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Sunday 2 June 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.
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Franklin, H Bruce
(1934-2024) US critic and academic, a cultural historian in various positions at Stanford University from 1961, in that year giving one of the earliest university courses in sf in the USA. In 1972, despite holding tenure, he was dismissed by Stanford for making speeches allegedly inciting students to riot against the university's involvement in the Vietnam War – a case well known to those interested in questions of academic freedom. He became full professor, again with tenure, at Rutgers ...
Orb, The
UK electronic music act, founded by Alex Paterson (1959- ) and Jimmy Cauty (1956- ) and at present (after various personnel changes) comprising Paterson and Swizz-born Thomas Fehlmann (1958- ). The Orb's atmospheric, often playfully evocative, ambient music takes much of its inspiration from science fiction. Their first, and best, album was The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991), which maps out its ...
Greenleaf, William
(1948- ) US author, not to be confused with the William Greenleaf (1917-1975) whose works are in the field of economics; Greenleaf began publishing sf with his first novel, Timejumper (1980), an adventure incorporating an unusually subtle presentation of the rite of passage – the empowering journey of the protagonist towards a culture-redeeming Conceptual Breakthrough – central to the sf genre. His ...
Borgo Press
Former US publishing house, a Small Press which long maintained a fairly extensive list of works of interest to sf. Its name is a play on "Borgo Pass," the name for Romania's Tihuţa Pass used in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897; rev with cuts 1901). Originally based in California, the company was founded in 1975 by Robert Reginald, as publisher and ...
Rocket Man, The
Film (1954; vt McCluskey Strikes a Blow [original script title]). Panoramic Productions/20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Produced by Leonard Goldstein. Directed by Oscar Rudolph. Written by Lenny Bruce and Jack Henley from a story by George W George and George F Slavin. Cast includes John Agar, Spring Byington, Charles Coburn, Anne Francis, Emory Parnell and George "Foghorn" Winslow. 79 minutes. Black and white. / A comedy with elements of romance and sf. Young Timmy ...
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 ...