SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Saturday 6 December 2025
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 1 December 2025
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Stoppard, Tom
Working name of Czech-born playwright and screenwriter Tomáš Straussler (1937-2025), in the UK since 1946, the Stoppard surname being acquired from his stepfather when his widowed mother remarried in 1945. His early dramatic work was characterized by extravagant wit and wordplay, and an Absurdist application of logic to surreal or insane situations. Following the broadcast of several Radio plays, his ...
Valdes Greenwood, David
(1967- ) US journalist, playwright and author known for nonfiction on gay issues (see Sex). His Young Adult sf novel, Spin Me Right Around (2022) as David Valdes, explicitly reiterates some of the basic Time Travel structure of the film Back to the Future (1985) directed by Robert Zemeckis; ...
Alkon, Paul K
(1935-2020) US author and critic, Leo S Bing Professor of English Literature at the University of Southern California from 1980 until his retirement in 2007, subsequently emeritus; a specialist in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French literature. Origins of Futuristic Fiction (1987) is a vigorous and influential study of the creation of the idea of the future that evolved, mostly in France, from the end of the eighteenth century, as reflected in the fiction and literary theory ...
Freitas, Emilia
(1855-1908) Brazilian author whose work has been rediscovered and re-evaluated in recent decades after many years in obscurity. She wrote poetry and articles from an early age, and was very active in the literary life of Fortaleza, the capital of her native State of Ceará, collaborating in Magazines and newspapers, while earning her living as a teacher in public schools in Fortaleza and also in Manaus (the capital of Amazonas) ...
Taxandria
Belgian/French/German/Dutch live-action/animated film (1994). Iblis Films, Bibo Films, Les Productions Dussart. Directed by Raoul Servais. Written by Frank Daniel, Raoul Servais and Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast includes Daniel Emilfork, Richard Kattan, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Andrew Sachs, Elliott Spiers and Katja Studt. 82 minutes. Colour. / In the present day, Jan (Kattan), a prince, arrives incognito with his tutor (Sachs) at a coastal resort ...
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 ...