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
Interstellar
Film (2014). Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan. Cast includes Casey Affleck, Wes Bentley, Timothée Chalamet, Jessica Chastain, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Caine, Matt Damon, Mackenzie Foy, David Gyasi, Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin, Matthew McConaughey. 169 minutes. Colour. / There is some lip service here. The involvement as scientific advisor of ...
Dobbs, Michael
(1948- ) UK politician who has held various posts in the Conservative Party, and author of House of Cards (1989), a Near Future political thriller set in a UK reeling from the retirement of Margaret Thatcher. The book was filmed by the BBC as House of Cards (1990); it is only in the television version that the book's Machiavellian protagonist, Francis Urquhart (played by Ian Richardson), is given a catchphrase ...
Logue, Mary
(1952- ) US author of a Young Adult tale, Dancing with an Alien (2000), in which a visiting Alien must persuade an adolescent girl to return to his home planet as a breeder. [JC]
Lake, David J
(1929-2016) Indian-born UK academic and author who emigrated to Australia in 1967; his education (a Jesuit school in India, a BA in English at Cambridge, a diploma in linguistics and a PhD in English) is reflected in the texture of his sf work, as is his teaching in Vietnam, Thailand and India (1959-1967). After several works of criticism, including the strongly argued, somewhat controversial The Canon of Thomas Middleton's Plays (1975) and a volume of poetry, ...
Mysterious Traveler, The
Radio series (1943-1952). The Mutual Broadcasting System. Writers were primarily Robert Arthur and David Kogan. Created by Arthur and Kogan. Directors included Kogan. Narrator: Maurice Tarplin. 370 30-minute episodes. / This was primarily a suspense-crime drama anthology series, but included much Fantasy, Horror and sf. Radioplays are by Arthur and Kogan unless noted otherwise. Surviving sf ...
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 ...