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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 ...
Dodge, Nathan B
(? - ) US engineer, teacher and author, his business activities beginning around 1960, active as a writer much later. He is of sf interest for the Young Adult Shadow Warriors sequence beginning with Shadow Warriors (2018), in which a clutch of variously empowered youngsters, who have been discommoded by childhood experiences, awaken on a Starship as shanghaied cadets in a ...
Wilder, Cherry
Pseudonym of New Zealand-born author Cherry Barbara Grimm (1930-2002), in Australia 1954-1976, in Germany until 1997, then in New Zealand until her death. After publishing short fiction and poetry she turned to sf, and chose the name Wilder. The themes of her first published sf story, "The Ark of James Carlyle" in New Writings in SF 24 (anth 1974) edited by Kenneth Bulmer, are the gradual rapprochement of, and ...
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de
(1900-1944) French aviator and author, most famous for Le Petit Prince (1943 chap; trans Katherine Woods as The Little Prince 1943 chap; new trans Richard Howard 2000); the new translation is preferred. Regarded as an existential fable for adults as well as one of the century's best children's books – it is the world's most frequently translated work of fiction – the story concerns a young prince who leaves his cosy home on ...
Shipway, George
(1908-1982) Indian-born soldier, teacher and author, in the UK from childhood, most of whose works were historical novels. Of sf interest is The Chilian Club: A Diversion (1971; vt The Yellow Room 1971), set in a Near Future Britain threatened by trade unions (see Politics), which are (it is here presumed) run by Communists. A cadre of retired soldiers takes things in hand by eliminating the union leaders; ...
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 ...