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Saturday 27 July 2024
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for the masthead; here for 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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Arthur C Clarke Award
This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by ...
Clinton, George
(?1940- ) US funk musician, famous for his two connected groups, Parliament and Funkadelic. Many of the musicians from these collectives played on albums released under Clinton's name as solo albums. Computer Games (1982) has been especially heavily sampled by subsequent hip-hop and funk acts (the track "Atomic Dog" in particular); and the title track of You Shouldn't-Nuf Bit Fish ...
Holder, C F
(1851-1915) US naturalist, sportsman and author, mostly of nonfiction on nature or sport or both; two Young Adult tales are of sf interest: The Treasure Divers: A Boy's Adventures in the Depths of the Sea (1898), involving an Invention and mysteries Under the Sea; and ...
Pygaster, Cal I
(? - ) US author of an sf Sex tale, Zero Gravity Swap (1970), which is set in space. The presumed pseudonym appears to be derived from "callipygean", i.e. having attractively shaped buttocks. [JC/DRL]
Steranko, James
(1938- ) US Comic-book illustrator, writer and one-time stage magician and escapologist; Jack Kirby based his comic-book character Mr Miracle – Super Escape Artist (1971) on Steranko. His byline is most often Jim Steranko, but sometimes just Steranko. Influenced early in his career by Kirby, Steranko rapidly developed a reputation for originality, especially with his work for ...
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 ...