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Saturday 8 February 2025
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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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Sarrantonio, Al
(1952-2025) US editor and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Ahead of the Joneses" in Asimov's for March 1979. Much of his work was horror, sometimes tinged with sf (see Horror in SF), including his first novel, The Worms (1985), a Gothic tale set in Massachusetts with hints of H P Lovecraft; and the Equipoisal Moonbane ...
Craigie, David
Pseudonym for her written work of theatre costume designer, illustrator and author Dorothy Glover (1901-1971), partner of Graham Greene between 1939 and 1948. As Dorothy Craigie, she wrote numerous stories for younger children, from Summersalts Circus (1947) to Nicky and Nigger Join the Circus (1960); and illustrated children's books, including the four in the genre by Greene, with whom she wrote ...
Mad Ghoul, The
Film (1943; vt Mystery of the Ghoul). Universal Pictures. Produced by Ben Pivar. Directed by James P Hogan. Written by Paul Gangelin and Brenda Wiseberg from a story by Hanns Kraly (credited as Hans Kraly). Cast includes Evelyn Ankers, Robert Armstrong, Turhan Bey, David Bruce and George Zucco. 65 minutes. Black and white. / University chemistry Professor Alfred Morris (Zucco) has re-created a nerve gas used by ancient Mayans in human sacrifice rituals. With medical student ...
Disaster
Cataclysm, natural or manmade, is one of the most popular themes in sf. Tales of Future War and Invasion theoretically belong here, but for convenience are dealt with under those separate headings; see also Climate Change, End of the World, Holocaust, World War One, ...
Quinn, Seabury
(1889-1969) American lawyer and weird-fiction author whose first published story was "The Law of the Movies" (December 1917 The Motion Picture Magazine). Seabury Quinn was by far the most prolific contributor to Weird Tales; during its 31-year life he published well over a hundred stories there, appearing on average in roughly every other issue. Many of these contributions – 93 in all – featured his occult detective Jules de Grandin ...
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 ...