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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 ...
Mezrich, Ben
(1969- ) US broadcaster and author who remains best known for nonfiction books like Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions (2002), a narrative whose dramatic licence inspired accusations that it was fiction, and The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal (2009); he also writes as by Holden Scott. Of sf interest are several medical thrillers ...
Creation of the Humanoids
US film (1962). Genie Productions. Directed by Wesley Barry, Written by Jay Simms. Cast includes David Cross, Don Doolittle, Erica Elliot, Frances McCann and Don Megowan. 84 minutes. Colour. / After a two-week "atomic war" (see World War Three) 92% of the human race has been wiped out. With a birthrate of "below 1.4 per union", the survivors "turn to robotic automation devices to help them rebuild their cities and maintain a high standard of ...
Valley of Gwangi, The
Film (1969). Morningside/Warner-Seven Arts. Produced by Charles H Schneer. Directed by James O'Connolly. Written by William E Bast, with additions by Julian More. Dinosaur animation by Ray Harryhausen. Cast includes Richard Carlson, James Franciscus, Gila Golan and Laurence Naismith. 95 minutes. Colour. / Cowboys discover a hidden valley in Mexico where surviving Dinosaurs still live. They capture Gwangi, an allosaur, ...
Dunn, Waldo H
(1882-1969) US academic and author of a Prehistoric SF tale, The Vanished Empire: A Tale of the Mound Builders (1904), focusing on that paleo-Indian civilization in Ohio, which Dunn dramatizes through an invasion from the southwards by King Inca, whose martial forces defeat the Mound Builders. [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 ...