SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Tuesday 10 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 ...
Deadly Games
US tv series (1995-1996). Stirred, Not Shaken Productions/Rumbleseat Productions/Viacom Productions for the UPN television network. Produced by Donald L Gold, William S Kerr, and Michelle Williams. Created by Paul Bernbaum, S S Schweitzer, and Anthony Spinner. Creative Consultant: Leonard Nimoy. Directors included Christopher Hibler, Christian Nyby II and Nimoy. Writers included Birnbaum, Kate Boutiliers, William Rabkin. Cast includes James Calvert, Cynthia Gibb, Stephen T Kay and ...
Blue Öyster Cult
Also known as BÖC. US rock band formed in Long Island, New York in 1967 as "Soft White Underbelly", largely at the instigation of the record producer Sandy Pearlman (1943-2016), who, whilst he did not play in the band, did write some of their lyrics. BÖC's sound on their debut album, Blue Öyster Cult (1972) is blues-rock of an accomplished but traditional cast, although a left-field style with song lyrics often created a broadly fantastical mood even when the songs ...
Barthe, Ulric
(1853-1921) Canadian journalist and author, an early defender of Canadian union, who is of sf interest for Similia Similibus; Ou, La Guerre au Canada: Essai romantique sur un sujet d'actualité ["Like Remedies Like; Or, The War in Canada: A Romantic Essay on a Current Topic"] (1916), an Alternate History version of World War One in which Germany institutes hostilities against ...
Gay, J Drew
(1846-1890) UK journalist, politician, explorer and author in whose The Mystery of the Shroud: A Tale of Socialism (1887) a fog gives a socialist secret society the chance to conquer England in the Near Future, but the chance is muffed. [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 ...