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Saturday 11 July 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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Goldfrap, John Henry
(1879-1917) UK-born US journalist – his family moved to America in 1894 and settled in California – and author of various series of adventures for boys, almost always featuring two or more chums. Goldfrap always wrote under Pseudonyms. His series – only some of sf interest – include the Ocean Wireless Boys; the Boy Aviator Series of Airplane Boys stories, of which one volume, ...
Davey, Norman
(1888-1949) UK engineer and author, in active service throughout World War One, whose Perhaps: A Tale of To-morrow (1914; rev vt Yesterday: A Tory Fairy-Tale 1924) wittily (but also frivolously) describes the Near-Future secession of the Isle of Wight. Although copies of the original version of Perhaps exist, there is no clear evidence that it was officially published; this omission was almost ...
Davis, Nathan, Capt
US author (? - ) of whom nothing is known – it is possible he is either a descendant of the Captain Nathan Davis (? -1844) from Virginia who served in the War of 1812, or borrowed his name – beyond his authorship of a Utopia, Beulah: Or, A Parable of Social Regeneration (1904), which posits a future based on Christian socialism. [JC]
Universe [game]
Videogame (1983). Omnitrend Software (OS). Designed by Thomas Carbone, William Leslie III. Platforms: Atari8 (1983); AppleII (1984); DOS (1987). / Universe, a largely text-based game with some outline graphics which is played in turns, is an interesting precursor to the space exploration form of Space Sim, of which the first true example was Elite (1984). As in a ...
Griot Galaxy
US jazz band formed in Detroit in 1972 by saxophonist, poet and music theorist Faruq Z Bey (1942-2012), whose birth name was Jesse Davis. Inspired by Sun Ra and The Art Ensemble of Chicago, their African-inspired stage make-up and costumes, as well as the cosmic reach of the music, led to their frequently being billed as "The Sci-Fi Band". They were distinguished from other free jazz outfits by their metrically complex compositions and propulsive rhythmic force. Most ...
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 ...