SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Wednesday 18 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 16 February 2026
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Bengal
Describing sf in Bangla (or the Bengali language) is a topic fraught with difficulties. Any understanding of sf in this linguistic region must begin with an analysis of kalpabigyan, the term generally used as a very rough analogue to sf in Bangla at present. / First of all, there are problems of definition, as kalpabigyan, which is a recent formulation (see below), has a wider range of meanings and applications than those usually associated with sf, because at least in part it ...
Hancock, Anson Uriel
(1856-1895) US author whose Coitlan: A Tale of the Inca World (1893) describes an Incan civilization in Peru at the time of the Spanish conquest; their fate is intertwined with that of a doomed race of tiny humanoids with tails (see Apes as Human; Lost Race). Coitlan is a princess. [JC]
Strange Fantasy
One of the many reprint Digest-size magazines published by Sol Cohen's Ultimate Publishing Co; compiled anonymously by Cohen. Six issues, three in 1969 (#8-#10) and three in 1970 (#11-#13). The strange numbering is related to the temporary death in 1969 of Science Fiction Classics after #8, but Strange Fantasy is not simply a variant title of the latter, which began again in 1971 with ...
C, H F
Pseudonym of an unidentified UK writer (? -? ) whose Near Future sf novel, Sir John Toughbo, M P; or, the Registered Life-Pass (1903 chap), argumentatively visualizes a 1919 world distorted by labour unrest. [JC]
Omstead, Tom
(1960- ) Canadian professional athlete and author, who is of sf interest for The Red Wing Sings (2011), set in a Near-Future world after a successful American Invasion of Canada instigated by a Canadian act of sabotage; the protagonist, separated by most of a continent of occupied territory under military rule, engages on a Fantastic Voyage in search of his ...
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 ...