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Sunday 18 January 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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von Däniken, Erich
(1935-2026) Swiss author of a series of purportedly nonfiction books, beginning with Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968; trans Michael Heron as Chariots of the Gods? 1969), which, based on a mass of often suspect and internally inconsistent data, argues that the Earth was visited by at least one Alien spacefaring race before and at the dawn of historical time; thus, for example, the Great Pyramid of ...
Adams, Scott
(1957-2026) US author and cartoonist best known for the Dilbert strip published from 1989, which when at its best superbly (in terms of concept and accuracy of Satire rather than quality of drawing) satirized contemporary office life and corporate incompetence. As with most ambitious modern comic strips, it segues frequently into sf and fantasy tropes – such as Robot office workers, wish-fulfilling ...
Skinner, Michael
(1953- ) US journalist, editor and author, mostly of nonfiction books about the American military during the 1980s. Of sf interest is the Near Future Technothriller First Air: A Novel of Air Combat in the Persian Gulf (1991), set after Iran has nuked Baghdad, trapping American forces who can only be rescued by a maverick private corporation whose advanced planes are operated by madcap fighter ...
Frankenstein 1970
Film (1958; vt Frankenstein 1975). Aubrey Schenck Productions/Allied Artists. Produced by Aubrey Schenck. Directed by Howard W Koch. Written by Richard Landau and George Worthing Yates from a story by Charles A Moses and Schenck loosely based on Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1811; rev 1831) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, not credited. Cast includes Charlotte Austin, Donald Barry, Tom Duggan, Boris ...
Rage: Carrie 2, The
Film (1999; vt Carrie 2). Red Bank Films/United Artists. Directed by Katt Shea. Produced by Paul Monash. Written by Rafael Moreu based on Carrie (1974) by Stephen King. Cast includes Emily Bergl, Amy Irving and Jason London. 104 minutes. Colour with some black-and-white scenes. / This film is a direct sequel to Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976), rather than a remake. It develops that Carrie White has ...
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 ...