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Monday 16 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 ...
Emerson Lake and Palmer
Also known as ELP. British prog-rock band, formed by Keith Emerson (1944-2016), Greg Lake (1947-2016) and Carl Palmer (1950- ). The group's second album Tarkus (1971) includes in its 20-minute title-track a multi-part narrative of a monstrous "Tarkus" fighting a Future War in a future (or perhaps Alternate-History) Earth. The evidence of the album cover-art, although not the song's lyrics ...
Vesser, Carolyn
(1934-2010) US author whose Young Adult sf novel, Hellwalker (1988), is a Planetary Romance set in an isolated world exploited by a ruthless Telepath from another planet; his younger brother foils his plans to create an empire. [JC]
Langley, Bob
(1939- ) UK broadcaster and author of Technothrillers, some being of sf interest: Warlords (1979) is a Young Adult tale depicting the Near Future overthrow of an effective UK government through undercover American influence; in Precipice (1991) a Soviet weapons satellite under Antarctica threatens to blow up the South Pole and environs; and in ...
Shaw, Larry T
Working name of US author and editor Lawrence Taylor Shaw (1924-1985), an active sf fan from the early 1940s and a member of the Futurians; married to Lee Hoffman 1956-1958. His November 1945 Fanzine Destiny's Child (one issue only, retitled from Fling, October 1945) is best remembered for Damon Knight's critical attack on that year's ...
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 ...