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Thursday 16 July 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 14 July 2026
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Carpenter, Elmer J
(1907-1988) US author in whose Moonspin (1967) a foreign power gains control of Earth's weather, threatening to freeze the planet (see Climate Change; Weather Control); but a fight-back effort by Scientists on the Moon may save the day. An earlier novel, Nile Fever (1959), is not sf. [JC]
Rayner, Jacqueline
(? - ) UK author long associated with the Doctor Who universe, for which she has written numerous Ties, beginning with Doctor Who: Earthworld (2001), including some associated Professor Bernice Summerfield books, beginning with Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Squire's Crystal (2001). Her later contributions to Merlin, a fantasy series for ...
Wirkus, Tim
(? - ) US author, with a PhD in creative writing and literature from the University of South California, whose Mormon upbringing plays a significant part in their work to date. Wirkus's first novel, City of Brick and Shadow (2014), while non-fantastical, draws on the influence of Jorge Luis Borges for a mystery, never resolved, about two hapless, young Mormon missionaries in Brazil who are drawn into a ...
Laporta, Mark
(? - ) US author whose first works were for Young Adult readers, beginning with the Changing Hearts of Ixdahan Daherek sequence, whose eponymous protagonist in the first volume Heart of Earth (2015) finds himself exiled from his home planet – for acts of arrogance and stupidity – and forced to live on Earth as a teenager. Fortunately, he fends of an Invasion by ...
Ruber, Peter
(1940-2014) Austrian-born US advertising executive, publisher and editor, who published many books by August Derleth 1962-1971, some under his own New York-based Candlelight Press Small Press imprint, which also produced some Sherlockiana (see Sherlock Holmes). A further Candlelight release was his nonfiction study ...
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 ...