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Saturday 21 March 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 18 March 2026
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Deighton, Len
Working name of UK illustrator and author Leonard Cyril Deighton (1929-2026), mostly not resident in Britain after 1969; author of spy novels, cookery books and some other nonfiction, but still perhaps best known for early espionage thrillers like The Ipcress File (1962), the first of the Secret File sequence which features the same undisciplined and unnamed secret agent, and the subsequent Funeral in Berlin (1964). The fourth volume of the series, ...
Dietz, William C
(1945-2026) US author who began to publish sf with War World (1986; vt Galactic Bounty 1997), the first volume of his Sam McCade sequence of sf adventures about an interstellar bounty hunter, which continued with Imperial Bounty (1988) and two further titles. The galactic venue of the series exhibits some interesting kinks, and McCade himself gradually gains individuality. Although the angle of approach differs – the protagonist this time ...
Haddon, Cole
(? - ) Australian screenwriter, journalist and author, mostly in US, initially of interest for his creator/producer role in the Television series Dracula (2013 10 episodes), showrunner Daniel Knauf. He is of stronger sf interest for his first novel, Psalms for the End of the World (2022), which is set in various venues – from a 1960s California where reality ...
Hydrozagadka
["Hydro-Mystery"] Film (1971). Zespół Filmowy Plan. Directed by Andrzej Kondratiuk. Written by Andrzej Bonarski and Andrzej Kondratiuk. Cast includes Iga Cembrzyńska, Roman Kłosowski, Zdzisław Maklakiewicz, Wiesław Michnikowski and Józef Nowak. 70 minutes. Black and white. / Hydro-Mystery uses the Superhero genre as a vehicle for Satire. Shot in 1970 and released in 1971, the ...
Phillifent, John T
(1916-1976) UK electrical engineer and author of much sf and works in other genres; though he claimed to reserve his best material for publication under his own name; he was, however, probably better known under his pseudonym John Rackham, the name he used for most of his work. [Phillifent and Rackham titles are separated in the Checklist below]. He began writing sf with the Space Puppet series for Pearson's ...
Clute, John
(1940- ) Canadian critic, editor and author, in the UK from 1969; married to Judith Clute from 1964, partner of Elizabeth Hand since 1996. He began to publish work of genre interest with an sf-tinged poem "Carcajou Lament" in Triquarterly for Winter 1960 [ie Autumn 1959]; he began consistently publishing sf reviews in his "New Fiction" column for the Toronto Star (1966-1967), and later in ...