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Saturday 27 July 2024
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
Science Fiction Research Association
This group was formed in October 1970 to aid and encourage sf scholarship, especially in the USA and Canada. The first chairman was Thomas D Clareson. The organization has acted as a central liaison between academics teaching sf in the USA, though academic affiliation is not a requirement for membership, which can be active, honorary, institutional, student or emeritus. Members receive SFRA Newsletter (retitled ...
Palmer, William J
(1890-1982) US judge and author whose sf novel The Curious Culture of the Planet Loretta (1968) – written after his retirement – discusses sexual morality (see Sex); the plot is not gripping. [JC/DRL]
Spanner, E F
(1888-1953) UK naval architect who, after his retirement from the Royal Corps of Naval Construction, was the author of three Future War novels: The Broken Trident (1926), which predicts the use of torpedoes launched by warplanes against vulnerable surface vessels; The Naviators (1926); and The Harbour of Death (1927), where future war battles take place in the Mediterranean. Spanner's recurring message is that the UK ...
Ray Bradbury Theater
US tv series (1985-1986; 1988-1992). Atlantis Films/Wilcox Productions for Home Box Office (HBO) and later USA Network. Executive producers Michael MacMillan, Larry Wilcox, Ray Bradbury; produced by Seaton McLean; teleplays by Bradbury, based on his own stories. Leading actors included Drew Barrymore, James Coco, Jeff Goldblum, Nick Mancuso, Peter O'Toole, William Shatner. 65 episodes of 23-28 minutes. Season ...
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 ...