SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 12 March 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 March 2026
Sponsor of the day: Ansible Editions
Incredible Petrified World, The
Film (1957). GBM Productions/Governor Productions. Produced and directed by Jerry Warren. Written by John W Steiner. Underwater photography by Mel Fisher. Cast includes Maurice Bernard, John Carradine, Robert Clarke, Phyllis Coates, Sheila Noonan and Allen Windsor. 70 minutes, cut to 64 minutes for home video release. / Professor Millard Wyman (Carradine) has developed an experimental diving bell capable of reaching greater depths Under the Sea than ...
Spy-Rays
Traditional item of sf Terminology for various surveillance mechanisms employing some kind of Ray that can penetrate most forms of matter, conferring the power of undetectable eavesdropping upon its operator. E E Smith uses the term throughout his Lensman series and seems to have coined it in the original magazine version of Triplanetary (January-April 1934 Amazing; ...
Haile, Terence
(1921-1979) UK author of two sf novels remarkable for their clumsiness and their apparent ignorance of the basic laws of Physics. In Space Train (1962; vt The Claw 1973) a UK farmer builds a rocket-powered train which travels at 3000 miles per hour and, as a consequence of sabotage, takes off into space while carrying numerous VIPs including the Prime Minister, his Cabinet and leading members of the Opposition. The travellers encounter ...
Britton, Lionel
(1887-1971) UK playwright and author, a conscientious objector during World War One who gained some prominence in the interwar period for his Scientific Romance Hunger and Love, Etc (1931), a speculative proletarian/modernist Dystopia, written before (and influential upon) but published after Brain: A Play of the Whole Earth (performed 1930; 1930), a drama in ...
Secret of the Loch, The
Film (1934). Wyndham Productions/Ealing Studios. Produced by Bray Wyndham. Directed by Milton Rosmer. Written by Billie Bristow and Charles Bennett. Cast includes Gibson Gowland, Seymour Hicks, Nancy O'Neil and Frederick Peisley. 78 minutes. Black and white. / Eccentric Professor Heggie (Hicks) is determined to prove the existence of the fabled Loch Ness Monster, and with his helper Angus (Gowland) is working on a submersible to explore the ...
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 ...