SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Wednesday 30 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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May, Peter
(1951-2026) Scottish journalist, screenwriter and author, active from around 1970; resident in France from around 2000. During the first twenty-five years of his career as a screenwriter, he was involved in something like 1,000 television productions, all seemingly nonfantastic. He began to publish fiction with The Reporter (1978), which he serialized for the BBC; most of his later novels were crime thrillers, including the China Thrillers beginning with ...
Slavnikova, Ol'ga
(1957- ) Russian author whose Near Future Satire, 2017 (2006; trans Marian Schwartz 2010), set one century after the Russian Revolution, depicts in exorbitant terms the costs of rampant "freedom", including naked capitalism at its most exploitative, Disasters looming from unchecked Climate Change, ...
Friendship's Death
UK film (1987). British Film Institute / Channel 4 / Modelmark. Written and directed by Peter Wollen (1938-2019), based on his story "Friendship's Death" (Spring 1976 Bananas). Cast includes Patrick Bauchau, Ruby Baker, Bill Paterson and Tilda Swinton. 78 minutes. Colour. / In 1970, a female Android named Friendship (Swinton) is sent on a peace mission to Earth, but misses her ...
Destinies
US "magazine" in paperback-book format published by Ace Books, edited by James Baen, 11 issues, November 1978-August 1981, last issue undated. The list of contributors to all sections of the magazine – which could equally be thought of as an original-Anthology series – was impressive. Book reviews were by Spider Robinson, with Orson Scott ...
Talbot, Hake
Pseudonym of US author Henning Cunningham Nelms (1900-1986) who as Henning Nelms wrote nonfiction works on theatrical design and stage magic; his Rim of the Pit (1944) is an impossible crime tale whose solution utilizes an sf premise. [JC]
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 ...