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Monday 9 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 ...
Hanifin, John M
(? -? ) US author, whose reported death circa 1898 seems unlikely as manuscripts in his name were being submitted for publication five years later; his Lost Race novel, The Blind Men and the Devil (1891) as by Phineas, describes the experiences of a married couple who, mistaken for dead, are dumped into a river and discover an Underground world inhabited by a blind race. ...
Aliens Are Coming, The
US made-for-TV film (1980). Quinn Martin Productions for NBC-TV. Executive producer Philip Saltzman. Directed by Harvey Hart. Written by Robert W Linski. Cast includes Eric Braeden, Melinda O Fee, Max Gail and Tom Mason. 100 minutes, later cut to 90 minutes. Colour. / From his research facility, astrophysicist Dr Scott Dryden (Mason) tracks an Spaceship descending to the Nevada desert; this proves to contain hostile Aliens ...
Maxxe, Robert
Pseudonym of US author Robert Rosenblum (1938- ), who also writes as Nicholas Conde (his thrillers under this name are nonfantastic), Joanna Kingsley, Jeanne Day Lord, Jessica March and Anjelica Moon. In his sf novel, Arcade (1984), Alien forces attempt to influence humanity by infiltrating themselves into Videogame. [JC]
Waite, Olivia
(? - ) US author, mostly of nonfantastic queer romances, though some may be defined as paranormals. She is of sf interest for Murder by Memory (2025), a detection set on a Generation Starship; Dorothy Gentleman, the lady-detective protagonist of the tale who narrates, whose personhood, having been stored in the ship's Library, has been awakened into a strange body, and ...
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 ...