SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Friday 23 October 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 19 October 2026
Sponsor of the day: David Cowhig
Bennett, Keith
(? - ) Author known only for the melodramatic and memorably titled adventure novella The Rocketeers Have Shaggy Ears (Spring 1950 Planet Stories; 2021 ebook), set on the planet Venus. To reach the safety of this world's only human base, the "rocketeer" crew of a crashed Spaceship must trek 500 miles through the "dark, unexplored, steaming Hell that ...
Moszkowski, Alexandr
(1851-1934) Polish/German author, in Berlin from a relatively early age, where he became a well-known satirist of the contemporary political scene. In his excellent and encyclopedic Satire of Utopias, Die Inselt der Weisheit: Geschichte einer abenteuerlichen Entdeckungsfahrt [subtitle translates as "The Story of an Adventurous Expedition"] (1922; trans H J Stenning as The Isles of Wisdom 1924), the protagonists ...
Time Masters
Franco-Hungarian animated film (1982); original title Les Maîtres du temps. Télécip, TF1 Films Production. Directed by René Laloux. Written by René Laloux, Jean-Patrick Manchette and Moebius (Jean Giraud). Voice cast includes Michel Elias, Frédéric Legros, Yves-Marie Maurin, Monique Thierry and Jean Valmont. 79 minutes. Colour. / When his parents are killed by brain-eating Frelons, the child Piel ...
Bug-Eyed Monsters
A traditional visual Cliché of sf: grotesque Alien beings, usually menacing, as regularly pictured on the covers of SF Magazines of the 1930s and 1940s: Howard V Brown's early covers for Thrilling Wonder Stories are regarded as archetypal. Often known by their acronym, BEMS. Relevant theme anthologies include ...
Sullivan, Mary W
(? - ) US author of Young Adult fiction whose Earthquake 2099 (1982) is a fairly early example of the tale whose young protagonist, trapped in a Dystopian City-state, must eventually learn to survive in the surrounding wilderness; in this case, the eponymous Disaster provides her with the chance to grow up. [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 ...