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Friday 13 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.
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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 ...
Extrapolation [magazine]
Critical magazine, edited by Thomas D Clareson from its inception in December 1959; Donald M Hassler joined Clareson from the Winter 1987 issue, and became sole editor from the Spring 1990 issue, a dominant role he maintained, though the designation of his role changed at least once, until he retired in 2007. The journal has since been edited by several scholars acting as a board; they include Andrew M ...
Barrett, David V
(1952- ) UK author of some short fiction of genre interest, beginning with "Les Temps étrange sur L'île Fisseau" for The Gate in 1990. He is editor of Digital Dreams (anth 1990), which contains original British stories about AI, Computers and Virtual Reality; and of Tales from the Vatican Vaults (anth 2015), ...
Fleming, Ian
(1908-1964) UK author, brother of Peter Fleming; he spent World War Two working for UK naval intelligence, and it may be that the depth of his personal knowledge gave him the imaginative freedom to create his great mythic hero. Neither the occasional use of advanced technological gadgetry nor the chthonic and fantastic plots of his enormously successful James Bond sequence of thrillers, of course, makes them genuine sf. The closest any of them comes to a ...
Being John Malkovich
Film (1999). Gramercy Pictures presents a Propaganda Films/Single Cell Pictures production. Directed by Spike Jonze. Written by Charlie Kaufman. Cast includes John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener and John Malkovich. 112 minutes. Colour. / A professionally thwarted puppeteer (Cusack) takes a job in an idiosyncratic office where he discovers a portal which gives fifteen-minute access into the head of a real-life actor, John Malkovich ...
Langford, David
(1953- ) UK author, critic, editor, publisher and sf fan, in the latter capacity recipient of 21 Hugo awards for fan writing – some of the best of his several hundred pieces are assembled as Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (coll 1992 chap US; much exp vt The Silence of the Langford 1996; exp 2015 ebook) as Dave Langford, edited by Ben Yalow – plus five Best Fanzine Hugos ...