The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is a reference work on science-fiction.

The first edition, edited by Peter Nicholls with John Clute and Brian Stableford appeared in 1979. It was retitled The Science Fiction Encyclopedia in the US.

A greatly expanded second edition edited by Nicholls and Clute did not appear until 1993. The paperback edition included an addendum. Currently, it is out of print. A third edition is hoped for, although there has been no official announcement.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction consists of several different categories:

• Author entries, including entries on writers who have written about sf or whose ideas fed into the genre
• Theme entries, on subjects often encountered in sf, e.g. telepathy or robots, but also entries about sf itself (like the history of science fiction)
• Terminology entries, similar to theme entries, explaining common words used in sf (e.g. ion drive) as well as terms used to describe sf (e.g. heroic fantasy)
• Science fiction in various countries, entries that describre science fiction in the non-English speaking world
• Films. While the focus of the encyclopedia lies with written science fiction, the more important sf films have been included as well; over 500 films are mentioned in the 1992 hardcover edition
• Television. As with films, only the most important tv series of science fiction interest have been including, leading to roughly 100 entries.
• Magazines. This includes the science fiction magazines, but also those pulp magazines that regularly featured sf content and academic magazines about sf.
• Fanzines. The more important sf fanzines are listed.
• Comics. Entries here not only consist of various sf comics, but also of some publishers, writers and artists of interest.
• Illustrators. These entries only contain artists whose work is most closely associated with the sf genre, mostly book or magazine illustrators.
• Book publishers. All the important then existing and historical sf publishers have their own entries. There are also several theme entries about publishing.
• Original anthologies. The most important and influential original anthology series are given their own entries.
• Awards. The most important sf awards have their own entries and there is also a more general entry on them.
• Miscellaneous. Some 30 entries that didn't fit elsewhere, including on sf organisations, collections, publishing formats and even some character entries.

See also

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy

External links

• A list of updates The most popular version is the version on CD-ROM.