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Thursday 10 September 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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Woolf, A L

(? - ) UK author who wrote the novel Southern Exploration (1953) as by Adam Dale, a House Name of Curtis Warren, for which publisher Woolf also wrote non-sf under his own name. [SH/DRL]

(1936-2002) US author, mostly of juveniles, and of very considerable interest in that field for the exploratory intensity of her work, from Zeely (1967) on, and for the depth of her presentation of the complex experience of being Black in the USA (her maternal grandfather was an escaped slave). Several of her better-known tales, like M.C. Higgins, the Great (1974) and Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush (1982), are fantasies. Of particular sf interest is the ...

Kraftwerk

Enormously influential group of German electronic musicians, formed by Ralf Hütter (1946- ) and Florian Schneider-Esleben (1947-2020) in 1970. The group achieved international fame as a quartet, with drummer Wolfgang Flür (1947- ) and Karl Bartos (1952- ), following the release of their fourth album Autobahn (1974). The 20-minute title track reproduces a car journey on its titular motorway, from the ...

Gojira 1985

Film (1985; vt Godzilla 1985). Toho/New World. Directed by Kohji Hashimoto, R J Kizer. Written by Shuichi Nagahara, Lisa Tomei, from a story by Tomoyuki Tanaka. Cast includes Raymond Burr (US version), Keiju Kobayashi and Ken Tanaka. 120 minutes, cut to 91 minutes USA and 87 minutes UK. Colour. / The original screenplay from Gojira (1954) is not credited, but this is effectively a remake of the first film; although it purports to be a sequel, ...

Fadiman, Clifton

(1904-1999) US author and editor, notably with Simon and Schuster and The New Yorker, who became a well-known figure through radio and television broadcasting. He edited two important Anthologies devoted to Mathematics and its folklore, both including sf and material of sf interest: Fantasia Mathematica (anth 1958) and The Mathematical Magpie (anth 1962). See Checklist for the long subtitles. ...

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 ...