SF Encyclopedia Home Page
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 ...
Findley, Timothy
(1930-2002) Canadian actor from 1953 and author who began to publish fiction with the nonfantastic "About Effie" for The Tamarack Review, Autumn 1956, and who remained moderately prolific through his substantial career; though much of his work seems at first glance to be fantasy, it escapes any straightforward definition as such, as his Equipoisal fluctuations between Mythology and "reality" generate a sense that the venues he ...
Wright, Lan
Working name of UK author Lionel Percy Wright (1923-2010) for all his fiction; increased responsibilities in manufacturing industry curtailed his writing career. He began publishing sf with "Operation Exodus" in New Worlds for January 1952, and was active for over a decade in UK magazines, chiefly New Worlds and Nebula Science Fiction. His Johnny Dawson series in ...
Watson, Paul E
(? - ) US author of The Robot (2011), a Young Adult tale whose two teenaged male protagonists discover a female Robot in off-bounds laboratory of one of their parents, who is a "genius" scientist. The robot is interested in Sex, but also, according to its programming, in engaging in an assassination. [JC]
Awards
The following genre-related awards receive detailed individual entries in this encyclopedia: / Aelita Award (Russia) Andre Norton Award: see Nebula. Arthur C Clarke Award (for novels) British Fantasy Award (1966-1969) BSFA Award ...
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 ...