SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Friday 17 April 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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Watson, Ian
(1943-2026) UK teacher and author who lectured in English in Tanzania (1965-1967) and Tokyo (1967-1970) before beginning to publish sf with "Roof Garden Under Saturn" for New Worlds in 1969; he then taught Future Studies for six years at Birmingham Polytechnic, taking there one of the first academic courses in sf in the UK; he became a full-time writer in 1976, publishing around 200 short stories since 1969 at a gradually increasing tempo and with visibly ...
Mystery Comics
US Comic (1944). Four issues. Wm H Wise & Co. Artists include Ken Battefield, Bob Oksner and Alex Schomburg. Script writers include Joseph Greene and Bob Stanwood. 5 strips per issue. / The stories featuring Superhero Brad Spencer, Wonderman are published in the wrong order: narratively the sequence is #2, #3, #4 and #1. Brad's "body was made tough as ...
Federbush, Arnold
(1935-1993) American film editor, aspiring screenwriter and author who turned to novels on the understanding that it would increase his chances of making sales to Hollywood producers. The Man Who Lived in Inner Space (1973) features adventures Under the Sea by a marine biologist who is gradually transformed into an amphibious life-form after being crippled in a chemical explosion. Ice! (1978) is a ...
Henneberg, Charles
Working name of German author Charles Henneberg zu Irmelshausen Wasungen (1899-1959), for whose writings with Nathalie Henneberg as N C Henneberg, see her entry. [JC]
Cremators, The
Film (1972; vt Dune Rollers). Arista Productions Inc/New World Pictures. Produced by Roger Corman and Harry Essex. Directed by Harry Essex. Written by Essex based on "Dune Roller" (December 1951 Astounding) by Julian May, credited on screen as Judy Dikty. Cast includes Eric Allison, Mason Caulfield, Maria De Aragon and Marvin Howard. 75 minutes. Colour. / Prologue: a huge ball of fire ...
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 ...