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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.
Site updated on 10 August 2026
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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 ...
Frakes, Jonathan
(1952- ) US actor, best known for his role as Commander William T Riker in all 187 episodes of the second Star Trek television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994); he also directed several episodes of this and other Star Trek series as well as the films Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998). His sf ...
van Lorne, Warner
Pseudonym of US author Nelson Tremaine (1907-1971), author under that name of a number of stories in Astounding Science-Fiction from July 1935 to January 1939, plus "Wanted: 7 Fearless Engineers!" (February 1939 Amazing). "The Blue-Men of Yrano" (January 1939 Astounding) is probably the best remembered. His brother, F Orlin Tremaine, wrote at least one van Lorne story. [MJE]
Cult Times
UK oversized Media Magazine printed on high-quality paper. Publisher: Visual Imagination Limited. Editors: unknown. 159 issues 1998 to 2008, plus at least three Special Editions. The schedule was generally monthly. / One of several companion titles to Starburst and TV Zone, Cult Times resembled these stablemates with, perhaps, a slightly greater emphasis on US productions. Contents ...
Lamb, Alex
(? - ) UK software engineer, theatrical director and author, currently in the USA; he is of sf interest for the Roboteer sequence beginning with Roboteer (2015), a Space Opera set in an interstellar arena, into which Homo sapiens has expanded without necessarily learning the lessons of the partial ruination of Earth. The tale focuses on a War between a Terran theocracy ...
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 ...