SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 8 February 2025
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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Sarrantonio, Al
(1952-2025) US editor and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Ahead of the Joneses" in Asimov's for March 1979. Much of his work was horror, sometimes tinged with sf (see Horror in SF), including his first novel, The Worms (1985), a Gothic tale set in Massachusetts with hints of H P Lovecraft; and the Equipoisal Moonbane ...
Ryan, C J
(? - ) Pseudonymous US author whose Gloria VanDeen Space Opera sequence, featuring the ex-wife of a galactic Emperor (see Galactic Empires) employed as a tough smart high-level interstellar troubleshooter at the Department of Extraterrestrial Affairs, comprises Dexta (2005) and Glorious Treason (2005). The stories are lively but unambitious; Gloria ...
Marshall, William
(1944-2003) Australian author, best known for the long Yellowthread Street Mystery sequence beginning with Yellowthread Street (1975), set in a fictionalized Hong Kong and featuring the investigations of Detective Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer. The stories, though gonzo and gaudily unlikely, are generally nonfantastic, though Sci Fi: A Yellowthread Street Mystery (1981), which is set at an sf film Convention (see ...
Riddell, J L
(1807-1865) US chemist, botanist, inventor and author of Orrin Lindsay's Plan of Aerial Navigation, with a Narrative of his Explorations in the Higher Regions of the Atmosphere, and his Wonderful Voyage Round the Moon! (1847 chap), a Scientific Hoax narrative clearly indebted to Edgar Allan Poe's "Hans Phaall – A Tale" (June 1835 The Southern Literary Messenger), both exemplifying the complex ...
Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department
Japanese Anime tv series (2022). Original title Kaijin Kaihatsubu no Kuroitsu-san; vt Kuroitsu-san in the Superhuman Research & Development Department. Quad. Based on the Manga by Hiroaki Mizusaki. Directed by Hisashi Saitō. Written by Katsuhiko Takayam. Voice cast includes Satomi Amano, Tetsu Inada, Kaori Maeda, M.A.O. (Mao Ichimichi), Takuma Terashima and Yūichirō Umehara. Twelve 24-minute episodes. ...
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 ...