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Wednesday 6 December 2023
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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Compton, D G
(1930-2023) UK author, born of parents who were both in the theatre; he increasingly lived in the USA after 1981. As Guy Compton, he published some unremarkable detective novels, beginning with Too Many Murderers (1962), and as by Frances Lynch produced some nonfantastic Gothics throughout his career; but soon turned to sf with tales almost always set in the Near Future, and anatomizing moral dilemmas within that arena: the future is very clearly ...
Frost, Mark
(1953- ) US screenwriter, director, producer and author, best known for co-creating the cult Television series Twin Peaks (1990-1991) with David Lynch. The noirish Pacific Rim Gothic of that narrative (see Gothic SF; Horror in SF), which is conveyed in some large measure through a hauntedly immobilized mise en scene, ...
Martin, Graham Dunstan
(1932-2021) Scottish academic (lecturer in French at Edinburgh University), translator, philologist and author who began publishing work of genre interest with the Giftwish children's fantasy sequence: Giftwish (1978) and Catchfire (1981), both as Graham Martin. With The Soul Master (1984), as Martin, he moved sf-wards; though the godling-dominated land of Tethesta is described in terms of fantasy. There are ...
Economics
The word "economics" derives from a Greek word signifying the art of household management. Its modern usage has been extended by analogy to pertain to the management of the industry and finances of nations. Medieval economic "theory" was dominated by ethical considerations, and evaluative judgments still remain entangled with the science; economics thus has the capacity to arouse powerful passions in spite of its frequent designation as "the dismal science". This is very evident in fiction ...
Four-Sided Triangle
Film (1952). Hammer. Directed by Terence Fisher. Written by Paul Tabori, Fisher, based on The Four-Sided Triangle (November 1939 Amazing as "The 4-Sided Triangle"; exp 1949) by William F Temple. Cast includes Stephen Murray, Barbara Payton and John Van Eyssen. 81 minutes, cut to 71 minutes. Black and white. / A scientist builds a ...
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. His first professional publication was the long sf-tinged poem "Carcajou Lament" (Winter 1960 [ie Autumn 1959] Triquarterly), though he only began consistently publishing sf reviews in his "New Fiction" column for the Toronto Star (1966-1967), and sf ...