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Sunday 12 April 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 6 April 2026
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Jacobi, Carl
(1908-1997) US author; also editor of several journals, including the Minnesota Quarterly, who began publishing work of genre interest with "Mive" in The Minnesota Quarterly for Fall 1928. His insinuatingly evocative short fiction is mainly of horror and fantasy interest, much of it appearing in Weird Tales, though he also produced some sf, mostly Space Opera, and some of his stories invoke enough arcane ...
Blaine, Mahlon
(1894-1969) US illustrator, probably born Blain and adding the "e" later. He was a major figure in book Illustration before the Depression, which devastated his livelihood: although he continued to illustrate, much of his work was for non-mainstream publishers; towards the end of his life he returned to illustrate some Edgar Rice Burroughs reissues [see Checklist below]. Among books of genre interest that he illustrated ...
Mugnaini, Joe
(1912-1992) Working name of American artist Joseph Anthony Mugnaini, born in Italy, though he moved to Los Angeles with his parents when he was still an infant. Although respected for accomplishments in other areas, Mugnaini is best known for his long association with Ray Bradbury, who regarded him as both a friend and the best interpreter of his work. As a result, he did the covers and interior art for several first editions of Bradbury's works, as well as ...
British Fantasy Award
1. Sf Award (1966-1967), the predecessor of the BSFA Award. This short-lived award was sponsored by the British Science Fiction Association and took the form of a shield initially presented "to the person or organization which, in the voted opinion of the Association, has made the best contribution to speculative fiction in the preceding calendar year". Nominations were ...
Lester, Edward
(1831-1905) UK clergyman and author in whose The Siege of Bodike: A Prophecy of Ireland's Future (1886) the Near Future separation of Ireland from the ruling UK is prevented in large part by the anti-Catholic narrator, in a Balloon; and the landlords return. [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 ...