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Thursday 12 March 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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Oldrey, John
(? -? ) Pseudonym of an unidentified UK author based in the Pancras area of London, whose sf novel is The Devil's Henchmen (1926). Unusually for a Lost Race tale, this is set in the future; it locates the lost realm north of India, where advanced Technology allows its inhabitants to maintain a secret Utopia. [JC]
Sakurazaka Hiroshi
(1970- ) Japanese author and former computer engineer, whose school-for-sorcerers novella was published as Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō ["Modern Magic Made Simple"] (fixup 2003) after winning the Shūeisha Super Dash New Novelist competition under the title "Mahō Tsukai no Net" ["Wizard's Web"]. / His "Saitama Chainsaw Shōjo" ["Saitama Chainsaw Girl"] (September 2004 S-F Magazine) won the publication's ...
Delacorte, Peter
(1943- ) US author whose sf novel, Time on My Hands (1997), carries its protagonist back to 1938 Hollywood (see California; Time Travel) with the mission to do anything in his power that will prevent Ronald Reagan from eventually becoming President of the United States; unfortunately for his mission (though fortunately for Reagan, who turns out to be highly likeable), the protagonist's journeys ...
Engel, Leonard
(1916-1964) US journalist and author, with Emanuel S Piller, of one of the very first Cold War Future War novels, World Aflame: The Russian-American War of 1950 (1947), in which the USA's control of the air – and use of that preponderance in a nuclear first strike – proves insufficient to crush Russia, nor does a subsequent use of Poison gas ...
Space Western Comics
US Comic (1952-1953). Six issues. Charlton Comics (#40) and Capitol Stories (#41-#45), both companies having the same address. Artists include John Belfi, Stan Campbell and Lou Morales. At least some scripts by Walter Gibson. Five strips per issue (including a one-pager) plus a two-page text story. Nearly all the stories feature Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes – namely, cowboys ...
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 ...