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Monday 16 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 ...
Species II
Film (1998). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed by Peter Medak. Written by Chris Brancato. Cast includes James Cromwell, Marg Helgenberger, Natasha Henstridge, Justin Lazard, Michael Madsen and Mykelti Williamson. 93 minutes. Colour. / Although released theatrically, Species II plays more like a direct-to-video sequel to Species (1995). On the first manned mission to Mars, astronauts collect rock samples which contain mysterious ...
Davis, Russell
(1970- ) US author, editor and publisher in many genres whose pseudonyms include David Cian and Christopher Tracy; he has edited a number of anthologies, most in collaboration with Martin H Greenberg. In his sf novel Touchless (2002) the protagonist, whose dead wife is in Cryonic storage, is offered the choice (reminiscent of an episode in ...
Lee, Chang-rae
(1965- ) South Korean-born author, in US from infancy; the complexity of this background is reflected in his first and best-known novel, Native Speaker (1995), and underlies much of his succeeding work, none of it with any fantastic content until On Such a Full Sea (2014), a Dystopia set in a moderately distant Near Future America, in the ...
Alien
Film (1979). Twentieth Century Fox. Directed by Ridley Scott. Written be Dan O'Bannon, from a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, with uncredited input from producers Walter Hill and David Giler. Alien design H R Giger; concept artist Ron Cobb; human spacesuit and uniform design Jean Giraud (uncredited). Cast includes Veronica Cartwright, Ian Holm, John Hurt, ...
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 ...