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Monday 9 February 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 February 2026
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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Draper, Allyn
A House Name used in such journals as The Boys of New York (see Boys' Papers) and Young Men of America by various authors including Francis W Doughty, Thomas H Hanshew, Dennis O'Sullivan, Harvey K Shackleford, Cornelius Shea, William Howard Van Orden (see Howard de Vere) and others not identified. [JC/SH]
Michener, James A
(1907-1997) US author of numerous bestsellers. His long novel Space (1982), televised 1985, is based on the history of the US space programme, becoming sf only in its later stages, when it describes invented missions and adventures roughly contemporaneous with the historical ones (e.g., a disaster owing to an outburst of solar radiation during an Apollo 18 lunar mission in 1973), and then peers optimistically into the Near Future. Among several ...
van Belkom, Edo
(1962- ) Canadian author and editor, principally of horror and fantasy, who began to publish work of genre interest with "The Basement" for On Spec for Fall 1990 and has also written as Evan Hollander. He contributed two novels to the long-running Deathlands sequence of Post-Holocaust Survivalist Fiction, his first being Deathlands #61: Skydark Spawn ...
Plague, Inc.
Videogame (2012). Ndemic Creations. Platforms: IoS, Android; as vt Plague, Inc: Evolved, PC, Xbox One. / A deadly plague is spreading across the world at an alarming rate. People cower inside their houses. Transport gradually shuts down and the world goes dark as the last survivors are left mewling and puking in holes in the ground. The player's mission is to help these plagues spread and exterminate the human race.... / Plague Inc. is ...
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 ...