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Tuesday 17 February 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 16 February 2026
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Lerangis, Peter
(1955- ) US actor and author, who also writes as by A L Singer. His earliest books were Ties for the Hardy Boys Juvenile Series; much of his work since has been similarly directed to the Young Adult market, including his sf and fantasy, typical of which are his three titles for the Byron Preiss Time Machine ...
Pinocchio in Outer Space
Belgium/US animated film (1965). Belvision Studios. Based on the character and story Le Avventure di Pinocchio (1883) by Carlo Collodi. Directed by Ray Goossens. Written by Fred Ladd (from an idea by co-producer Norm Prescott). Voice cast includes Jess Cain, Conrad Jameson, Kevin Kennedy, Peter Lazer, Mavis Mims, Ray Owens, Minerva Pious and Arnold Stang. 70 minutes. Colour. / The audience is assured that ...
Solar Wind
This scientific term has found much favour in sf Terminology. The stars constantly emit highly energetic particles as well as, of course, light, which is itself composed of tiny particles, photons (although here the word "particle" has a slightly different meaning). These particles exert a gentle outward pressure (which is why the tail of a Comet always points away from the Sun). A low-mass ...
Brémont, Anna, Comtesse de
(circa 1849-1922) US-born (of Irish parents) singer and author, mainly in South Africa after around 1878. She is of sf interest for A Son of Africa: A Romance (1899), mostly set in a remote African region governed by baboons (see Apes as Human); the young protagonist, whose mother is Black and father is white (see Race in SF), ends up in the UK after a natural Disaster has killed ...
Salvatore, R A
(1959- ) US author, almost exclusively of Fantasy, and a specialist in the Forgotten Realms fantasy universe, for which he has written many Ties (his pure fantasy is not listed below). The Chronicles of Ynis Aielle sequence, opening with Echoes of the Fourth Magic (1990) is essentially fantasy but set on a future Post-Holocaust Earth where ...
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 ...