SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Monday 13 July 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 13 July 2026
Sponsor of the day: David Cowhig
Wilson, Leah
(1981- ) US editor – often in collaboration – of several popular essay anthologies dealing with genre authors and productions, beginning with the King Kong-related King Kong Is Back!: An Unauthorized Look at One Humongous Ape! (anth 2005) with David Brin. This was followed by a similar treatment of Star Trek in ...
Introduction to the Second Book Edition
The first edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction won a Hugo Award as best nonfiction sf book of its year, and immediately became the standard one-volume reference in the field. However, as the years passed, its usefulness diminished as it fell slowly out of date. That first edition was completed in June 1978, and published in 1979. This is its second edition, from new publishers. It has been not only updated, but also wholly revised and almost wholly rewritten. In effect it is a ...
Caird, Janet
(1913-1992) Malawi-born UK author of sf interest mainly for a Lost Race novel, The Loch (1968), in which the water level in Loch Ness (not so named but unmistakable) suddenly sinks, uncovering a race of quasi-troglodytes, descended from the Vikings or before, which has survived Underground in caves impossible of access until now. [JC] see also: Loch Ness Monster. /
Strange Fantasy
One of the many reprint Digest-size magazines published by Sol Cohen's Ultimate Publishing Co; compiled anonymously by Cohen. Six issues, three in 1969 (#8-#10) and three in 1970 (#11-#13). The strange numbering is related to the temporary death in 1969 of Science Fiction Classics after #8, but Strange Fantasy is not simply a variant title of the latter, which began again in 1971 with ...
Man in the White Suit, The
Film (1951). Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick. Written by Roger MacDougall, John Dighton, Mackendrick, based on the play The Man in the White Suit by MacDougall. Cast includes Joan Greenwood, Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker and Ernest Thesiger. 85 minutes, cut to 81 minutes. Black and white. / A Scientist creates a monomolecular artificial fibre (see Monomolecular Wire) that neither wears out ...
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 ...