SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Wednesday 13 May 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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Suzuki Kōji
(1957-2026) Japanese author and essayist, largely known in English through the Cinema adaptations of several of his books, the international success of which obscured his wide-ranging domestic output. His horror and Equipoisal fiction proceeded in tandem with a wide array (not listed here) of books on young fatherhood and occasional works on motorcycle travel. He was also the translator of Simon Brett's ...
Elson, Peter
(1947-1998) UK illustrator active during the 1980s and 1990s painting Hard SF covers depicting space hardware in the manner popularized by Chris Foss. He received his formal art education at Ealing Art College, then spent several years as a jobbing artist before, in 1975, winning an art competition mounted by the UK's Science Fiction Monthly. Thereafter, his sf cover art was very much in ...
NOW Comics
US Comics publisher active from 1985 to 2005, also variously known as NOW Entertainment Corporation and NOW Media Group Incorporated. Founded by Tony C Caputo. / An independent publisher which was successful for some years, NOW Comics published many licensed titles based on such genre properties as the films Ghostbusters (1984) and Fright Night (1985), and the Television series The ...
Promised Neverland, The
Japanese animated tv series (2019-2021). Original title Yakusoku no Neverland. Based on the Manga by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu. CloverWorks. Directed by Mamoru Kanbe. Written by Toshiya Ono and Kaiu Shirai. Voice cast includes Nao Fujita, Mariya Ise, Yuko Kaida, Shin'ichirō Kamio, Hiyori Kono, Sumire Morohoshi, Ari Ozawa, Atsumi Tanezaki and Maaya Uchida. 23 23-minute episodes. Colour. / In 2045 (see ...
Xenobiology
The study of lifeforms that may exist elsewhere than on Earth is called xenobiology or exobiology. It is one of the few legitimate sciences to have, as yet, no direct experimental application other than the tests carried out on the surface of Mars to see if the soil showed any of the biological activity that might be associated with the presence of microscopic lifeforms. (It seemed for a time as if some of the results of this experiment might be positive; it is now thought they were caused by ...
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 ...