SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 24 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.
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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 ...
Laurens, Marshall
(? - ) US author of The Z Effect (1974), which features a Mad Scientist whose Wild Talents seem, at least initially, unlimited. [JC]
OMPA
Known usually by its acronym, the Offtrails Magazine Publishers Association (1954-1978 or 1979) was an APA formed in the UK by Kenneth Bulmer and A Vincent Clarke, whose founder members included Chuck Harris. OMPA was modelled on FAPA, and was likewise created to facilitate distribution of Fanzines published by and for ...
McCann, Edson
Pseudonym used by Frederik Pohl and Lester del Rey for the single novel Preferred Risk (June-September 1955 Galaxy; 1955), which was hurriedly written for a Galaxy Science Fiction novel competition because no acceptable outside submission had been received. Cast in the same mould as Pohl's and C M Kornbluth's ...
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 ...