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Sunday 12 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 6 April 2026
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Leithauser, Brad
(1953- ) US poet and author whose sf novel, Hence (1989), is a near-future Fabulation – itself told as from a point considerably further into the future – in which a boy plays against a Computer for the world Chess championship, the style and matter of the tale being at times reminiscent of the work of Vladimir Nabokov. ...
Top-Notch Comics
US Comic (1939-1942). 27 issues (#1-#27). M.L.J. Magazines Inc.. Artists include Al Camy, Warren King, Ed Smalle and Lin Streeter. Scriptwriters include Jack and Otto Binder (see Eando Binder), Joe Blair, Bob Montana and Harry Shorten. 68 pages. Usually 9 long strips, early issues also had a short text story; plus occasional short strips and non-fiction pieces as filler. Became Top-Notch Laugh Comics (1942-1944), 18 issues (#28-#45), discussed below. / ...
Legendary Stardust Cowboy, The
US singer-songwriter, born Norman Carl Odam (1947- ). Known to fans as "the Ledge", the Legendary Stardust Cowboy divides listeners into those who find his idiosyncratic and sporadic recordings to be nothing more than novelty records, and those who think very highly of his left-field, peculiar and space-travel-obsessed imagination. In the latter category is David Bowie, who has covered Legendary Stardust Cowboy songs on his own recordings. ...
M-Brane SF
US downloadable and print-on-demand Online Magazine published and edited by Christopher Fletcher, initially in Oklahoma City, and from April 2010 in St Louis, and became part of M-Brane Press. It was published monthly, with occasional delays, from January 2009 to June 2011, with a final thirtieth issue in February 2012. The print version was letter size and the small print meant that although the early issues ran to about fifty pages, these probably ...
Mead, Shepherd
Working name of US author Edward Mead (1914-1994), in either Switzerland or the UK after 1957; he worked in advertising before turning to writing, and was active in various genres. Satire and comedy combine in most of his works, most pointedly in his best-known work, the nonfantastic mock instructional manual, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1952), for the staged version of which he shared a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony. Satire also ...
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 ...