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Sunday 15 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 ...
Communications
Many aspects of communication in sf are dealt with under separate entries in this volume. The most familiar form of communication is through language, for a discussion of which see Linguistics (also Universal Translator). Devices allowing communication at a distance, besides those discussed in the next paragraph, include the Videophone. For the perennially popular theme of opening ...
Stephenson, Neal
(1959- ) US author whose first two novels – The Big U (1984) and Zodiac: The Eco-Thriller (1988) – both convey a strong sense that sf turns are just around the next page, but neither of which can justly be read as sf. The first is a gonzo college caper, told rather in the style of John Landis's film, National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), in which a vast "Megaversity", funded by an involvement in radioactive waste ...
Madlee, Dorothy
(1917-1980) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with the poem "Moon Phantoms" as by Dorothy Haynes Madle in Weird Tales for July 1946, followed by the story "Crystal of Macaosu" as by Dorothy Madle in Fantastic Universe for February 1955. She was best known for collaborating with Andre Norton on the four-book Children's SF Star Ka'at ...
Science-Fiction Collector, The
Canadian bibliographical Amateur Magazine (1976-1981), published by James Grant Books, Calgary, to #3, then by Pandora's Books Ltd; edited by J Grant Thiessen. With #9 (June 1980) the journal merged with the fanzine Age of the Unicorn, and was renamed Megavore: The Journal of Popular Fiction, but the title reverted to The Science Fiction Collector (sans hyphen) from issue #14 (30 May 1981). The ...
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 ...