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Sunday 16 August 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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Crowley, John
(1942-2026) US teacher and author who also worked in documentary films and television for some time beginning in 1966. His sf novels have had a considerable impact on the field, and his fantasies established him as a figure whose work courteously but deeply stretched the boundaries of genre literature. / His first novel, The Deep (1975), is set on a flat discworld resting on a pillar that extends beyond measurement into the circumambient galactic Deep, in which very few stars ...
Interstellar
Film (2014). Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan. Cast includes Casey Affleck, Wes Bentley, Timothée Chalamet, Jessica Chastain, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Caine, Matt Damon, Mackenzie Foy, David Gyasi, Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin, Matthew McConaughey. 169 minutes. Colour. / There is some lip service here. The involvement as scientific advisor of ...
Shore, Howard
(1946- ) Canadian composer, best known for his film scores including The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) trilogy, The Hobbit (2012-2014) trilogy and a dozen collaborations with David Cronenberg. His opera The Fly (2008), with a libretto by Davis Henry Hwang, is fairly loosely based on the film The Fly (1986), directed by ...
Gundran, Olive
(1912-1984) US author of The Mysterious Stranger (1958 chap) (see Mysterious Stranger), a novella in which the eponymous message-bearer from Mars opens its communicants to the marvels of the fourth planet. [JC]
Samachson, Joseph
(1906-1980) US research chemist who became a freelance author between 1938 and 1953 before returning to biochemistry, eventually retiring in 1973 after five years as Associate Clinical Professor of biochemistry at Loyola University, Chicago. His first story, "Bad Medicine" in Thrilling Wonder Stories for February 1941, was published as by William Morrison, under which name he wrote almost all his fiction of interest. Under the House Name ...
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 ...