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Saturday 12 September 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 7 September 2026
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Transgender SF
In the real world, Gender reassignment surgery dates back to around 1930 as a technique; an earlier operation, in 1918, involved only removal of breasts and ovaries. The full procedure only became widely known to the general public, however, after the media blitz that surrounded Christine Jorgensen's transition in 1953. For reasons which may possibly have nothing to do with social attitudes (but almost certainly do), there seems to be no genuine early sf example of an ...
Bishop, David
(1966- ) New Zealand-born editor and author now resident in the UK; before 2000 he edited at least two UK Comics: Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD. He has since written Ties for Judge Dredd, Doctor Who and Nikolai Dante [see Checklist below] and scripted adventure storylines for The ...
Hartmann, Franz
(1838-1912) German medical doctor, astrologer and author, a central figure (along with his associate Helena Blavatsky) in Theosophy, whose doctrines he espoused throughout his literary career. He wrote in both German and English; German originals for titles cited only in English have not been found. From his large output, of some moderate sf interest are An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians: By a Student of Occultism (1887) ...
Carew, Henry
(? -? ) UK author of whom nothing is known beyond his authorship of two sf novels. In The Secret of the Sphinx (1923), explorers discover a Utopian city hidden in the middle of the Sahara Desert; unusually, this is not a lost world, as the culture and Inventions that drive the city are of modern origin. The Vampires of the Andes (1925) is, on the other hand, a genuine ...
Wray, Phoebe
Working name of US actor, environmentalist and author Phoebe Rae Gregory (1935-2016), whose Jemma's World sequence opening with Jemma7729 (2008) depicts the life in the twenty-third century of a young female protagonist who discovers that the misogyny and oppressiveness of the enclosed Dystopia of her birth can be rebelled against, and escaped from. Communal life outside the walls is described comfortingly (see ...
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 ...