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Saturday 5 September 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 31 August 2026
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Murray, Will
Working name of US author William Patrick Murray (1953-2026), who showed an interest throughout his career in Superheroes of the Pulp tradition (on which he was a known authority) such as Doc Savage, about which figure he wrote the nonfiction Secrets of Doc Savage (1981 chap). In this context he had been literary agent for Lester Dent's estate since 1979. ...
Rivas, Manuel Antonio de
(circa 1707-? ) Mexican Franciscan friar and author of one Proto SF short story. In his time, his surname could also be written Ribas. The only biographical information Rivas appears in depositions opened against him by the Inquisition of New Spain (see Mexico) between 1773 and 1778. It seems probable that he was born in New Spain at the beginning of the eighteenth century, because in a 1777 letter he declared ...
Toxic Avenger, The
Film (1984). HCH/Troma/Palan. Directed by Michael Herz, Samuel Weil. Written by Joe Ritter, based on a story by Lloyd Kaufman. Cast includes Mitchell Cohen, Andree Maranda and Mark Torgl. 100 minutes, cut to 79 minutes. Colour. / After a cruel practical joke is played on him, a teenage nerd falls into a barrel of toxic waste in Tromaville, New Jersey, "Toxic Waste Capital of America". He mutates (see Mutants) into the low-budget ...
Sawyer, Jamie
(1979- ) UK barrister and author whose work to date consists almost exclusively of contributions to his Lazarus Universe Military SF sequences. In the first of these, the Lazarus War series beginning with The Lazarus War: Artefact (2015), the chief ongoing protagonist Captain Conrad Harris of the Simulant Operations Programme undergoes repeated deaths leading his team in suicide missions over various locations ...
Sheckley, Robert
(1928-2005) US author, born and educated in New York, where he set some of his fiction, publishing his first story, "Final Examination", in Imagination for May 1952. Sheckley's career falls into three periods: the 1950s, the 1960s, and afterwards. In the first period he produced short fiction prolifically for several years in various magazines, though his supple, witty, talkative, well crafted work was especially suited to ...
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 ...