John Clute (1940 - ) is a
Canadian science fiction critic and
novelist, in the
UK since 1969.
Most
SF fans are familiar with Clute's name through his reviews and
non-fiction SF work, most notably "
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" and more recently "
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy".
His reviews have appeared in
Washington Post,
Omni,
New York Times,
Interzone,
Los Angeles Times and a large number of other publications. He was a founding member of the magazine
Interzone, the pride of the
UK science fiction community.
In "
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", Clute writes that his own
criticism, "despite some studiously
flamboyant obscurities remains essentially
practical".
William Gibson has called Clute "
formidable" and "an urban literary wit whose grasp of the genre, and of its place in the wider world of letters, are very likely unequaled in our time and language".