SF Encyclopedia Home Page
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.
Site updated on 25 July 2024
Sponsor of the day: Handheld Press
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 ...
Briggs, Ian
(? - ) UK scriptwriter and actor who wrote two Television serials for the Doctor Who universe, each featuring the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy: "Dragonfire" (23 November 1987 to 7 December 1987), which he novelized as Doctor Who: Dragonfire (1989); and "The Curse of Fenric" (25 October 1989 to 15 November 1989), which he novelized as Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric ...
People Who Own the Dark, The
Spanish/US film (1976; 1980 US). Original title Ultimo deseo; vt Planeta Ciego. Cinematic Releasing Corporation (US). Produced by Jorge Luis Renena Tomayo (Spain), Sean S Cunningham (US). Directed by Léon Klimovsky. Written by Gabriel Moreno Burgos (credited as Gabriel Burgos), Vicenta Aranda and Joaquim Jordà. Cast includes Alberto de Mendoza, Teresa Gimpera, Nadiuska, Paul Naschy (credited as Paul MacKay), Tomás Picó and Julia Saly. 94 ...
Fleming, Peter
(1907-1971) UK journalist, author and travel writer, brother of Ian Fleming, known mainly for such travel books as Brazilian Adventure (1933), whose gritty irreverence (both for the place visited and for the visitor) made him famous. In his spoof sf novel, The Flying Visit (1940), Adolf Hitler parachutes into the UK with amusing results (the book was published before Rudolf Hess's actual descent upon Scotland in May 1941). The tale was ...
Beddoes, Willoughby
(1846-1906) UK painter, naval officer and author, whose A Goddess from the Sea (1903) is a Lost Race tale set in Asia, much of the action taking place Underground, and involving goddess-worship. [JC]
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 ...