SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 13 April 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 13 April 2026
Sponsor of the day: John Howard
Richards, Harvey D
Pseudonym of US military pilot and author Noël E Sainsbury Jr (1884-1956) for his Sorak sequence, beginning with Sorak of the Malay Jungle [for all subtitles see Checklist] (1934), and clearly intended to exploit the popularity of Tarzan. Sorak himself, and his animal companion (in this case, a tiger), are inherently as borderline-sf in their conception as Tarzan himself; but they venture (as does Tarzan) into sf territory, discovering a ...
Powers of Matthew Star, The
US tv series (1982-1983). Paramount Network Television for NBC-TV. Created by Steven de Souza. Executive Producers included Harve Bennett, Bruce Lansbury. Directors included Barry Crane, Leslie H Martinson, Ron Saltof, Leonard Nimoy. Writers included de Souza, Gil Grant, Richard Christian Matheson, Walter Koenig, Bruce Shelly. Cast includes Peter Barton, John Crawford, Chip ...
Worlds of Tomorrow
US Digest-size magazine, 26 issues in two series, April 1963 to May 1967 and [Summer] 1970 to Spring 1971. First issue published by Barmaray Co, New York and then by Galaxy Publishing Co. as a bimonthly companion to Galaxy Science Fiction and If, until May 1967, 23 issues, edited by Frederik Pohl. The bimonthly schedule slipped when August 1964 was followed by November 1964, and it ...
Williams, Gordon
(1934-2017) Scottish journalist and author best known for the nonfantastic The Siege of Trencher's Farm (1969), filmed by Sam Peckinpah as Straw Dogs (1971), and for the Hazell detective novels with UK footballer and football manager Terry Venables (1943-2023), the two writing together as P B Yuill. This series began with Hazell Plays Solomon (1974), with all three volumes being later televised. A marginally sf football novel written with ...
Nichols, Nichelle
Working name of US singer, dancer and actor Grace Dell Nichols (1932-2022), best known for her role as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek (1966-1969) series and its very many spinoffs. Her first venture into genre fiction was the novelette "Surprise!" with Myrna Culbreath and Sondra Marshak in Star Trek: The New Voyages 2 (anth 1978) edited by Culbreath and ...
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 ...