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Wednesday 11 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 9 February 2026
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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Ayrton, Michael
UK journalist, broadcaster, sculptor, painter and author born Michael Ayrton Gould (1921-1975), using his father's surname until adolescence, when he took the surname of his mother the politician Barbara Ayrton (1886-1950), also recognizing in this fashion his grandmother the engineer and mathematician Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923); married to Elisabeth Ayrton from 1952 until his death. He was much respected as an illustrator and stage designer; through much of ...
Hunter, John
(1891-1961) UK author of a huge number of stories for the Boys' Papers and other markets from the early 1900s, under his own name and as by John Addiscombe, L H Brenning, Francis Brent, Stanton Doyle, Anthony Drummond, Peter Meriton and others, his total output being estimated as about 20,000,000 words. His sf work has not been fully identified. Typical early examples include two book-length serials: "The Lure of the Lost Land" (27 February-20 May 1922 ...
Linklater, Eric
(1899-1974) Scottish author and playwright, in active service (underage) during World War One, an experience which, he stated twenty years after its close, transformed him from a "patriot" into a thinking man. He was proficient in various genres though he is best remembered for his novels, beginning with White Maa's Saga (1929), the best-known of these being Juan in America (1931), a picaresque Satire on ...
Robinson, Jeanne
(1948-2010) US-born dancer, choreography and author, in Canada from 1975 or earlier, marrying Spider Robinson in 1975; the Stardance trilogy, where dance (see Arts) is presented as a likely form of human-Alien Communication, was written with her husband (whom see for details). [JC]
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 ...