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Tuesday 21 April 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 20 April 2026
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Watson, Ian
(1943-2026) UK teacher and author who lectured in English in Tanzania (1965-1967) and Tokyo (1967-1970) before beginning to publish sf with "Roof Garden Under Saturn" for New Worlds in 1969; he then taught Future Studies for six years at Birmingham Polytechnic, taking there one of the first academic courses in sf in the UK; he became a full-time writer in 1976, publishing around 200 short stories since 1969 at a gradually increasing tempo and with visibly ...
Alien
Film (1979). Twentieth Century Fox. Directed by Ridley Scott. Written be Dan O'Bannon, from a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, with uncredited input from producers Walter Hill and David Giler. Alien design H R Giger; concept artist Ron Cobb; human spacesuit and uniform design Jean Giraud (uncredited). Cast includes Veronica Cartwright, Ian Holm, John Hurt, ...
Acro Trip
Japanese animated tv series (2024). Voil. Directed by Ayumu Kotake. Written by Shinichi Inotsume. Based on the Manga by Yone Sawata. Voice cast includes Miku Itō, Kengo Kawanishi, Inori Minase, Showtaro Morikubo, Nobunaga Shimazaki and Koichi Soma. Twelve 24-minute episodes. Colour. / Having moved to her grandfather's (Soma) home, Chizuko Date (Itō) is bored and listless until she discovers that Niigata City has its own ...
Rackham, Martin
(? - ) UK author of The Source: Earth Voyage (1997), what may have been intended as the first volume of a series in which Aliens mount an Invasion of Earth in order to gain access to a desperately needed Power Source; but the sequence seems not to have progressed. [JC]
Battlecruiser 3000 AD
Videogame (1996). 3000AD. Designed by Derek Smart. Platforms: DOS, Win. / The Battlecruiser franchise is famous both for the length of time it has spent in development and for the combative personality of its designer. The first version, Battlecruiser 3000 AD, was intended to be a universal Space Sim using three-dimensional graphics, in which players could roam through a simulated galaxy without restrictions. ...
Langford, David
(1953- ) UK author, critic, editor, publisher and sf fan, in the latter capacity recipient of 21 Hugo awards for fan writing – some of the best of his several hundred pieces are assembled as Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (coll 1992 chap US; much exp vt The Silence of the Langford 1996; exp 2015 ebook) as Dave Langford, edited by Ben Yalow – plus five Best Fanzine Hugos ...