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Friday 13 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.
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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 ...
Herbison, J S
(? - ) Canadian author, partner of Andrew Neil Gray; she is of sf interest for The Ghost Line (2017) with Gray [whom see for further details], a Space Opera set in near space between Earth and Mars. [JC]
Themerson, Stefan
(1910-1988) Polish-born film director, scriptwriter, photographer, publisher and author, active in Poland from 1928 as the author of at least ten children's books, and in the 1930s as a maker and producer of five experimental films. Almost all this work was executed in collaboration with his wife from 1931 and lifelong creative partner Franciszka Themerson (1907-1988), beginning with their founding of the Polish Filmmakers Cooperative. At least one of the films they produced is of sf interest: ...
Geissler, Ludwig A
(? -? ) US author, not to be confused with the American writer Ludwig S Geissler, or with several Germans with the same name; his Looking Beyond: A Sequel to "Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy, and an Answer to "Looking Forward" by Richard Michaelis (1891), is a Sequel by Other Hands which, with some ingenuity, treats the return to 1888 of Julian West, Edward Bellamy's ...
Oppel, Kenneth
(1967- ) Canadian author most of whose early work, beginning with an adolescent fantasy, Colin's Fantastic Video Adventure (1985), comprises Young Adult fantasy series, including the Silverwing Universe sequence [not listed below] and the Matt Curse sequence beginning with Airborn (2004), a Steampunk sequence set in an ...
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 ...