SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 2 November 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 26 October 2026
Sponsor of the day: Kees van Toorn and LAcon V
Starfall
Role Playing Game (2015). Wordplay Games. Written by Paul Mitchener, based on the Wordplay game system by Graham Spearing. / Small Press Horror in SF roleplaying game that mines the transition of the gritty, pessimistic tenor (see Optimism and Pessimism) of the UK-specific ...
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Film (1987). Cannon. Directed by Sidney J Furie. Written by Lawrence Kohner, Mark Rosenthal, based on a story by Reeve, Kohner. Cast includes Gene Hackman, Mariel Hemingway, Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve. 93 minutes. Colour. / Superman's death knell, at the box office anyway, was tolled by Cannon's attempt to get more mileage from his exploits after he had been jettisoned by Alexander and Ilya Salkind. Reeve agreed to play the part again ...
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Film (2005). A Lucasfilm Ltd Production, a Twentieth Century Fox release. Directed by George Lucas. Written by Lucas. Cast includes Hayden Christensen, Samuel L Jackson, Ian McDiarmid, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman. 140 minutes. Colour. / In Revenge of the Sith, the (apparently) final film in the Star Wars cycle, George Lucas finally packs away the cute sidekicks to dramatize the darkest moment in ...
Nelson, Blake
(1965- ) US author for Young Adults whose They Came from Below (2007) features Aliens in human guise who emerge from Under the Sea in a desperate last-ditch attempt to persuade Homo sapiens to preserve the oceans, which are dying of Pollution. [JC]
Doroga k Zvezdam
Russian documentary film (1957; vt Road to the Stars). Leningrad Popular Science Film Studio. Directed by Pavel Klushantsev. Written by Boris Lyapunov and Vasili Solovyov. Cast includes Georgi Solovyov and other unidentified actors. 52 minutes. Colour. / This documentary begins with an extended look at the life of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (Solovyov), explaining how this visionary Scientist first devised ...
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 ...