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Wednesday 11 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
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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 ...
Bentley, Norman S
(1867-? ) US lawyer and author whose Future War novel Armada of the Air (1937) counts as an extremely early Hitler Wins tale, though the emphasis here is more on the governmental fanaticism that has disarmed Great Britain by 1946 than on the four dictators (one of them Hitler by clear inference) who wage war by air (the armada boasts thousands of planes) on their hapless foe. [JC]
Schwarz-Bart, Simone
(1938- ) French-born author, in Guadeloupe from infancy, married to André Schwarz-Bart; of sf interest is Ti Jean L'horizon (1979; trans Barbara Bray as Between Two Worlds 1981), an Equipoisal tale tracing the life of a folk hero in mythological and sf terms; the great cloud that darkens Guadeloupe may be deemed allegorical of white ...
Psycho-Pass
Japanese animated tv series (2012-2013). Production I.G. Directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro and Naoyoshi Shiotani. Written by Makoto Fukami and Gen Urobuchi. Voice cast includes Kana Hanazawa, Kenji Nojima, Takahiro Sakurai and Tomokazu Seki. 22 23-minute episodes. Colour. / Twenty-second-century Japan is stable, prosperous and has created the "greatest happiness for the greatest number of people" (see Utopia). This is done through ...
Horn, Peter
A House Name claimed to have been used in Ziff-Davis magazines by Henry Kuttner once, for "50 Miles Down" (Fantastic Adventures 1940), and by David Vern (see David V Reed) twice, also in 1940. Peter Horn may, however, be a straightforward pseudonym of Vern's. [JC/PN] links / ...
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 ...