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Thursday 3 September 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.
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Murray, Will
Working name of US author William Patrick Murray (1953-2026), who showed an interest throughout his career in Superheroes of the Pulp tradition (on which he was a known authority) such as Doc Savage, about which figure he wrote the nonfiction Secrets of Doc Savage (1981 chap). In this context he had been literary agent for Lester Dent's estate since 1979. ...
Reid, Iain
(1981- ) Canadian author whose novels to date, beginning with I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2016) are horror; that first novel was filmed as I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. Fog (2018) strongly evokes Horror in SF through its frame narrative: in the ...
Rhodes, W H
(1822-1876) US lawyer, poet and author whose early work, like The Indian Gallows and Other Poems in Two Parts (coll 1846), but who soon began to publish newspaper pieces and stories under the name Caxton, notably The Case of Summerfield (13 May 1871 Sacramento Daily Union; 1907 chap), about a scientist who threatens to use his Invention – a technique for setting the oceans afire using potassium – unless he is paid a ...
Strete, Craig
(1950- ) US author – the suggestion has been bruited that Strete is the pseudonym of a Native American author of Cherokee birth who does not wish to reveal his real name, but this has not been confirmed. He has written as Strete and as by Sovereign Faulkner, and possibly under other names, by himself and in collaboration; at least forty of the eighty or more stories claimed for him must almost certainly be under unrevealed names. As Strete, he began publishing ...
Smaill, Anna
(1979- ) New Zealand author whose first novel, The Chimes (2015), artfully conceals its distant Near Future setting in a London which may be viewed as a Dystopia, as it is oppressively guild-dominated and under something like a curse, which may be nothing more than the effects of twenty-first century global despoliation. At the same time, however, a detailed and subtle ...
Langford, David
(1953- ) UK author, critic, editor, publisher and sf fan, in the latter capacity recipient of 21 Hugo awards for fan writing – some of the best of his several hundred pieces are assembled as Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (coll 1992 chap US; much exp vt The Silence of the Langford 1996; exp 2015 ebook) as Dave Langford, edited by Ben Yalow – plus five Best Fanzine Hugos ...