings or design of a particular machine is not uncommon in ...
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 ...