SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Thursday 12 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
Sponsor of the day: Ansible Editions
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 ...
Skimin, Robert
(1929-2011) US author of historical novels and studies, and of at least two Alternate History fictions in which the American nineteenth century is tweaked. The Jonbar Point in Gray Victory (1988) is Confederate President Jefferson Davis's decision not to replace the commander of the Atlanta, Georgia defences; Atlanta is not destroyed, and America remains divided into two nations. Courtroom intrigues, and a ...
Monsters to Laugh With
Letter-size saddle-stapled Cinema magazine. Publisher: Non-Pareil Publishing, a subsidiary of Magazine Management Corporation. Editor: unknown. Seven numbered issues from 1964 to 1966. / This modest publication, chiefly a Humour title, was Marvel Comics' first effort to enter the Movie Monster magazine field. Monsters to Laugh With consisted of full-page black ...
Unreal
Videogame (1998). Epic Games (EG). Designed by Cliff Bleszinski, James Schmalz. Platforms: Win (1998); Mac (1999). / The Unreal series of First Person Shooters is a competitor to Quake (1996) and its various descendants, and has generally shared its rival's philosophy, with similar gameplay and atmosphere. The two series compete not only as game experiences but ...
Davitt, Deborah L
(1974- ) US teacher, poet and author, initially of the Saga of Edda-Earth beginning with The Valkyrie (2014) (series not listed below). Her poetry has been assembled in The Gates of Never (coll, 2019) and elsewhere. She is of specific sf interest for a novella, The Carrying Capacity of Paradise (2024 chap), in which a tycoon is murdered on his own refuge Asteroid. [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 ...